The Academy of Classical Christian Studies Girls Basketball Team

Thanks to social media, Musial stories often earn attention and recognition in a way that follows a familiar pattern. A good deed is done. Instagrams and TikToks and Facebook pages blow up. In a matter of days, local and national media catch wind.

The sportsmanship displayed by the Lady Griffins basketball team at the Academy of Classical Christian Studies in Oklahoma City in February 2025 is a different beast entirely. Perhaps because it simmered for more than six months unnoticed, this good deed is worth savoring a little longer.

With the clock winding down in a district matchup versus Apache High School, referees halted the game for 15 minutes because the scoreboard and score book didn’t match.  Officials needed to get it right in the moment because Oklahoma rules state that after the final buzzer, the outcome is indisputable.

After verifying the “official” score, the Lady Griffins made a last-second shot that secured a 44-43 victory. “It was elation,” Lady Griffins coach Brendan King says. “We had been pretty heavy underdogs and had staged a big comeback.”

As soon as he stepped out of the locker room, though, the long delay gnawed at him. “I had to know in my heart that we really had won the game,” he says. So Brendan watched the game tape. Twice. Each time, the score came out as a 43-42 victory for Apache. “I was torn into pieces.”

He told his wife, Kristen, around 1 a.m., then called the Academy’s athletic director. At a more reasonable hour, they called the state athletic association. “We wanted to approach them with honesty and integrity,’ Brendan says. “As the host school, we let them know we were at fault.” The state governing body invoked a rule that allowed it to intercede in extraordinary circumstances to rescind the win.

Then, he had to tell the team. “I was so nervous because I didn’t know how they would react,” Brendan says. “I didn’t want this to completely crush them. It was a good teaching moment to see that winning is not the whole point.”

Senior Maya Beasley told the Christian Broadcasting Network that the team shared a moment of grief at the loss. “But there’s nothing that could take away that hard work and all of our teamwork,” she says.

From there, Brendan and his wife made the 90-minute drive to deliver the trophy to Apache. “I told them that we never meant to take away the moment from their team and families,” he says.

Apache coach Amy Meriwether isn’t sure that every coach would have done that. “He showed us that there are still good people in this world. It’s something we’ll always remember.”

That act of sportsmanship seemed forgotten for months by everyone except Brendan’s hometown in Texas, where a radio station reported the story over the summer. But when practice started in October with a roster that included 10 freshmen, he got an unexpected call from CBS’s Steve Hartman, who wanted to feature the team in an “On the Road” segment.

After that, reporters from The New York Times, CNN and The Guardian picked up the tale, which led to what team members referred to as an onslaught of “fan mail.” The daily haul featured cash donations to the program, including $500 from an inspired good sport in Singapore.

“We never thought it would get to this point,” Brendan says. “We were doing in our hearts what was the right thing to do. I hope everyone learns that honesty and integrity and sportsmanship go beyond wins and losses.” With or without instant gratification.