Photo by Carly Pearson
Olpe's Cole Krueger, right, gets past Hartford's Justin Farr on his way to the basket during Tuesday night’s game at Hartford High School. Krueger scored a game-high 28 points to lead Olpe past Hartford, 68-54.
HARTFORD — When the Olpe Eagles found what worked Tuesday night against Hartford, they went to it time and time again.
More often than not, what worked involved junior Cole Krueger, as Krueger finished with a game-high 28 points and 13 rebounds to lead the 10th-ranked (Class 1A) Eagles past Hartford, 68-54.
“He’s a go-to kind of kid that we have to count on,” Olpe coach Chris Schmidt said. “So far this year, he’s stepped up when he needs to and he’s made big baskets.”
At no time during Tuesday night’s game was this more apparent than in the third quarter, when Olpe turned a one-point halftime lead into an 11-point lead at the end of the third period on the strength of 14 points from Krueger, who went a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the frame.
Olpe’s offense ran through Krueger on nearly every possession in the quarter, with the Eagles setting screens to get Krueger open in the lane for easy layups.
“We started running that play, and I was just open every time,” Krueger said. “A guy would set a screen for me, and I was open.”
Krueger’s 14 points in the third period helped the Eagles (5-0, 4-0 Lyon County League) pull away for good from a pesky Hartford team that had built a big lead in the first half, lost it, and then fought back again to go into halftime down by just one point at 31-30.
Hartford (5-2, 3-1) started the game hot, making 6 of 14 shot while forcing seven Olpe turnovers in the first quarter to take a 17-11 lead into the second period, with seven points coming from 6-foot-5 senior center Justin Farr.
“Our strengths are when we get the ball inside,” Hartford coach Chuck Ewy said, “and have a chance to rebound on both ends.”
But Olpe came storming back with a 16-0 run to begin the second quarter that turned the six-point deficit into a 10-point lead at 27-17 with 4 minutes, 16 seconds left in the half. During that stretch, the Eagles made 7 of 10 field goals.
However, as soon as Olpe got its lead, Hartford crawled right back into the think of things with a 13-4 run over the final four minutes of the firt half to pull to within 31-30 at halftime.
“We got that lead in the second quarter, and then we just got out of control and we were going too fast,” Schmidt said. “We had that lead and we didn’t play well with a lead. We played out of control.”
Photo by Carly Pearson
The Olpe High boys basketball team celebrates after Hartford was forced to call a timeout during the third quarter of Tuesday night’s game at Hartford High School. Olpe beat Hartford, 68-54.
Krueger then delivered the knockout punch in the third quarter. He scored the first four points out of the locker room and had an assist to Josh Klumpe that pushed Olpe’s lead to 37-30 with just more than a minute gone by in the third frame. Back-to-back threes by Alex Medinciy and Bradley Argabright sandwiched a 3-pointer by Hartford’s Cody Barrett to make it 43-34, and then Krueger scored the final 10 points of the quarter for Olpe, his last basket coming with 36 second left in the frame that gave the Eagles a 53-42 lead going into the final quarter.
“I like the kind of games that are close,” Krueger said. “All I thought was just put the ball in the hole. They (Hartford) weren’t picking up on what we were doing.”
Olpe’s lead got as large at 17 points in the fourth quarter before a late flurry by Hartford trimmed the lead somewhat, but the Jags never got it below 10 points, as the Eagles remained perfect on the season heading into the Christmas break.
“It’s nice going into break having not lost a game,” Krueger said, “and not having to worry about that again until we have to play another game.”
Joining Krueger in double figures for Olpe was Josh Klumpe, who scored 13 points to go with seven rebounds.
Cody Barrett lead Hartford with 17 points.
Olpe boys 68, Hartford 54
Tuesday at Hartford
Olpe 11 20 22 15 — 68
Hartford 17 13 12 12 — 54
Olpe (5-0, 4-0 LCL) — Krueger 9-12 10-15 28, Argabright 3-10 1-3 8, Medinciy 3-8 1-2 8, Klumpe 5-8 3-6 13, Schneider 1-2 4-4 6, Duenas 0-0 0-1 0, Redeker 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 22-44 19-31 68.
Hartford (5-2, 3-1 LCL) — Ewy 3-7 2-2 10, Cartee 1-6 0-0 3, Barrett 3-16 10-10 17, Heckathorn 2-4 2-4 6, Farr 5-11 4-5 15, Grieder 1-3 0-0 2, Smith 2-2 0-2 4, Beemer 0-1 0-0 0, Thomsen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-51 18-23 54.
