Olpe boys advance with 58-47 win over Natoma
Diane Gasper-O’Brien, Special to The Gazette
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Steven Hausler/Hays Daily News
Olpe’s Bradley Agrabright, right, drives against Natoma’s Ben Griffin during the first half of Olpe’s 58-47 victory at the Class 1A State Tournament at Gross Coliseum in Hays.
HAYS — It’s a good feeling for a coach any time he gets to clear his bench because he thinks his team has a safe lead.
It’s extra special when it happens in a State Tournament game.
That’s what Chris Schmidt had the privilege of doing Wednesday afternoon.
The second-seeded Olpe boys defeated seventh-seeded Natoma, 58-47, in the first game of the Class 1A State Tournament at Gross Coliseum to advance to Friday’s semifinals against No. 3-seeded Hanover.
Hanover (24-2) beat Sharon Springs, 52-47, in the second game of the day.
With 16 seconds left in the Eagles’ game, Schmidt brought in five players from the end of the bench to close out the game and give them a chance to say they played in a State Tournament game.
“They mean a lot to our program; (they) are out there every day in practice, too,” Schmidt said. “So it was nice for them to be able to get in for a few seconds.”
Olpe (24-2) got a game-high 27 points from junior forward Cole Krueger on 10-for-18 shooting from the field and 18 points from sophomore guard Bradley Argabright to help offset a standout overall performance by Natoma senior Jason Crawford.
Steven Hausler/Hays Daily News
Olpe’s Josh Klumpe, right, battles with Natoma’s Michael Boller (21) and Morgan McNeal (20) in Wednesday’s game at Gross Coliseum in Hays.
Crawford, despite hitting just 9 of 24 shots from the field, finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and four assists — all team highs.
Crawford, a 5-11 guard, hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer in last Saturday’s Sub-State title game to lift Natoma past Ness City 50-49 and into the State Tournament for the second straight year.
But this week, another good game from Crawford wasn’t enough, as no other player had more than four points for Natoma against Olpe.
“We knew a lot of things would go through him,” Schmidt said. “We tried to deny him (the ball) and rotated a lot of players on him. In the second half, he got tired, but he still got a lot of points. He’s an awfully good ball player.”
Krueger finished with a game-high 11 rebounds, while Argabright led Olpe in assists with four.
Natoma started strong, jumping out to a 9-2 lead in the first 3 1/2 minutes when Olpe committed three turnovers.
But a 9-0 run by the Eagles, with five points coming from Argabright, gave Olpe the lead, and the rest of the first half was close, with Olpe holding on to a slim 28-25 lead at intermission.
The Eagles increased that lead to eight at the third-quarter break, then scored the first eight points of the fourth period to go up 55-39 and held off a late mini-rally by the Tigers.
Olpe 58, Natoma 47
Wednesday at Hays
Natoma 13 12 14 8 — 47
Olpe 15 13 19 11 — 58
Natoma (20-5) — Griffin 1-8 0-0 2, McNeal 2-4 0-0 4, Dunlap 1-5 0-0 3, Theleman 2-2 0-0 4, Crawford 9-24 7-8 26, Hashenberger 0-1 0-0 0, Angel 1-1 0-1 2, Boller 1-6 0-0 2, Eickhoff 0-0 0-0 0, Frye 0-0 0-0 0, Beisner 0-0 0-0 0, Lyle 2-3 0-2 4. Totals 19-54 7-11 47.
Olpe (24-2) — Krueger 10-18 7-10 27, Argabright 8-13 0-1 18, Medenciy 2-10 0-0 6, Klumpe 1-9 0-0 2, Schneider 0-2 1-2 1, Kehres 0-0 0-0 0, Hammond 0-0 0-0 0, Vaughn 0-0 0-0 0, Redeker 1-3 2-2 4, Dreier 0-0 0-0 0, Duenas 0-0 0-0 0, Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 10-15 58.
3-point goals — Natoma 2-11 (Dunlap 1-3, Crawford 1-6, Boller 0-2), Olpe 4-12 (Argabright 2-2, Medenciy 2-9, Redeker 0-1). Rebounds — Natoma 37 (Crawford 8), Olpe 37 (Krueger 11). Assists — Natoma 8 (Crawford 4), Olpe 8 (Argabright 4). Total fouls — Natoma 14, Olpe 15.
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