WARNER — For the Central Tigers, fourth time’s the charm.
After losing their three previous games to the Vian Wolverines, the Tigers finally knocked them off — and got some hardware in the process, as Central defeated Vian 49-42 to win the third-place game of the Warner Eagle Classic on Jan. 23 at Ronnie Hales Gym.
The Wolverines fell 65-52 to the host Warner Eagles in their semifinal game on Jan. 22 at Warner Event Center.
The Lady Tigers finished fourth after losing 41-23 to the Westville Lady Yellowjackets in Friday afternoon’s thirdplace game at Warner Event Center.
The Lady Wolverines lost their seventhplace game 28-23 to the Haskell Lady Haymakers on Friday at Warner Event Center.
In the boys’ thirdplace game, the Tigers (8-6) led 9-6 after a quarter, 22-13 at halftime and 34-27 after three periods.
The Wolverines (8-4) cut their deficit to 4236 with three minutes left in the game, then cut Central’s lead to six points once more at 4539 on Dee Antwine’s 3-point basket with 30 seconds remaining.
Antwine’s basket with 13 seconds left cut Vian’s deficit to 47-42, but the Wolverines got no closer.
For the game, Noah Buzzard scored a gamehigh 16 points and Josh Brunk added 11 points to lead Central, followed by Jake Woods and Brycen Chandler-Eisman with six points each, Gavin Randolph with five points, Aiden Cawhorn with three points and Paitton Merrill with a free throw.
In defeat, Dee Antwine scored 12 points to lead Vian, followed by Masyn Wright with eight points, Joe O’Neal with seven points, Rylan Lane with six points, Ledger Folsom with five points and Jeremiah Marshall and Trey Antwine with two points.
In the Vian boys’ semifinal game, the Eagles rallied from an 1813 first-quarter deficit as they outscored the Wolverines 52-34 over the final three periods to get the come-from-behind victory.
In defeat, Marshall scored 16 points and O’Neal added 12 points to lead Vian, followed by Wright and Trace Sanders with seven points each, Lane with three points and Folsom, Dee Antwine and Trey Antwine with two points apiece.
In the girls’ thirdplace game, the Yellowjackets doubled up the Lady Tigers 10-5 in the opening period en route to a 19-7 halftime advantage and a 25-18 lead after three quarters. A 16-5 final period sealed the deal for Westville.
In defeat, Sara Williams led the Lady Tigers (8-4) with 11 points, followed by Paris Campbell with eight points, Sadie Huff with three points and Cheyenne Busch with a free throw.
In the girls’ seventhplace game, the Lady Wolverines (0-11) led 7-5 after a quarter, but the Lady Haymakers outscored them 23-16 over the final three periods to get the comeback victory.
In defeat, Kiah Robertson scored a gamehigh 13 points to lead Vian, followed by Gracie Buttery with four points and Bostyn Rodgers, Payton Crutchfield and Aliyah Tucker with two points apiece.
Last week, the big winner was Mother Nature as the aftermath of her winter storm pretty much snowed out all basketball action for both Vian and Central teams.
Vian had its Black Diamond Conference games at Stigler on Jan. 26 as well as its home contests with Spiro last Thursday snowed out. Vian’s home games with Howe that originally were slated for last Saturday were postponed until 6 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9 at B.J. Traw Gymnasium due to the Howe teams playing in the final day of the 2026 Le-Flore County Tournament last Saturday.
Last week’s games for Central — road games against Kinta on Jan. 27 as well as its homecoming games with Wister at Gore Event Center last Friday — got snowed out and were each canceled.
The Central teams had road games last Saturday night against Sallisaw.
Editor’s Note: Look for the details about the Central-Sallisaw games as well as complete coverage of the 2026 Maverick Conference Wrestling Tournaments, which took place last Friday and Saturday in Fort Gibson for both boys and girls, in next week’s edition.
