Photo by Maizie Main
Lyndon’s Quinton Testerman, right, goes up to block a shot from Hartford’s Taylor Heckathorn in their Lyon County League Tournament matchup Monday at White Auditorium. Lyndon held on for a 63-58 victory.
With just 3 seconds left, Lyndon coach Michael Massey screamed one last command to all his players.
“Grab your shorts!”
The coach wasn’t about to let anything else go wrong for sixth-seeded Lyndon in the final minutes of Monday’s 63-58 victory over three seed Hartford.
“We seem to fall into fouls and technical fouls and things like that,” Massey said. “It was just to make sure it didn’t happen.”
Sure enough, the Tigers played the final seconds on defense with their hands clenched around the mesh at their side, making sure not to even give the appearance of a reach-in foul.
A half-court three from Hartford came up short, and finally the Tigers could celebrate a Lyon County League Tournament victory — their first in five years.
“It’s a big win for our program,” Massey said.
It was also a huge relief for the Tigers when the final buzzer sounded.
Lyndon led 53-39 with 3 minutes left before everything started to fall apart.
The Tigers missed six of their next eight free throws, including the front-end of two one-and-ones. They committed an intentional foul on a made basket by Hartford’s Justin Farr, giving the Jaguars a five-point possession.
Photo by Maizie Main
Hartford's Justin Farr goes up to block a shot by Lyndon's Keene Niemack last night during the first round of the Lyon County League tournament. Lyndon beat Hartford 63-58.
“That was nerve-wracking,” Lyndon’s Derek Banzhaf said. “I didn’t think we were going to (win) it.”
Lyndon also paid the price for leaving Hartford’s perimeter players unguarded. Storm Cartee and Farr hit 3-pointers to get the lead down to 57-54 with 36.7 seconds remaining.
“We kind of brought it on ourselves, allowing them to penetrate and get wide-open shots at the end of the game,” Massey said. “That should never happen.”
Lyndon hit four of its next six free throws to make it 61-54, but even then couldn’t avoid a costly mistake, as the Tigers’ Dylan Filburn picked up a technical foul with 13.1 seconds after pushing a Hartford player.
A Cartee trey with 7 seconds left pulled Hartford back to within three at 61-58, but Lyndon’s Shea Kirsop hit a pair of free throws to seal it.
“I probably shouldn’t have felt comfortable with a 14-point lead with 3 1/2 minutes left, but I did,” Massey said. “Our guys eventually stepped up and started making some free throws, which was the difference.”
Lyndon built its advantage by being patient and efficient against Hartford’s 1-3-1 zone in the first half.
The Tigers had just four first-half turnovers and used a 9-0 second-quarter run — with five points coming from Banzhaf during the stretch — to take a 21-13 lead with 4 minutes left in the first half.
Hartford trailed just 44-38 after three quarters, but Lyndon started the fourth on a 9-1 spurt that gave the Tigers their largest cushion at 53-39.
“When it comes right down to it, I think they just did a better job executing in the second half than what we did on both ends of the floor,” Hartford coach Chuck Ewy said.
Banzhaf led Lyndon, scoring a game-high 20 points. Quinton Testerman added 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
Farr led Hartford, scoring 15 points with 14 rebounds. The senior forward made his final four shots and had 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Photo by Maizie Main
A group of Hartford mothers sit together to show support for the team during the Hartford vs. Lyndon game.
“Finally, I think he hit his stride,” Ewy said. “Unfortunately for us, it was a little late in the game.”
Cartee contributed 13 points, while Adam Ewy had 11.
Lyndon advances to play the winner of today’s Marais des Cygnes Valley-Chase County game at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Hartford will face the loser of the MdCV-CCHS contest at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Photo by Maizie Main
Hartford's Cody Barrett drives to the basket last night during the 87th Annual Lyon County League Tournament. The Jaguars played the Lyndon Tigers and lost 63-58.
Though Lyndon made just 17 of its 32 free throws (53 percent), Banzhaf finished 8-for-9 from the stripe and was a perfect 5-of-5 in the fourth quarter.
Even with his clutch performance, he wasn’t allowed to lift his hands for the final 3 seconds.
“I told (Coach) I wasn’t going to foul, but he told me he knew me,” Banzhaf said with a smile, “so I grabbed my shorts.”
Lyndon 63, Hartford 58
Lyndon 10 19 15 19 — 63
Hartford 9 13 15 20 — 58
Lyndon (4-7) — Derek Banzhaf 5-10 8-9 20, Dylan Filburn 2-4 2-4 6, Keene Niemack 2-7 0-3 4, Quinton Testerman 6-7 0-3 12, Alex Wendling 3-5 3-5 9, Shea Kirsop 2-5 4-6 8, Jeremy Testerman 0-2 0-2 0, Kade Neilson 2-3 0-0 4, Trey Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-43 17-32 63.
