Coach Matt Lohn’s Dragons had their backs to the wall last week but came through with three straight consolation bracket wins to advance to the Area Tournament starting today (Thursday) at Seminole.

After an opening round setback at the hands of Harrah, coach Toney Cooper’s Dragons bounced back posting wins over Western Heights and Tuttle to advance to Area.

The girls will open at 1 p.m. today facing off with Fort Gibson followed by the boys opening round bout with Muldrow at 2:30 p.m.

Led by Drew Blair’s dozen and 10 points by Jaime Resendiz, the Dragons cruised to a 62-28 victory over Harrah when 14 players scored for Purcell.

They also had a breather in the final game of the tournament clubbing Harding Charter Prep, 47-25.

But it was the middle contest with Western Heights that tested the Dragons’ metal.

Purcell got off to a fast start playing tenacious defense and turning it into points.

“Western Heights adjusted their lineup to go smaller so they could apply more ball pressure, and it worked well,” Lohn said.

They cut the Dragons’ early seven point lead down to 26-24 at halftime.

“They maintained the edge in momentum through the third quarter as we tried to find some traction. “It was really a gut check for us. I knew it was going to come down to the team who could raise their level and be the toughest every possession, which we had not been most of the second half.

“However, it was great to see these kids dig in and decide it was their time. Down the stretch, we got stops and backed it up with better offense, allowing us to make our final run to regain the lead.

“Neither team quit until the final horn. Regardless of the result, I have never been more proud of a team’s effort for four full quarters. It wasn’t always pretty, but they were relentless and stuck with it better than any team I have coached to this point. I hope to see more of it as we march on,” the coach said.

Resendiz led all scorers with 15. Canaan Colburn was also in double digits with a dozen to help the Dragons post a 54-51 victory and advance.

The victory set up a rematch with Harding Charter Prep, a game Purcell felt like they let slip away in the district tourney finals.

“I knew they would be poised and ready to go compete at a high level,” Lohn said. “The first quarter was like a chess match, as we both worked to see how the adjustments we had made would work.

It was easy to see with the 7-6 score in their favor that both sides knew they couldn’t be the first to flinch. We finally got to them in the second quarter using our half court trap, which helped stimulate our scoring on the other end.

Purcell turned the one point deficit into a 21-12 halftime lead.

“The momentum we took into halftime stormed back out with us and it was really impressive to see these kids take their game to another level as we suffocated Harding’s offense,” the coach said.

“Our defense was clicking on all cylinders and we were rebounding the ball much better than the district game. These were keys we had discussed and it allowed us to get out into transition and attack them going the other way.”

Even when the Dragons were unable to run at them they were pretty effective in their half court sets.

“This game was about our defense and it dominated the action. That’s Purcell Basketball! With the win, we are able to check off another team goal, which was to be an area qualifier.

“We appreciated the accomplishment, but we are not content. We will be right back to work on Monday because we know the job is not finished,” he concluded.

Resendiz and Colburn matched their scores from the Western Heights contest and Purcell avenged the district loss.

Purcell was 21-8 heading into Area.

In the Regional opener, Cooper’s Dragons couldn’t pry the led off the bucket from layups to treys while Harrah’s girls seemingly couldn’t miss.

After falling behind 16-3 at the end of the first period the final three quarters were only separated by a single point.

Halle Buchanan’s nine points topped the girls’ scoring.

Purcell bounced right back and booted Western Heights out of post season play with a 61-30 victory.

Kaylin Vazquez poured in a dozen points to lead the Dragons.

Vazquez stayed hot for the Tuttle game with 15 points. She was joined in double figures by Lili Del Toro with 13 and Buchanan with 11.

The Dragons were 14-16 heading into the Area Tournament.

“Western Heights had a lot of size but were fairly inexperienced so we wanted to jump on them early and force the action. Scoring 21 in the first while holding them to four gave us the advantage we wanted.,” Cooper said.

“We controlled the game from start to finish. I was proud of our effort and focus.”

What are the odds we match up with the team that ended our season a year earlier?” Cooper said. “We were determined to not have a repeat. It was a very competitive first quarter, but in the second quarter we turned up our defensive intensity and took control of the game.

“After giving up 15 in the first our kids held them to four in the second, giving us a lead going into the half.

Just like last year Tuttle adjusted and came roaring back but our kids withstood the run and made big plays down the stretch to win the game,” Cooper said.

Halle Buchanan also turned in another double-double with 11 points and 12 boards.

Buchanan knocked down some big free throws to seal the win.

Big win for our kids against a solid Tuttle team,” the coach continued.

Fort Gibson is ranked No. 12 and are a solid team.

“We’re  thankful that our team is still competing and still has an opportunity at reaching our ultimate goal,” Cooper concluded.