Tuttle Head Basketball Coach Brian Merritt selected to lead All State team

 

Tuttle Head Basketball Coach Bryan Merritt has been selected to coach the 2023 All State Large West team Thursday, July 27 at 8:30 p.m. at the Chieftain Center at Sapulpa High School.

Ranked tenth in 4A, the Tuttle Tigers finished their season in the last game of the Area Tournament earlier this month.

The Tigers went 19-9 on the season, and 4-2 in the postseason, beating Vinita and Madill in the Area Tournament, before falling eight points shy of the state tournament in a 56-48 final with No. 7 Stilwell.

Of the Tigers’ nine losses, eight were to top ten teams.

“Man, they did great,” Coach Merritt said of this year’s Tigers. “It was going to be a rebuilding year no matter what, so I thought, especially with our schedule, if we won 10 games, it would be fantastic. Of the nine losses we had, seven of those (teams) are in the state tournament. I was real proud of them for the year. They always played harder than the other team. Some of the teams were more talented, but I felt like we played harder than almost everybody we played. They practiced real good. Sometimes you have teams that don’t practice good, you’ve got to get them into everything, but they practiced really good. They did about all they could do, so I was really proud of what they did for the year.”

Tuttle senior guard Garrett Redwine was selected as an All-Star for the Large West team. The All-Star list serves as potential alternates in case All State players are unable to play.

Photos provided courtesy of Rachelle Rogers with RSP Photography.