About the only thing the Madison boys basketball team did wrong during the first 8 minutes of Tuesday night’s game against Flinthills was whiff on the first attempt at the tipoff.
With Madison’s Jordan Stout jumping center against Flinthills’ Kiel Riemann, Stout jumped too early and missed everything on his swipe for the ball. But so did Riemann, and the result was a re-tip.
After that, Madison promptly went to work with its up-tempo offense, and the result was nothing less than spectacular. On its way to a 79-60 victory over Flinthills in the second round of the Lyon County League Tournament, Madison outscored the Mustangs 25-7 in the first quarter by shooting a red-hot 11-of-19 from the field (58 percent).
“We told our guys that we wanted to come out with a lot of intensity, and we were able to get a lot of shots down,” Madison coach Mike Pitko said. “We haven’t played a better first quarter. It seemed like every shot we put up went in.”
After Kaleb Schankie missed a layup to begin the game, Madison hit seven of its next eight shots from the field to go up 14-5, which forced a Flinthills timeout. During the opening run, four players scored for Madison.
Stout said getting out to a quick start was part of Madison’s plan to wear down Flinthills, which had played a game the night before.
“We wanted to push the tempo at the beginning of the game,” Stout said. “We felt like if we did that, their legs were going to be tired a little bit. We just wanted to run.”
By the time the Mustangs knew what hit them, Madison was sitting on an 18-point lead that would never dip below 13 and reach as high as 28 points. In all, nine players scored for the Bulldogs, with Stout leading the way with 19 points, followed by 15 points apiece from Eric Porter and Schankie.
“I think you feed on one another once you get a few shots to go down,” Pitko said. “A lot of people scored. That’s good for the kids. They look for the ball. That makes it a lot more fun, plus the other team can’t key on one or two players.”
As for Flinthills, it probably wishes it could re-do the first quarter, seeing as how the Mustangs actually hung with Madison after the first quarter. Madison only outscored Flinthills, 54-53, following the first period, which was a source of frustration for Flinthills coach Don Wedel.
“They played a whole lot more aggressive than we did. They played harder than we did,” Wedel said. “We weren’t relaxed and playing our game. I thought we played scared. We were afraid to take the game to them.”
Overshadowed by the 18-point loss was the play of Flinthills forward Jimmy Michal, who scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-20 shooting from the field and a 2-for-2 performance from the free-throw line. Grant Vogt added 13 and Riemann scored 12 for the Mustangs.
Madison will face No.3-seed Lebo in the semifinals at 6 p.m. on Friday, while Flinthills will face sixth-seeded Waverly in the consolation bracket at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
MADISON boys 79, FLINTHILLS 61
Flinthills 7 15 18 20 — 60
Madison 25 14 17 23 — 79
Flinthills (4-7 LCL) — Jackson 6, Nelson 5, Vogt 13, Michal 23, Riemann 12, Oates 1.
Madison (9-1 LCL) — Porter 15, Luthi 8, Stout 19, Huber 6, Schankie 15, Whitmore 3, Childers 4, James 6, Baysinger 3.
Halftime — Madison 39-22. Total fouls — Flinthills 4, Madison 12. Fouled out — None.
Burlingame boys 51,
Lyndon 41
A stirring rally by the Lyndon boys fell short Tuesday against Burlingame, as the No. 4-seed Bearcats advanced to the semifinals of the Lyon County League Tournament with a 51-41 victory over fifth-seeded Lyndon.
After trailing by as many as 11 points in the third quarter, Lyndon (4-6 LCL) managed to pull to within four points at 40-36 with 4 minutes left in the game. But Burlingame (7-3 LCL) had an answer, outscoring the Tigers 11-5 over the game’s final few minutes to clinch the win.
Chris Patterson paced Burlingame with a game-high-tying 17 points, scoring 10 points in the first half to help the Bearcats take a 22-19 lead into halftime — a lead they would never relinquish. Tim Thummel finished with 13 points.
For the Tigers, Derek Banzaf scored 17 points — nine of which came on threes — as he was the only Lyndon player to reach double figures in scoring.
Burlingame will play Olpe at 9 on Friday night, while Lyndon will take on Hartford at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
BURLINGAME boys 51, LYNDON 41
Lyndon 9 10 12 10 — 41
Burlingame 9 13 14 15 — 51
Lyndon (4-6 LCL) — J. Testerman 2, Banzaf 17, Kirsop 5, D. Fliburn 2, Bartkowski 5, Q. Testerman 4, Whitaker 1, Wendling 5.
Burlingame (7-3 LCL) — Dodson 7, Thummel 13, Zerbe 6, Patterson 17, Huffman 8.
Halftime — Burlingame 22-19. Total fouls — Lyndon 22, Burlingame 15. Technical fouls — Lyndon: J. Testerman. Fouled out — Burlingame: Dodson.
Olpe boys 66,
Hartford 42
Every player who got into the game scored for the Olpe boys in a 66-42 victory over Hartford Tuesday night.
In all, 12 players scored for the top-seeded Eagles (10-0 LCL) in a balanced offensive display, as only one — Colton Stueve — scored in double figures with 15 points.
Behind two Stueve 3-pointers, Olpe jumped out to a 14-8 first-quarter lead and then exploded for 24 points in the second period to go into the locker room up, 38-17. Of Hartford’s five field goals in the first half, four were from behind the three-point arc.
The Eagles provided the knock-out punch in the third quarter by outscoring Hartford 16-10 to end the period ahead, 54-27.
Adam Ewy paced the Jaguars (3-8 LCL) with 15 points, all coming on five 3-pointers.
Olpe will play Burlingame at 9 p.m. on Friday, and Hartford will match up with Lyndon at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
OLPE boys 66, HARTFORD 42
Hartford 8 9 10 15 — 42
Olpe 14 24 16 12 — 66
Hartford (3-8 LCL) — Ewy 15, Gardner 7, Edwards 6, Barrett 4, Beemer 4, Farr 3, Dunn 2, Crawford 1.
Olpe (10-0 LCL) — C. Stueve 15, Krueger 8, J. Pargman 6, Burenheide 6, Pettijohn 5, S. Pargman 5, Hammond 4, Haag 4, Klumpe 4, Coble 4, Schmidt 3, A. Stueve 2.
Halftime — Olpe 38-17. Total fouls — Hartford 19, Olpe 15. Fouled out — Hartford: Crawford.