Unfinished business. The saying rang true with the Lawton High School (LHS) boys basketball team’s early exit from last year’s playoffs when they lost in the Area Tournament after a strong season. That was plenty of motivation going forward. The Wolverines came back for the 2024-25 campaign with even more to prove and stepped up to the challenge with one of the best seasons in program history. A legendary run that went all the way to the 5A State Championship game, may have not ended with a gold ball, but the LHS boys struck gold with their fans and reminded the rest of the state that there is still a powerhouse in southwest Oklahoma.
In their second season under head coach Chevis Smith and now in 5A, the Wolverines rattled off a 22-3 record that included tournament wins at the Great Plains Invitational and the Allen Holiday Invitational, two 1,000-point scorers, a City Championship, a District Championship, and many more accolades. Their record put them in the driver’s seat for the playoffs, earning the No. 1 seed and getting to host their Regional Tournament.
Lawton High sailed through the Regional, beating Santa Fe South 76-22 and then Elgin 100-39 to claim the Regional Championship. They needed just one win in the Area Tournament to punch their ticket to State. Facing Carl Albert, the Wolverine offense had a hard time getting going early on and the score was tied 18-all at the half. LHS came out of the break on fire and outscored the Titans 23-8 in the third quarter. Carl Albert made Big Red sweat in the fourth, taking their 12-point deficit with two minutes to play to just four with 26 seconds on the clock. Lawton High was able to hold on when they needed to the most, grabbing the 58-54 win to secure their spot in the OSSAA State Tournament. The last time the Wolverines were in this position was 2009 and their one and only State Championship came back in 1962, but the expectation for the 2025 team was to prove that LHS is the “Home of Champions”.
If making it to the State Basketball Tournament in Oklahoma was not special enough, playing in the historic Jim Norick Arena at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds aka “The Big House”, 2025 is the final year for the tournament to be played in the arena with a new location being finished next door. The Wolverines drew a matchup with Tulsa East Central in the opening round of the tournament on March 10. Much like the Carl Albert game, East Central held the LHS offense in check in the first quarter, with both teams being held under 10 points in the first eight minutes.The offense picked up in the second period and at the half, the Wolverines trailed by just two, 26-24, despite shooting just 20 percent from the field in the half. Four of their seven made shots came from three-point range. East Central had Lawton High on the ropes at the end of the third. They grew their lead to 12 midway through the period, but LHS was able to cut it to four, 41-37, before the start of the fourth. The Wolverines turned it on in the fourth quarter, opening up the quarter with a big three from senior Pene Vaisagote and then Tavaris Dean grabbed his own rebound and laid it back up to give LHS the 42-41 lead. That lead grew to seven when junior Champ Brewer got a steal and made a layup of his own. The Cardinals cut back into the lead but would never regain it as Deans made his free throws in the final seconds to help LHS secure the 60-57 win. The senior finished with a game-high 16 points and 14 rebounds while Vaisagote had 12 points and eight boards and both junior DeAuvyahn Young and Brewer scored in double digits. LHS shot just 29 percent from the field for the game, but made all but one of their 15 free throw attempts and had 15 steals in the win.
“We just had to settle down and get out of our own way,” Smith told Lawton Constitution sports writer Joey Goodman. “We were obviously a little tense early in the game and once we figured out we could play with these guys we found a way to come back and win.”
Next up for the Wolverines was a rematch with Tulsa Memorial, who they beat in overtime during the finals of the Great Plains Invitational in December. The familiarity seemed to benefit LHS early on as they outscored the Chargers 17-10 in the opening period. Memorial bounced back in the second and cut the lead to one, 25-24 at halftime. In contrast to their first game of the tournament, Lawton High shot 40 percent from the floor in the opening half, but struggled from three and the foul line. The Chargers kept it close in the third, cutting the lead down to one with just seconds left, but a Brewer three swung the momentum back in favor of Big Red. A strong offensive rebound and put back by junior Braedon Burrell gave LHS a 45-39 lead before Memorial finished off the quarter with a bucket of their own to make it a four point game heading into the fourth. Lawton High picked up the pressure in the final period, which was able to lead to multiple fast break points, including an empathic dunk by Vaisagote that made the Yukon High School gym seem like the Wolverine Den back in Lawton. With their offense going cold, all the Chargers could do was foul the Wolverines and hope they would miss their free throws. Young and Deans hit some big foul shots in the final seconds as Lawton High claimed the 60-46 win to secure their spot in the 5A State Championship Game.
“We finally made some big shots and we forced them to make some mistakes,” Smith said. “We got into some foul trouble but guys kept making plays. I said all along that our goal was to just keep getting better each day at practice. We are peaking at the right time and we can still get better.”
Back in the State title game for the first time in over 50 years, the Wolverines faced one of their toughest tests of the season, a red-hot Booker T. Washington squad. The Wolverines put up the first points of the game and led by four with 4:43 on the clock in the first. That is when the game started to turn as Booker T. got hot and quickly took over the lead and held a 15-10 advantage at the end of the first. That then grew to 29-16 at the half after a dominant second period. LHS shot just 28 percent from the field and was 1-11 from three in the opening 16 minutes. On the other end of the floor, the Hornets made 46 percent of the field goals with a trio of long balls. That number kept climbing in the second half as it seemed that Booker T. could not miss. They put up 26 points in the third quarter to lead the Wolverines 52-28 heading into the fourth. Lawton High never quit and out-scored their opponent by three in the final period, but it was just not enough to overcome the Hornet’s scorching third. The 68-44 final score was not an indication of how great the 2024-25 Wolverine team was, just how well the Hornets were playing in the tournament. Deans, as he has done many times during his LHS career, carried the team with 16 points and seven rebounds.
While the sting of defeat and the opportunity to bring home the school’s first gold ball since 1962 loomed large that Championship Saturday at The Big House, the Wolverines and Coach Smith can look back at this season and realize that they made an impact on their school and the community. A few weeks later it was announced that Deans was named the 5A District-2 Player of the Year, Smith was named the Coach of the Year, Young was selected to the All-Defensive first team, Vaisagote claimed first team All-District honors, Brewer was named to the second seam, and junior Anthony Patrick was selected to the third team.
“These seniors have done a good job getting us to this point; of getting back to the state tournaments,” Smith said. “My assistants—Craig Foster, Jeffrey Gulley and Chad Goulsby— really helped get us to this point and our athletic coordinator Lorenzo Williams was really a part of this, helping out in any way he could. I noticed when we got our medals that I looked over and there were some of our freshmen crying right there with the seniors. It showed me that this group did some positive things like changing the narrative. We got great support not only from the Lawton High fans but also from the other city schools. We changed the environment surrounding this program and that’s exciting.”