3-point goals — Olpe 2-8 (Krueger 0-1, Argabright 1-3, Medinciy 1-4), Hartford 5-22 (Ewy 2-6, Cartee 1-6, Barrett 1-5, Heckathorn 0-1, Farr 1-3, Grieder 0-1). Rebounds — Olpe 36 (Krueger 13), Hartford 26 (Smith 6). Assists — Olpe 7 (Argabright 3), Hartford 6 (Cartee, Barrett 2). Turnovers — Olpe 20, Hartford 21. Total fouls — Olpe 19, Hartford 23. Fouled out — Hartford: Heckathorn.
Olpe girls 78, Hartford 27
HARTFORD — Hartford girls basketball coach Tammy Windle and her Lady Jaguar squad got an unpleasant taste of what many teams have already experienced this season when they’ve faced the fourth-ranked Olpe Lady Eagles.
Photo by Carly Pearson
Olpe’s Katie Moyer goes up for a shot against Hartford’s Amy Bolen during Tuesday night’s game at Hartford High School. Moyer scored 20 points to help the fourth-ranked (Class 1A) Lady Eagles beat Hartford, 78-27.
“Olpe’s got size and they can shoot from the outside,” Windle said. “It’s hard to defend both.”
Olpe used that combination of size and shooting touch to blitz Hartford Tuesday night, 78-27.
Kathryn Flott and Megan Woods used their height advantage to overpower the Lady Jags, as Flott scored a game-high 21 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field while Woods added 12 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. And as if that wasn’t enough, Olpe sharpshooter Katie Moyer overcame a slow start to hit six 3-pointers on her way to finishing with 20 points.
“It was a pretty good game for us,” Moyer said. “We didn’t start off very good, but after a while, we started getting in the game and going at it.”
If Olpe didn’t start well, teams better watch out once they do.
The Lady Eagles went 22-of-43 (51 percent) from the field in the first half, nearly making more shots than Hartford had attempts (25). Olpe out-scored the Lady Jags 21-9 and 29-6 in the first and second quarters, respectively, to take a commanding 50-15 lead into halftime.
Flott scored all 21 of her points in the first half, as she saw only limited playing time in the second half. Meanwhile, Moyer — after an 0-for-4 performance from behind the three-point line in the first quarter — hit 4 of 5 3-pointers in the second period.
“The shots were definitely not falling in the first quarter,” Moyer said. “He (coach Jesse Nelson) just told me to keep shooting, and finally, they started falling for me. I started getting in rhythm.”
But for as good as Olpe was, Coach Nelson explained that while his team might have played fundamentally sound basketball, it didn’t play with the emotion he wanted, leaving him somewhat disappointed afterward.
“ I think that we’re capable of playing with a little more intensity, in fact, I know we’re capable of playing with more intensity than what we did tonight,” Nelson said. “ I thought we executed pretty well, but as far as playing with a little fire, I don’t think we did that. We just played.”
Jessica Wilson led Hartford in scoring with eight points.
Olpe improved to 5-0 and 4-0 in the Lyon County League. Hartford dropped to 1-7, 1-3 in the league.
Olpe girls 78, Hartford 27
Tuesday at Hartford
Olpe 21 29 17 11 — 78
Hartford 9 6 8 4 — 27
Olpe (5-0, 4-0 LCL) — Haag 2-5 0-0 4, Moyer 7-15 0-0 20, Flott 10-18 1-2 21, Brinkman 4-8 0-1 8, Woods 5-10 2-4 12, Davis 1-5 0-0 3, Bartley 3-6 0-0 6, Cole 0-1 0-0 0, Bell 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 34-71 3-7 78.
Hartford (1-7, 1-3 LCL) — Wilson 3-13 0-0 8, Farr 2-4 3-6 7, Hamman 1-4 0-0 2, Bolen 2-7 0-0 4, Darbro 1-7 0-0 2, Clark 0-2 2-2 2, Veatch 0-3 0-1 0, Lee 1-2 0-0 2, Rohde 0-3 0-0 0, Preeo 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 10-47 5-9 27.
3-point goals — Olpe 7-21 (Haag 0-1, Moyer 6-14, Davis 1-5, Cole 0-1), Hartford 2-15 (Wilson 2-11, Hamman 0-1, Bolen 0-1, Clark 0-1, Veatch 0-1). Rebounds — Olpe 47 (Woods 13), Hartford 33 (Farr 6). Assists — Olpe 16 (Haag 7), Hartford 6 (Hamman 3). Turnovers — Olpe 7, Hartford 21. Total fouls — Olpe 11, Hartford 8.
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