Hartford (9-4) — Adam Ewy 3-9 4-5 11, Storm Cartee 4-12 2-4 13, Cody Barrett 2-9 2-4 7, Taylor Heckathorn 3-6 2-3 8, Justin Farr 6-13 2-3 15, Aaron Thomsen 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Beemer 2-4 0-1 4, Logan Grieder 0-2 0-0 0, Tommy Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Wilson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-55 12-20 58.
3-point goals — Lyndon 2-9 (Banzhaf 2-6, Filburn 0-1, Q. Testerman 0-1, J. Testerman 0-1), Hartford 6-23 (Cartee 3-10, Farr 1-2, Barrett 1-4, Ewy 1-6, Grieder 0-1). Rebounds — Lyndon 31 (Q. Testerman 8), Hartford 32 (Farr 14). Turnovers — Lyndon 10, Hartford 13. Total fouls — Lyndon 20, Hartford 20. Fouled out — Lyndon: Wendling; Hartford: Ewy.
Chase County boys 52, Burlingame 39
The 10th-seeded Chase County boys dominated the third quarter on their way to the 13-point victory over seven seed Burlingame.
The Bulldogs trailed 24-22 in the third quarter before Brian Palermo’s three-point play sparked a 9-0 run.
Chase County, with the help of 10 points in the third quarter from Palermo, outscored Burlingame 19-4 during the 8-minute stretch to take a 39-26 advantage into the final frame.
Palermo led all scorers with 28 points, while Chayne Onek contributed nine.
Chris Patterson paced Burlingame with 13 points, putting up 11 of those points in the second quarter.
Austin Masters and Cory Smart added eight points apiece.
The Bulldogs won despite making just 10 of 26 free-throw attempts (38 percent).
Chase County advances to face the two seed, Marais des Cygnes Valley, at 5:30 tonight, while Burlingame will play Flinthills at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Chase County 52, Burlingame 39
Chase County 13 7 19 13 — 52
Burlingame 5 17 4 13 — 39
Chase County (2-9) — Eli Fowler 6, Brian Palermo 28, Greg Davis 0, Kyle Grokett 1, Shawn Talkington 0, Jim Lauer 4, Chayne Onek 9, Jesse Cole 4, Tyler Duncan 0. Totals 20 10-26 52.
Burlingame (4-9) — Brandon Martin 1, Ty Lang 4, Dustin Droege 0, Austin Masters 8, Cory Smart 8, Chris Patterson 13, Joel Bevitt 5. Totals 12 14-23 39.
Halftime — Burlingame 22-20. Total fouls — Chase County 18, Chase County 21. Fouled out — Chase County: Talkington; Burlingame: Patterson.
Waverly boys 50, Flinthills 44
After trailing early, the ninth-seeded Waverly boys recovered nicely in a 50-44 victory against eighth-seeded Flinthills.
Led by 10 first-quarter points from Grant Vogt, Flinthills grabbed a 16-9 lead after the first 8 minutes.
It didn’t take long for Waverly to respond.
The Bulldogs used a 20-13 run in the second quarter to tie it at 29, then outscored the Mustangs 7-5 in the third quarter and 14-10 in the fourth to build their lead.
Kale Hamm led Waverly’s balanced attack with 11 points, while Mike Sarver added double figures with 10.
Nine players scored in all for the Bulldogs.
Vogt and Dalton Skiles finished with 16 points apiece for Flinthills.
Waverly will take on top seed Olpe at 8:30 tonight, while Flinthills’ next game will be against Burlingame at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Waverly 50, Flinthills 44
Flinthills 16 13 5 10 — 44
Waverly 9 20 7 14 — 50
Flinthills (3-10) — Garrett Breech 3, Grant Vogt 16, Dalton Skiles 16, Andrew Cope 4, Ethan Eisenbarth 4, Nate Vogts 2, Tyler Wilson 0. Totals 19 5-9 44.
Waverly (4-9) — Travis Sipe 7, Matt Hevel 6, Kevin Schmidt 7, Mike Sarver 10, Dakota Foster 3, Mason Fleming 2, Kale Hamm 11, Raymond Zilliox 2, Josh Teal 2. Totals 18 10-16 50.
Halftime — Tied at 29. Total fouls — Flinthills 17, Waverly 12. Fouled out — Flinthills: Skiles.
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