Northern Heights boys basketball coach Lanny Massey isn’t going to fault his team for a victory, but he would be OK if the Wildcats didn’t make it so hard.
The Northern Heights boys fought back from a 15-point third-quarter deficit to defeat Council Grove in Allen on Friday night, 61-58.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our kids’ ability to fight back and win this game,”Coach Massey said. “I just hope that next time, we do not have to spot a team a huge lead before we play intense defense.”
A combination of Council Grove’s zone defense and poor defense by the Wildcats allowed Council Grove to jump out to a 31-21 lead at halftime, which they stretched out to 15 points midway through the third period.
“We couldn’t hit shots against their zone for about the first 20 minutes of the game,” Massey said.
Northern Heights began pressuring Council Grove more defensively, and with the Wildcats’ guards finally starting to heat up shooting-wise, the comeback was on.
Heights cut the Braves’ lead to eight points by the end of the third quarter, and then the Wildcats ran past Council Grove in the fourth, out-scoring the Braves 25-14 in the period.
The Wildcats were helped by four 3-pointers from Levi Hizar, along with two from Michael Glass. Haydon Parks led all scorers with 20 points on 10-of-14 shooting.
Northern Heights boys 61, Council Grove 58
Friday at Allen
Council Grove 17 14 13 14 — 58
Northern Heights 13 8 15 25 — 61
CG — Frye 2, Carr 2, Dugan 8, Ziegenhirt 12, Bowles 14, Olsen 8, Britt 12.
NH — Parks 20, Murray 3, Symmonds 8, McClellan 3, Glass 8, Bronson 4, Hizar 15.
Halftime — Council Grove 31-21. Total fouls — CG 17, NH 16. Fouled out — CG: Ziegenhirt.
Olpe 70, Chase Co. 36
Olpe had five players score in double figures on its way to defeating Chase County, 70-36, Friday night in Olpe.
Josh Klumpe led all scorers with 16 points, while Alex Medinciy had 14, Cole Krueger added 12 and Bradley Argabright and Ethan Scheider each scored 10, which was more than enough to help the Eagles keep their record perfect at 4-0.
Meanwhile, Chase County did not have one player in double figures, as Jesse Cole led the way with eight points.
Olpe took control of things from the start, jumping out to a 26-9 lead after one quarter of play. By halftime, the Eagles led 47-20 — spurred on by 16 offensive rebounds — and the rout was on.
“We got off to a good start,” Olpe coach Chris Schmidt said. “I thought our defensive was intense, and we did a really good job rebounding. We played really well in the first half.”
Olpe next will play at Hartford on Tuesday in a battle of the top two teams in the Lyon County League, as the Jaguars moved to 5-1 overall with their victory Friday night against Madison.
Olpe boys 70, Chase County 36
Friday at Olpe
Olpe 26 21 12 11 — 70
Chase County 9 11 11 5 — 36
CC — Cole 8, Palermo 6, Lauer 5, Fowler 4, Talkington 3, Davis 3, Ch. Onek 3, Co. Onek 2, Duncan 2.
Olpe — Klumpe 16, Medenciy 14, Krueger 12, Argabright 10, Schneider 10, Redeker 4, Duenas 2, Vaughn 1, Kehres 1.
Halftime — Olpe 47-20. Total fouls — Olpe 15, CC 17.
Lebo 65, Flinthills 54
Cameron Smith scored a game-high 26 points to lead Lebo past Flinthills, 65-54, Friday night in Lebo.
But even with Smith’s big night, the Wolves needed a second-half comeback to defeat the Mustangs.
Despite Smith scoring 15 points in the first half for Lebo, Flinthills still led at halftime, 36-30, thanks in part to a 23-10 run in the second period that was fueled by two 3-pointers Dalton Skiles and one from Grant Vogt.
But on the strength of a 16-7 scoring surge of its own in the third quarter, Lebo took a 46-43 lead into the fourth quarter, and the Wolves closed it out by going 11-of-12 form the free-throw line in the final frame.
Adam Laflin and Blake Jones were the only other Lebo players in double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Vogt led Flinthills with 23 points, including three 3-pointers. Skiles finished with 14.
Lebo boys 65, Flinthills 54
Friday at Lebo
Lebo 20 10 16 19 — 65
Flinthills 13 23 7 11 — 54
Flinthills — Womacks 2, Breech 8, Vogt 23, Skiles 14, Wilson 3, Cope 2, Vogts 2.
Lebo — Jones 12, Johnston 4, Perry 2, C. Smith 26, Laflin 14, D. Smith 7.
Halftime — Flinthills 36-30. Total fouls — Lebo 17, Flinthills 15. Technical fouls — Flinthills: Skiles. Fouled out — Flinthills: Skiles.
