Whether or not the Bartlesville High School Bruins put the rest of the Frontier Valley Conference boys basketball teams on notice will be proven only by time. But, the Bruins’ five-point victory Friday night against the visiting Owasso High School Rams, 47-42, certainly garnered some attention. A.J. Archambo and Barron Tanner canned 14 and 11 points, respectively, to pace the Bartlesville scoring assault. For the second-straight game, new Bruin player Andrew Gronigan also made an explosive contribution. Gronigan hit three three-pointers — to give him eight for the season — to help suppress Owasso’s confidence. Jaylin Oliver added a pair of treys to help energize the Bruins to their best start (2-0) during the Clent Stewart coaching era. “I was pleased with our poise down the stretch,” said Stewart, who is beginning his third year of guiding the Bruin program. “These are the type of games that in past two years we would have found a way to lose.” The contributions of Bruin players went far beyond those who generated big points. Bruin veteran Matt Simpson, for example, scored only one point but made a monstrously-big play by taking a charge to defuse a potential Rams’ rally. Starting point guard Jake Bilger operated the offense with daring deftness, balancing it between aggressiveness and pragmatism. Tayo Dina labored with blue-collar toughness and angry bee determination on the boards and Caleb Colbert dialed in a deuce at a crucial time. In fact, all times were crucial in this battle. Owasso — led by Jake Thompson and Josh Proctor with 14 and 13 points, respectively — never relented on its effort. In Owasso, started the game in the hole. A pre-game technical foul on the Rams resulted in two free throws by Tanner — who went 6-for-6 on the night at stripe — to put the Bruins ahead, 2-0, before the opening tip-off. After play officially started, the Bruins went ahead, 4-0, on a put-back by Archambo. The Bruins continued to do just enough to stay ahead. A three-pointer by Archambo — off low post feed from Tanner — increased Bartlesville’s lead to 7-2. But, Owasso then went on a 4-0 run, including a layup by Garrett Killion, to pull within a point, 7-6. Colbert then hammered home his bucket — a 12-foot rainbow shot from the right wing — put the Bruins up by three, 9-6. By the end of the first period, Bartlesville enjoyed a two-point advantage, 14-12. But, there was a rusty lining on the Bruins’ silver cloud. Tanner and Dina had already picked up two fouls in the opening period — and Gronigan would be called during the first few seconds of the second quarter for his second foul. The Bruins had already switched to a 3-2 zone, which turned out to be a wise move. Owasso would never score more than 11 points in any of the final three quarters. Stewart said he went to the zone — which featured Archambo in the middle — to protect his players, as much as possible, from more foul trouble and also to take advantage of Owasso’s cold shooting from the outside. Neither team warmed up the nets in the second quarter and the game stood deadlocked, 21-21, heading into halftime. A key defensive moment occurred in the final second of the half when Tanner blocked a three-point attempt to maintain the tie. Owasso went up in the first 23 seconds of the third quarter, 24-21, but the Bruins answered with one flick of Tanner’s wrist — for a net-snapping trey — to pull even, 24-24. The game would be tied again at 27-27. But, Gronigan — who scored 20 points in last Tuesday’s win against Sand Springs and drew unrelenting defensive coverage by Owasso — buried a three-pointer, set up by Archambo’s penetration to the middle and kick-out — to push the Bruins ahead, 30-27. That play seemed to be the turning point — the Bruins owned the lead the rest of the way. Oliver’s buzzer-beating trey at the end of the third period extended Bartlesville’s lead to four points, 35-31. Oliver flushed another three-pointer — off a feed from Simpson — early in the fourth period to make it a 38-31 game. Owasso answered with a 4-0 run, highlighted by Thompson’s power-driving layup with 3:31 left. However, the Bruins caught another gust of momentum to quickly build a seven-point lead — including two free throws by Bilger — with less than a minute left, 44-37. Owasso got back within three points, 44-41. The Bruins then held on at the free throw line, with Tanner sinking a pair with 15.5 seconds remaining and Simpson drilled one charity toss with less than six seconds showing. The Bruins next head out Tuesday to Tulsa Union. They finish up this coming week in the Bixby tourney.