TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — The Tahlequah boys’ and girls’ basketball teams began their seasons on the road Tuesday night and first-year coaches Wes Hayes and Chad Walker each came away with narrow losses in their debuts.

For Hayes and the Tigers, a Stilwell 3-point shooting explosion doomed Tahlequah in a 79-74 loss. The Indians connected on 12 3-pointers in the game.

“Give them credit,” said Hayes. “They shot the ball well. We didn’t have an answer for it.”

Another factor was a lack of timeouts down the stretch. Because the Tigers were forced to use their timeouts earlier in the game, they had none remaining in the final minutes of the game. The final two Tahlequah possessions ended in turnovers.

“It was huge,” said Hayes. “We wasted three of them trying to stop the bleeding when they were making a run.”

Senior point guard Jon Griggs had a breakout game as he led all scorers with 32 points. Senior center Adam Stovall added 20. Kevin Busch was also in double figures with 14 points.

Tahlequah (0-1) came out slow in the game as they missed several layups in the opening minutes as Stilwell built a 5-0 lead. The Indians continued to dictate the pace for much of the first quarter resulting in a 21-12 lead over the Tigers at the end of the first quarter.

“Little things win ballgames,” said Hayes. “We started off poorly and got in a hole. Our inexperience bit us in the rear a few times.”

The Tigers heated up in the second and went on a 12-3 run to start the quarter. Tahlequah ended up outscoring Stilwell 25-13 in the quarter to take a 37-34 lead into halftime.

The teams went back and forth in the third quarter until the Indians used three 3-pointers in the final two minutes to build a 56-50 lead entering the final frame.

The Tigers battled back in the final quarter and found themselves down by two points after Stilwell hit a free throw with 1:41 left. Griggs had a chance to shrink the lead, but missed a pair of free throws with 1:24 remaining to keep the deficit at two.

After the Indians failed to score on their next possession, Griggs made up for the free throws with a clutch 3-pointer to give Tahlequah the 74-73 lead with 40 seconds left.

On the ensuing possession, the Indians got the ball inside and forced a Nicky Halpern foul with 29 seconds left. Stilwell converted the free throws to retake the lead 75-74.

Tahlequah would not see the lead again as their final two possessions ending in turnovers resulting in the final four points for Stilwell in the five-point loss.

Stilwell 48, THS 33

In the girls’ game, Walker found himself in a battle until the Lady Indians pulled away with an 18-7 fourth quarter to win the game 48-33.

“I was proud of their hard work and effort,” said Walker.

Gentry Blankenship led the Lady Tigers with 10 points. Naus Barnett and Kaley McNeil each added six.

Other scorers were Vanessa Rivas with five, Shelby Ferguson with three, Ashley Boswell with two and Erica Sampson with one.

Tahlequah (0-1) looked good early as they used tough defense to build a 6-4 lead after the first quarter.

The scoring pace picked up in the second as Stilwell used a 11-3 run at the end of the half to take a 19-13 lead.

The Lady Tigers did not go away, however, and came out firing with a 7-0 run to start the third quarter. After Tahlequah took a 24-21 lead with 2:12 left, the Lady Indians hit back-to-back 3-pointers to retake the lead. Stilwell added another 3-pointer at the buzzer to take a 30-26 lead into the fourth.

“I was proud of them,” said Walker. “They came out in the second half and responded to what I wanted to do.”

Stilwell then used an 11-0 run in the fourth to push their lead to 15 points before a Shelby Ferguson 3-pointer ended the run with 1:07 left. In all, the Lady Indians outscored Tahlequah by 11 points in the fourth.

“In the fourth quarter, we broke down a little,” said Walker.

The next action for the Tahlequah basketball teams will be on Dec. 7 in the Tahlequah Tournament at the TMAC.