Marais des Cygnes Valley 51, Burlingame 45
Dennis Becker scored a game-high 21 points to help push Marais des Cygnes Valley past Burlingame, 51-45, Friday night in Melvern.
The Trojans ran into some hot water when they let a 28-22 halftime lead slip away thanks to a 16-7 scoring run by Burlingame in the third quarter, but Marais des Cygnes Valley regrouped in the last stanza by out-scoring the Bearcats 15-7 to take the six-point victory.
Becker also finished with 11 rebounds. Dustin Droege led Burlingame with 12 points.
The win keeps the Trojans perfect this season at 4-0, while Burlingame dropped to 2-4.
“It’s certainly nice to get a win after missing so much school and practice this week because of the weather,” Trojans coach Thad Thurston said.
MdCV boys 51, Burlingame 45
Friday at Melvern
Burlingame 10 12 16 7 — 45
MdCV 13 15 8 15 — 51
Burlingame — Droege 12, Masters 9, Smart 6, Patterson 14, Bevitt 4.
MdCV — McGowin 4, Spencer 8, Spillman 7, Litch 7, Woodruff 4, Becker 21.
Halftime — MdCV 28-22. Total fouls — MdCV 8, Burlingame 15.
Waverly 53, Lyndon 44
A 17-point halftime lead was almost not good enough for the Waverly Bulldogs Friday night, as they pushed past Lyndon, 53-44, in Waverly.
The Bulldogs saw the Tigers whittle away at a 28-11 halftime lead in the second half, and thanks to a poor effort at the free-throw line in the second half by Waverly — the Bulldogs went just 6-for-15 from the line after halftime — Lyndon was able to make things more interesting that the Bulldogs would have liked.
“It’s a good thing we had a big lead,” Waverly coach Mike Hevel said.
Hevel said Waverly did play particularly well in the first half, though, especially at the defensive end.
“The first half was big,” Hevel said. “We played pretty well defensively for most of the game, and we got a lot of balanced scoring. We made some progress.”
Mike Sarver scored a game-high 14 points for Waverly, while Keene Niemack led Lyndon with 10 points.
Waverly boys 53, Lyndon 44
Friday at Waverly
Lyndon 6 5 14 19 — 44
Waverly 12 16 12 13 — 53
Lyndon — Niemack 10, Q. Testerman 8, Kirsop 6, Whitaker 6, Filburn 5, Banzhaf 3, J. Testerman 2, Neilson 2, Wendling 2.
Waverly — Sarver 14, Schmidt 8, Foster 7, Hamm 7, Hevel 6, Sipe 5, Fleming 5, Rice 1.
Halftime — Waverly 28-11. Total fouls — Lyndon 23, Waverly 19. Fouled out — Waverly: Hevel.
Hartford 56, Madison 53
An ugly trend reared its head again for the Madison Bulldogs on Friday night, as they let a lead fade away in the second half of Friday night’s game against Hartford, as the Jaguars won, 56-53.
Madison led 34-28 at the half, but Hartford was able to get going offensively to go along with a stellar second-half defensive performance on Madison’s Kaleb Schankie en route to the thrilling three-point victory.
“I was real proud of the way both teams battled,” Hartford coach Chuck Ewy said. “It was a well-contested game on both sides. Both teams did an excellent job throughout playing hard and aggressively. It was a good basketball game to watch.”
After Schankie scored 20 points in the first half, Hartford put the clamps on him out of the break. Schankie scored just six points in the second half to finish with a game-high 26 points.
Meanwhile, Hartford out-scored the Bulldogs 19-10 in the third quarter to take control of the lead and the game.
“We did a better job in the second half of controlling their offensive flow through Kaleb Schankie, who is an excellent basketball players,” Ewy said. “ We made more of an effort to cover him up.”
Justin Farr led Hartford with 16 points, while Taylor Heckathorn added 12 and Cody Barrett had 10.
With the win, Hartford moved to 5-1, while Madison dropped to 4-2.
Hartford 56, Madison 53
Friday at Hartford
Madison 16 18 10 9 — 53
Hartford 14 14 19 9 — 56
Madison (4-2) — K. Schankie 26, Luthi 11, Porter 10, Ott 4, Kale Schankie 2.
Hartford (5-1) — Justin Farr 16, Taylor Heckathorn 12, Cody Barrett 11, Adam Ewy 6, Storm Cartee 5, Tommy Smith 2, Michael Wilson 2, Aaron Thomsen 2.
Halftime — Madison 34-28. Totals fouls — M 21, H 14. Fouled out — M: Luthi.
• Erica Bennett and Michael Ashford contributed to this report.