LEBO — Olpe coach Chris Schmidt knows lots of coaches in his situation would have stopped play, re-grouped and tried to halt Lebo’s momentum.
It was tough love — and stubbornness — that kept Schmidt from using a timeout after watching his team’s 13-point first-quarter lead vanish in just 6 1/2 minutes.
“I’m sure a lot of people on our side were saying, ‘When are you going to call it?’” Schmidt said. “I believe the kids put themselves in that position, and I want to see if they’ll fight through it.”
Schmidt received his answer soon enough — the Eagles scored the next nine points in the second quarter and never trailed again, taking a 59-46 victory over the Wolves.
The Eagles, after jumping out to a 15-2 lead, faced their gut-check time midway through the second quarter.
Led by six points during the stretch from Adam Laflin, Lebo used a 16-1 run to take an 18-16 advantage with 4:40 left in the half.
“I was extremely proud of the guys coming back,” Lebo coach Matt Barrett said. “I was disappointed in them early, but they came back, fought hard and did what they had to do to get back in the game.”
Olpe turned the momentum without a stoppage or a pep talk.
Cole Krueger put in a layup, and after an Ethan Schneider free throw and jumper, Josh Klumpe put in back-to-back buckets to push Olpe’s lead to 25-18.
“Our big thing was I thought we just quit attacking,” Schmidt said. “I thought once we started attacking again, we popped that back up to (seven) points pretty quick.”
The Eagles’ full-court pressure seemed to wear down Lebo in the second half.
Lebo, which was hurt somewhat by guard Blake Jones’ foul trouble, was out-scored in both the third and fourth quarters.
Olpe’s two halves had different heroes: the forward Krueger in the first 16 minutes and point guard Bradley Argabright in the final 16.
Krueger was dominant early, making 6 of 7 field goals in a 13-point first half.
“We knew we had to guard him,” Barrett said. “We just didn’t get out on him. He hit some big shots.”
Argabright took over late. He made his first five shots of the second half, oftentimes driving all the way to the rim for layups against Lebo’s man defense.
“The past couple games I’ve been a little tentative,” Argabright said, “but I needed to take it to the hole this game to get to some big points for our team.”
Argabright, who also handled Lebo’s full-court pressure and even stepped in to take a charge late, scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in the second half.
“He kind of makes them tick,” Barrett said. “He handles the ball well and he’s quick. We had a hard time getting his penetration stopped.”
Adam Laflin paced Lebo, hitting 8 of 17 shots for 16 points. Jones added 11 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Krueger finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Olpe’s Alex Medenciy also hit double figures with 11 points.
The Eagles (8-0, 7-0 LCL) made 24 of 47 shots (51 percent).
Olpe boys 59, Lebo 46
Tuesday at Lebo
Olpe 15 12 17 15 — 59
Lebo 9 15 10 12 — 46
Olpe (7-0, 6-0 LCL) — Cole Krueger 7-13 2-4 16, Bradley Argabright 8-14 3-5 20, Alex Medenciy 4-11 0-0 11, Josh Klumpe 3-4 1-3 7, Ethan Schneider 1-4 1-3 3, Nathan Hammond 1-1 0-0 2, Matt Redeker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-47 7-15 59.
Lebo (6-2, 3-2 LCL) — Gage Milota 0-0 0-0 0, Blake Jones 5-11 0-0 11, Cameron Smith 3-10 2-4 8, Adam Laflin 8-17 0-2 16, Dylan Smith 1-3 0-3 2, Calvin Perry 1-2 1-2 3, Devon Johnston 1-2 0-0 2, Dylan Montgomery 0-0 0-0 0, Craig Woods 1-2 0-0 2, Brent Gould 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-48 3-11 46.
3-point goals — Olpe 4-12 (Medenciy 3-9, Argabright 1-2, Schneider 0-1), Lebo 1-9 (Jones 1-3, Smith 0-1, Woods 0-1, Laflin 0-4). Rebounds — Olpe 30 (Krueger 9), Lebo 20 (Jones 6). Turnovers — Olpe 18, Lebo 20. Total fouls — Olpe 15, Lebo 16. Fouled out — Lebo: Jones.
Olpe girls 65, Lebo 39
The Olpe girls didn’t shoot well in their last game, but they more than made up for it on Tuesday, torching the nets in the early going and running away with a 65-39 victory over Lebo.
The Lady Eagles hit their first five shots and finally put up their first miss four minutes into the game. By then, they’d already jumped out to a 14-4 lead.
Olpe finished 9-for-13 from the field in the first quarter, with Megan Woods going 4-for-4 and Katie Moyer making 3 of 4 shots.
The Lady Eagles started the second quarter on a 7-0 run but led just 36-24 at the break after Lebo scored seven of the half’s final nine points.
“We did some things well, but I’m not sure we were particularly sharp,” Olpe coach Jesse Nelson said. “We felt we could be a lot better.”
The Lady Eagles re-focused themselves after intermission, starting the second half on a 14-2 run. Moyer and Kathryn Flott had six points apiece during the stretch.
Olpe’s lead reached 30 points at the 6:38 mark of the fourth quarter, which put the running clock into effect for the rest of the game.
Moyer led Olpe, scoring 21 points. She made 6 of 16 three-point attempts.
Woods also put together her second consecutive impressive performance. The senior maade her first six shots, ending the game 6-of-8 with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Flott contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting.
“She (Flott) is going to make some freshman mistakes, but she plays aggressive offensively and attacks,” Nelson said. “You can see her getting better.”
Lebo’s best outing came from Chelsie Eagleburger, who made just her second start of the year.
The junior was 5-for-6 from both the field and the free-throw line to end with a team-high 15 points.
Lebo coach Jay Applegate said the rest of his players needed to be more aggressive.
“We needed to attack their post girls. We didn’t attack. We went away from them,” Applegate said. “I thought we were intimidated.”
Olpe girls 65, Lebo 39
Tuesday at Lebo
Olpe 22 14 21 8 — 65
Lebo 15 9 4 11 — 39
Olpe (8-0, 7-0 LCL) — Kylie Haag 2-6 0-0 4, Katie Moyer 7-18 1-2 21, Kathryn Flott 8-16 0-0 16, Erica Brinkman 1-4 0-0 2, Megan Woods 6-8 5-6 17, Brianne Davis 1-2 0-0 3, Angela Bartley 0-0 0-0 0, Tanna Bell 0-1 0-0 0, Jill Cole 1-1 0-1 2, Nicole Wendling 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 6-9 65.
Lebo (7-2, 4-2 LCL) — Kate Marks 0-1 0-0 0, Shelby Robke 2-6 0-0 6, Morgan Tastove 1-10 0-0 2, Morgan Laflin 2-6 0-0 4, Chelsie Eagleburger 5-6 5-6 15, Brittany Hase 1-3 0-0 2, Lauren Schlesener 1-2 0-1 2, Tabitha Frye 1-2 0-0 2, Deidra Jones 3-9 0-0 6, Taylor Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Shelbi Fehr 0-0 0-0 0, Chelsea Schroeder 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-47 5-7 39.
3-point goals — Olpe 7-19 (Moyer 6-16, Davis 1-2, Haag 0-1); Lebo 2-15 (Robke 2-6, Marks 0-1, Schlesener 0-1, Miller 0-1, Tastove 0-6). Rebounds — Olpe 41 (Flott 11), Lebo 23 (Laflin 6). Turnovers — Olpe 14, Lebo 20. Total fouls — Olpe 12, Lebo 12. Fouled out — None.