Talk about a win for the history books.
The Northern Heights boys earned their first-ever State Tournament berth with an 82-64 victory over Erie in the Class 3A Sub-State title game at Wellsville Saturday night.
Heights never trailed and Erie only got the score tied twice in the early going, as Heights outscored Erie in every quarter to reach the 3A State Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Hutchinson.
Heights will be the No. 3 seed at State and will open play against sixth-seeded Galena at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
“Northern Heights has been waiting 50 years to get to State on the boys side,” Heights coach Lanny Massey said, “and we finally broke through.
“I’m so happy for our kids. They fought so hard.”
The Wildcats led by just two at the end of the first quarter, but then outscored Erie 17-11 in the second period to take a 36-28 lead going into halftime.
With Heights sitting on a 56-44 advantage entering the fourth quarter, the Wildcats then turned to their free-throw shooting to ice the game. The Wildcats hit 18 of 21 free throws in the fourth quarter to keep Erie at bay.
The Wildcats got a big game from senior center Haydon Parks, who poured in a game high 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field and a 3-for-6 performance at the foul line despite running a fever earlier in the day. Low-post man David Hanks also had a big night off the bench, scoring 20 points on 10-of-19 shooting.
Massey also praised the play of his guards, saying they helped Parks and Hanks by keeping the Erie defense honest.
“Levi Hizar had a nice night for us to keep Erie from totally collapsing on the middle,” Massey said. “Michael Glass and Kenneth Bronson gave us very good ball movement and had 11 assists between the two of them, as well as limiting our turnovers.”
Hizar scored 15 points to join Parks and Hanks in double figures.
It all led to the biggest victory in the program’s history, but Massey said he didn’t want the accomplishments to stop. “Now, we have to remember we want three more wins and can’t just be happy with this,” he said. “These opportunities don’t come around every day.”
Northern Heights boys 82, Erie 64
Saturday at Wellsville
Erie 17 11 16 20 — 64
No. Heights 19 17 20 26 — 82
Erie — Seth Gonzalez 11, Tyler Kiister 12, Zach Rowland 5, Ethan Cornell 13, Preston Page 9, Ian Stich 4, Jordan McKinney 10.
Northern Heights (21-2) — Haydon Parks 23, Pete Symmonds 5, Levi Hizar 15, Tyler McClellan 2, Michael Glass 9, Roman Murray 3, Chris Seematter 1, David Hanks 20, Kenneth Bronson 4.
Halftime — Heights 36-28. Total fouls — Erie 24, NH 20. Fouled out — Erie: Cornell, Page.
Northern Heights girls 45, Jayhawk-Linn 35
The Northern Heights Ladycats completed their improbable run through Sub-State with a 45-35 victory over Jayhawk-Linn in the championship game Saturday night in Wellsville, giving the Heights girls their first State Tournament appearance since 1999.
Heights, seeded fourth in the Class 3A Sub-State, defeated the fifth-, first- and second-seeded teams on its way to the Sub-State title.
“I am very proud of this team and happy for them,” Heights coach Tim Riemann said. “The girls are very excited and are looking forward to their next challenge.”
The next challenge for the Ladycats will be the 3A State Tournament in Hutchinson. Heights (15-8) will be the tournament’s seventh seed and will open play at 3 p.m. Thursday when it takes on second-seeded Cimarron (22-1).
Heights grabbed control of the game in the third quarter, as the Ladycats outscored Jayhawk-Linn 12-6 in the frame to turn what had been a 21-16 lead at halftime into a 33-22 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Jayhawk-Linn could not reel the Ladycats in, however, as it only outscored Heights by one point in the fourth period.
Heights made it past Jayhawk-Linn (16-7) despite getting all of its scoring from just four players.
Amy Lee led all scorers with 16 points, and she also dished out two assists. Andrea Miller and Sarah Boline each made it into double figures as well, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively. Amy Boline was the only other Ladycat to score, as she chipped in eight points.
But while seven Jayhawk-Linn players scored, none reached double figures against a stingy Northern Heights defense that came away with 13 steals.
Leading the way in rebounding was Heights’ Tess Hobson, who grabbed eight rebounds. Sarah and Amy Boline each grabbed six rebounds as well.
“I thought that the girls came out and played very well,” Riemann said. “Jayhawk-Linn played a tough game, and our girls found a way to get a win.”
Northern Heights girls 45, Erie 35
Saturday at Wellsville
No. Heights 9 12 12 12 — 45
Jayhawk-Linn 8 8 6 13 — 35
Northern Heights (15-8) — Amy Lee 16, Andrea Miller 11, Amy Boline 8, Sarah Boline 10.
Jayhawk-Linn (16-7) — Beckman 6, Long 5, Jones 7, Dawson 7, Brownback 3, Wilson 4, T. McGown 3.
Halftime — Heights 21-16. Total fouls — NH 14, JL 21. Fouled out — NH: Miller; JL: Long.