Olpe boys can’t get offense going in 63-46 semifinal loss to Hanover
Diane Gasper-O’Brien, Special to The Gazette
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Raymond Hillegas/Hays Daily News
Olpe’s Josh Klumpe (21) defends Hanover’s Kellan Tegtmeier (2) during the second round of the Class 1A State Tournament Friday at Gross Coliseum in Hays.
HAYS — If it seemed like the Olpe boys couldn’t buy a basket Friday afternoon against Hanover, the Eagles couldn’t get one for free, either.
Olpe had a tough game shooting both from the field and the free-throw line, and as a result, the second-seeded Eagles dropped a 63-46 decision to third-seeded Hanover in the semifinals of the Class 1A State Tournament at Gross Memorial Coliseum.
The loss dropped Olpe (24-3) into today’s 2 p.m. third-place contest against Colony Crest (25-2), which lost 44-43 to South Gray in Friday’s late semifinal game.
Olpe shot just 39 percent from the field for the game Friday but did considerably better in the second half after making just 9 of 27 shots (33.3 percent) in the first 16 minutes.
However, Olpe shot an even lower percentage from the free-throw line (8-for-23, 34.8 percent), once missing five straight in the second half when the Eagles had several chances to cut into their deficit with the clock stopped.
Hanover took advantage of its free-throw opportunities, going 20-for-27 for the game, including a 9-of-12 showing in the final 5 minutes when the Wildcats made just one field goal.
“We’ve been struggling all year (from the line),” Olpe coach Chris Schmidt said. “But we’d get to the line enough that we would be able to make enough to pull it out. But this time of the season, if you don’t make your free throws, it’s difficult to win.”
Hanover took advantage of several Olpe turnovers in the first quarter to go up 20-7 — the Wildcats once scored 11 straight points — putting the Eagles in comeback mode for the rest of the game.
“We didn’t play very sound defense to start the game, and we had to battle all the way back,” Schmidt said.
After trailing by 13 several times early in the first half, the Eagles did score the last six points before halftime to go into the intermission down by just six, 27-21.
Then, junior Josh Klumpe scored the first bucket of the second half to get the Eagles back to within four.
But that would be as close as Olpe would get the rest of the game.
Olpe junior Cole Krueger scored eight of Olpe’s points in the third quarter and got the Eagles to within eight at 41-33 with about 2 minutes left. But Krueger was seemingly the only Eagle that could get anything to fall in the second half, as he had 17 of his team’s 25 points after the break.
While Olpe was missing its free throws late in the game, the Wildcats were making theirs. Hanover had a stretch of six straight free throws in a minute’s time in the fourth quarter that helped stretch its lead to as many as 21 points at 62-41.
Krueger tied Hanover junior Josh Bruna for game-high scoring honors with 22 points. The difference was that only two other players scored eight points or more for Olpe, while four Wildcats scored six or more in a supporting role for Bruna.
Also, Bruna was 8-of-9 from the free-throw line while Krueger went just 5-for-12.
Krueger did lead all rebounders with 11, and Klumpe added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Sophomore guard Bradley Argabright also struggled two days after he had turned in a solid effort in Olpe’s first-round victory.
After hitting 5-of-6 shots from the field Wednesday, Argabright on Friday missed all nine of his field goals and his lone free-throw attempt while also committing six turnovers.
Schmidt said he hoped his team could forget the loss in a hurry and concentrate on finishing the season on a winning note, much like the Eagles did a year ago at State.
“This is what we went through last year,” Schmidt said of 2007, when Olpe also lost in the State semis, then won the third-place game the next day.
“We talked about how the third-place game means a lot,” he added, “to get a win in your last game, for the seniors as much as anything.”
It is, however, a much different team than a year ago, as the Eagles graduated 10 of the 12 players off last year’s team that finished 26-2.
“A lot of people probably didn’t think we could make it back here so soon,” Schmidt said. “So I told them we need to show what we’re made of and come back and get a W.”
Hanover 63, Olpe 46
Friday at Hays
Hanover 20 7 17 19 — 63
Olpe 7 14 12 13 — 46
Hanover (25-2) — Tegtmeier 3-6 2-2 8, C. Diederich 2-6 2-2 6, Schotte 3-11 1-2 7, A. Bruna 6-9 8-9 22, J. Bruna 2-3 0-1 4, Hynek 1-3 0-0 3, J. Diederich 2-4 1-3 5, Loges 1-2 6-8 8, R. Bruna 0-0 0-0 0, C. Bruna 0-1 0-0 0, Zabokrtsky 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 20-27 63.
Olpe (24-3) — Krueger 8-16 5-12 22, Argabright 0-9 0-1 0, Medenciy 2-7 3-4 8, Klumpe 5-8 0-4 10, Kehres 0-0 0-0 0, Hammond 0-0 0-2 0, Vaughn 0-0 0-0 0, Redeker 0-0 0-0 0, Dreier 0-0 0-0 0, Duenas 0-0 0-0 0, Schmidt 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 18-46 8-23 46.
3-point goals — Hanover 3-14 (Tegtmeier 0-1, C. Diederich 0-2, Schotte 0-7, A. Bruna 2-3, Hynek 1-1), Olpe 2-13 (Krueger 1-1, Argabright 0-6, Medenciy 1-6). Rebounds — Hanover 35 (A. Bruna 6), Olpe 31 (Krueger 11). Assists — Hanover 9 (Schotte 5), Olpe 8 (Argabright 4). Total fouls — Hanover 23, Olpe 20. Fouled out — Hanover: Tegtmeier.
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