Dogs Bite Back
Josh Slaughter
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Photo by Carly Pearson
The Madison bench celebrates a shot late in the fourth quarter of their game against Olpe in the championship semifinals of the Lyon County League Tournament on Friday night. Madison beat Olpe, 60-56.
The first time the Olpe and Madison boys basketball teams met this season, the Olpe Eagles erased a 24-point deficit to earn a four-point victory.
Friday night in the championship semifinals of the Lyon County League Tournament, the Madison Bulldogs’ biggest lead was only eight points, but it was all they needed, as they held on for a 60-56 victory over the top-seeded and previously unbeaten Eagles.
“Neither team got away like the last time,” Olpe coach Chris Schmidt said. “At the end, it came down to them making free throws, and they made enough.”
Eric Porter overcame poor shooting early on to step up big for the fourth-seeded Bulldogs, hitting five 3-pointers on his way to scoring a game-high 27 points for the Bulldogs.
“He’s a good ball player, he’s a senior kid who did well tonight,” Schmidt said. “You could tell in the way he plays that he wanted to take the shot. He was the leader on the floor for them, he stepped up tonight and you’ve got to give him credit.”
Things didn’t start off well for the Bulldogs or Porter, as he missed six of his first seven from behind the three-point line while Olpe opened the game with an 8-3 run.
However, Porter didn’t let that get him down, as he led a Madison comeback by hitting hit five of his next six shots.
“The best way to get out of a funk is to keep shooting,” Porter said. “Stuff just started falling at the right time, and I just wanted it to keep falling.”
Things would get a little tense late for the Bulldogs late, though, as they only hit nine of their final 16 free throws in the last 2 minutes, including a crucial miss of two free throws by Porter with 3.5 seconds left that gave Olpe the ball out of bounds with 2.9 seconds remaining and the Eagles trailing by just three points.
Photo by Carly Pearson
Madison's Eric Porter drives past Olpe's Cole Krueger Friday night at White Auditorium. Porter had a game-high 27 points in the Bulldogs' 60-56 win over the Eagles.
“I’ve got to work on my free throws.” Porter said. “I was glad we got (the stops). I would have felt bad if would have lost because of those free throws.”
The defense prevailed, though, as the Bulldogs forced a turnover, and Porter hit 1 of 2 from the line to ice the game.
“When we turn up our defense, I think it excites us and helps us turn on our offense,” Madison coach Alan Brown said. “This team (Olpe) was well-coached and they like to play tough defense, but we also like to play tough defense. Tonight we converted on our free throws and attacked.”
Though Madison hit just 12 of 22 free throws (57 percent), the Bulldogs made up for it by hitting 8 of 18 3-pointers.
Cole Krueger was one of four Eagles in double figures with 16 points, and he was joined by Bradley Argabright (12), Alex Medenciy (10) and Ethan Schneider (10).
Along with Porter’s 27 for the Bulldogs, Caleb Hamilton and Sid Childers each added 10 points.
Madison advanced to today’s championship game, where it will meet No. 2-seeded Marais des Cygnes Valley at 8:30 tonight. Olpe will play sixth-seeded Lyndon at 4:30 p.m. in the third-place game.
Madison 60, Olpe 56
Olpe 10 15 11 20 — 56
Madison 12 13 18 17 — 60
Olpe — Cole Krueger 8-14 2-3 16, Bradley Argabright 5-12 0-0 12, Alex Medenciy 3-11 2-5 10, Ethan Schneider 4-10 2-2 10, Josh Klumpe 3-9 2-4 8. Totals 22-58 8-14 56.
Madison — Eric Porter 9-22 4-9 27, Caleb Hamilton 4-6 0-2 10, Sid Childers 4-10 2-3 10, Michael Luthi 0-4 4-6 4, Kaleb Schankie 1-3 2-2 4, Caleb Rathke 1-1 0-0 2, Kale Schankie 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-48 12-22 60.
3-point goals — Olpe 4-10, Madison 8-18. Rebounds — Olpe 38, Madison 30. Turnovers — Olpe 9, Madison 7. Total fouls — Olpe 19, Madison 16.
MdCV 52, Lyndon 43
Marais des Cygnes Valley’s Dennis Becker scored 12 points in the first half and added 14 more in the second half to lead the second-seeded Trojans past Lyndon, 52-43.
Photo by Maizie Main
Marais des Cygnes Valley's Dennis Becker, right, blocks the shot of Lyndon's Quinton Testerman during Friday night's game at White Auditorium.
Becker scored 10 of MdCV’s 17 points in the second quarter, helping the Trojans gain some separation over the Tigers heading into halftime, with the score 25-15 in the Trojans’ favor.
MdCV started the second half on a 10-1 run to make it 35-16 before the Tigers mounted a fourth-quarter rally.
Lyndon managed to get the deficit down to 50-43 with 2:02 left but couldn’t get any closer.
The Trojans iced the game by going 7-for-13 from the foul line.
MdCV will meet Madison in the championship game at 8:30 tonight, while Lyndon will face Olpe in the third-place game at 4:30 p.m.
MdCV 52, Lyndon 43
Lyndon 7 8 9 19 — 43
MdCV 8 17 14 13 — 52
Lyndon — Jeremy Testerman 2, Derek Banzhaf 8, Shea Kirsop 8, Dylan Filburn 6, Keene Niemack 6, Quinton Testerman 13.
MdCV — Michael Schmidt 2, Chisom Spencer 6, Michael Spillman 2, Brandon Litch 7, Drew Woodruff 9, Dennis Becker 26.
Halftime — MdCV 25-15. Total fouls — Lyndon 23, MdCV 9.
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