The No. 1-seeded Northern Heights boys got rolling early and never let up, posting an 84-37 victory over eighth-seeded Eureka Monday night in Allen in the first round of the Class 3A Sub-State.
Heights seemingly put the game out of reach right from the start, getting out to a 24-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Still, to Heights coach Lanny Massey, that wasn’t good enough.
“We came out and had an OK first quarter,” Massey said, “but didn’t play defense as intensely as we needed to.”
Not that it mattered much. The Wildcats (19-2) outscored Eureka (0-21) in every quarter, including another 24-8 run in the third quarter to make it 63-28 heading into the last frame.
“The third quarter, our kids really came out early and put the game away,” Massey said.
Haydon Parks led the way for Heights with a game-high 22 points. The 6-foot-6 senior went 11-of-15 from the field, and also pulled down eight rebounds and dished out four assists.
Three other Wildcats joined Parks in double figures, as Levi Hizar went for 13 — including a 3-for-6 showing from three-point range — while Roman Murray and Kenneth Bronson each scored 12. Murray and Bronson each added two 3-pointers for Heights, as Eureka played zone the entire game to try to slow down the Wildcats inside.
“It was really nice to have Roman, Kenny and Levi hitting threes for us,” Massey said. “That makes people have to be a little more honest on our post players.”
Heights moves on to face Central Heights on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Wellsville.
On the other side of the bracket, second-seeded Osage City defeated seventh-seeded Jayhawk Linn, 51-37, and No. 3-seeded Erie defeated No. 6-seeded West Franklin, 99-58.
Northern Heights boys 84, Eureka 37
Monday at Allen
Eureka 8 12 8 9 — 37
No. Heights 24 15 24 21 — 84
Eureka (0-21) — Austin Martell 14, Kevin Hayes 8, Braden Barrett 5, Tyler Spore 7, C.J. Boyer 3.
Northern Heights (19-2) — David Hanks 7, Roman Murray 12, Levi Hizar 13, Derrek Swanson 6, Kenneth Bronson 12, Tyler McClellan 4, Pete Symmonds 4, Haydon Parks 22, Michael Glass 4.
Halftime — Heights 39-20. Total fouls — Eureka 8, NH 14.
Chase County girls 37, Herington 32
The Chase County girls overcame a rough opening quarter to come from behind to defeat Herington, 37-32, Monday at Herington in the first round of the Class 2A Sub-State.
After falling behind 12-5 in the first 8 minutes, the sixth-seeded Lady Bulldogs rallied by outscoring third-seeded Herington 22-13 over the next two quarters before keeping the Lady Railers at bay in the final frame.
The victory for Chase County came one week after the Lady Bulldogs lost to Herington by nine points.
“This was a good turnaround for our team,” Chase County assistant Cammy Onek said. “We really focused on defense this time around, and defense was what won this game for us.”
Much of that defensive concentration went into stopping Herington’s Crysta Brockmeier, the Lady Railers’ leading scorer. Chase County did just that, holding Brockmeier to just nine points.
“We really focused on her,” Onek said, “and the girls played great defense and didn’t let her breathe.”
Chase County’s Ashley Cahoone led all scorers with 12 points, while Robin Grokett added 10.
Chase County advances to play second-seeded Lyndon Thursday at Alma-Wabaunsee High School.
Chase County girls 37, Herington 32
Monday at Herington
Chase County 5 11 11 10 — 37
Herington 12 6 7 7 — 32
Chase County — Grokett 10, Wells 4, Scott 7, Watts 12, Cahoone 3, Duncan 1.
Herington — Makovec 6, Brockmeier 9, Perry 6, Schneider 11.
Halftime — Herington 18-16. Total fouls — CC 24, Herington 18. Fouled out — Herington: Perry, Schneider.
Lyndon girls 52, Wabaunsee 44
The second-seeded Lyndon girls held off a late Wabaunsee charge to take a 52-44 victory Monday night in Lyndon in the first round of the Class 2A Sub-State.
Thanks to a 9-for-11 performance at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, Lyndon was able to pull away after No. 7-seeded Wabaunsee had cut the Lady Tigers’ lead to four points heading into the final quarter. The fourth-quarter free-throw effort was led by Ashley Persinger, who went 6-for-6.
Persinger led all scorers with 16 points. Krista Banzhaf (12) and Chelsea Schmitz (11) also hit double figures for Lyndon.
Lyndon advances to play sixth-seeded Chase County Thursday at Alma-Wabaunsee High School.
Lyndon 52, Wabaunsee 44
Monday at Lyndon
Wabaunsee 10 14 13 7 — 44
Lyndon 14 15 12 11 — 52
Wabaunsee — Wenderrott 6, Haller 7, Ebert 2, Gleue 10, Heigert 14, Heiman 2, Diepenbrock 3.
Lyndon (16-5) — Cara Bolz 7, Ashley Persinger 16, Chelsea Schmitz 11, Kayla Schmidt 6, Krista Banzhaf 12.
Halftime — Lyndon 29-24. Total fouls — Wabaunsee 14, Lyndon 9.
Canton-Galva girls 45, Lebo 42
The Lebo girls let a one-point halftime lead slip away in the third quarter and then had a poor showing at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter in a 45-42 loss to Canton-Galva Monday night at Lebo in the first round of the Class 2A Sub-State.
The No. 4-seeded Lady Wolves led 23-22 at halftime, but were outscored 14-9 in the third frame to go into the fourth quarter trailing by four at 36-32.
Then, in the final 8 minutes, Lebo went just 1-of-7 from the free-throw line, with two of those misses coming on the front end of one-and-ones.
Meanwhile, Canton-Galva’s Kaitlyn Bressie scored six of her game-high 22 points in the third quarter, helping Canton-Galva outscore Lebo in the frame to take the lead and gain all the separation it needed to advance to the second round.
Shelby Robke led Lebo in scoring with 18 points.
Lebo ends its season with a 13-8 record.
Canton-Galva 45, Lebo 42
Monday at Lebo
Canton-Galva 12 10 14 9 — 45
Lebo 8 15 9 10 — 42
Canton-Galva (9-12) — Vogts 12, Williams 1, Enns 6, Bressie 22, Haines 4.
Lebo (13-8) — Brittany Hase 2, Kate Marks 5, Shelby Robke 18, Lauren Schlesener 5, Morgan Tastove 2, Tabitha Frye 2, Morgan Laflin 7, Chelsea Eagleburger 1.
Halftime — Lebo 23-22. Total fouls — CG 15, Lebo 12. Fouled out — CG: Shearer.