Chris Schmidt had waited long enough.
With his team up by one at halftime, the Olpe coach decided it was time to go to his team’s bread and butter: the full-court press.
“Coach tries to not show it a little bit,” Olpe’s Cole Krueger said, “but when he does, it usually works for us.”
It worked once again on Thursday night.
Led by its pressure defense, Olpe took control in the third quarter of a 65-53 victory over Norwich in the first round of Class 1A Sub-State play at White Auditorium.
Olpe’s full-court man defense forced six turnovers in the first 2:40 of the half, and the team took advantage on the offensive end.
Olpe scored the first 11 points after halftime, as Alex Medenciy, Bradley Argabright and Krueger all scored buckets off Norwich turnovers.
Quickly, a 30-29 Olpe lead had turned into a 41-29 advantage.
“Defensively, we stepped it up,” Schmidt said, “and it allowed us to get some easier baskets and get good looks.”
Olpe added a 7-0 run later in the period, while Norwich had trouble getting anything going.
NHS finally picked up its first field goal with 1:25 left in the quarter on a layup from Levi Poindexter.
By then, Olpe had built a 49-35 cushion.
“We got to loose balls, got some tips away, and that was a big part of the game to make that little run,” Schmidt said.
Norwich, which was outscored 21-8 in the third quarter, couldn’t get the deficit under double digits the rest of the way.
Olpe came back strong after watching Norwich deliver the initial blow.
NHS jumped out to a 6-1 lead, which ignited the large following of Norwich fans that had made the trip.
Krueger made sure his team wouldn’t fall behind for long.
The 6-foot-1 forward scored his team’s final four field goals of the first quarter, helping OHS to a 20-15 lead.
The junior had 11 points and six rebounds in the first period alone.
“I was just trying to step it up,” Krueger said. “The last couple of games, I hadn’t been doing very well. I was just shooting it, and they were going in for me tonight.”
Norwich’s 6-foot-5 forward Mason Hewitt dominated the second quarter, scoring 12 of his team’s 14 points, as NHS trailed just 30-29 at halftime.
Olpe shut down Hewitt in the second half, allowing him just one field goal — a desperation 3-pointer with less than a minute left.
Krueger led Olpe, posting a team-high 23 points, 14 rebounds and five steals.
The junior had 22 points and 12 rebounds before the fourth quarter began.
“He did carry us, especially in the first half,” Schmidt said.
Argabright and Medenciy both contributed 13 points, while Josh Klumpe added 10.
Hewitt paced Norwich with 18 points and 18 rebounds.
With the victory, Olpe advanced to Saturday’s Sub-State Championship game against Goessel.
The Bluebirds (17-6) defeated St. Paul 58-15 earlier Thursday to move to the title game.
The winner of Saturday’s 8 p.m. matchup at White Auditorium will advance to the 1A State Tournament in Hays.
Olpe boys 65, Norwich 53
Thursday at White Auditorium
Olpe 20 10 21 14 — 65
Norwich 15 14 8 16 — 53
Olpe (21-2) — Cole Krueger 10-14 3-10 23, Bradley Argabright 3-13 6-8 13, Alex Medenciy 4-13 3-5 13, Josh Klumpe 4-9 2-6 10, Ethan Schneider 1-2 2-4 4, Jacob Kehres 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Hammond 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Redeker 0-1 2-2 2, Bryant Duenas 0-0 0-0 0, Wade Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-52 18-35 65.
Norwich (13-10) — Reece Johnson 2-5 0-0 4, Levi Poindexter 9-18 5-8 24, Bryan Rhodes 1-2 1-1 3, Mason Hewitt 6-14 5-6 18, Jordan Holder 2-4 0-2 4, Cody Howard 0-3 0-0 0, Colton Hardaway 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-47 11-17 53.
3-point goals — Olpe 3-14 (Medenciy 2-10, Argabright 1-3), Norwich 2-12 (Hewitt 1-1, Poindexter 1-4, Rhodes 0-1, Holder 0-1, Howard 0-2, Johnson 0-3). Rebounds — Olpe 34 (Krueger 14), Norwich 34 (Hewitt 18). Turnovers — Olpe 11, Norwich 19. Total fouls — Olpe 16, Norwich 20. Fouled out — Norwich: Poindexter, Rhodes.