The tweet read Oklahoma HS shot clock debate in focus after 4-2 basketball game (yes, that was the score) , “Eagles win offensive penalty against Anadarko.” The graphic in the post shows boys basketball players and a 4-2 final score.
For a moment you think the graphics editor made a mistake before it explodes the tweet. Either the sport is wrong or the score is wrong. Then you re-read the photo caption and realize that the line was a joke and that the 4-2 score was actually the score of a basketball game.
Twenty-seven days after the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association voted against a shot clock, the Weatherford (Oklahoma) High School boys basketball team topped the Anadarko (Oklahoma) High School team in perhaps the lowest-scoring game in the nation this season.
A fast-paced video shows the affair, with Anadarko spending most of the time holding the ball.
This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Oklahoma needs a shot clock. It hurts the game, it hurts the KIDS. pic.twitter.com/6Y1C3M4KBN
— Derek Murray (@DMurrayHoops) February 8, 2023
At the end of the first quarter: The score was tied at zero. By halftime, Weatherford took a 2-0 lead on a pair of free throws by sophomore C.J. Nixon with about 7:30 left in the second quarter, according to MaxPreps. No field goals were scored in the first half.
In the third quarter, Weatherford broke the game open with a 4-0 lead on what appeared to be the game’s first possession of the half. Anadarko held the ball for most or all of the remainder of the fourth quarter and did not increase its urgency to score in the fourth quarter by continuing to play guard. The only time the Warriors scored was on a fast break with about 2:30 left.
According to MaxPreps, both teams had four shots each. Three of Anadarko’s shots were 3-point attempts. Weatherford had just one tackle and Nixon scored all four points for the Eagles.
Reaction on Twitter wasn’t unanimous: Some people said it was proof that the state needed a shot clock, while others argued that the two-win Anadarko team was simply implementing the best strategy to beat the current Weatherford team by 19-1. Isn’t the point to win? Or is it to challenge athletes to develop?
A proposal that would have implemented a shot clock beginning in the 2024-25 season in Classes 3A through 6A in Oklahoma was defeated Jan. 11, according to COCO.
The debate will continue to rage.