Trailing with around six minutes left to play, Madison coach Alan Brown pulled all of his starters and issued them a challenge.
“I said, ‘Young men, here’s the deal: what do you wanna do?’” Brown recalled. “‘Do you wanna roll over and not play, or do you wanna play the way we are capable of?’ And they accepted the challenge and got back in, and boom — they cranked up on the defensive end. They blocked out, got some key rebounds and got the ball inside to our inside guys, which is our strength.”
A Henry Ott 3-pointer broke a tie and put the Bulldogs up, and they went on to beat Mission Valley 51-45.
Michael Luthi led the Bulldogs with 15 points, Ott finished with 11 and Reece Childers had nine. Kale Schankie, with his father sitting in the stands for the first time since suffering a stroke last month, scored eight for Madison. Mission Valley’s TaZarus Isom led all scorers with 17, including 15 in the second half.
Madison 51, Mission Valley 45
Mission Valley 4 17 15 9 — 45
Madison 12 14 9 16 — 51
Mission Valley — Isom 17, Rudeen 11, Marcotte 6, Fritz 4, Branch 4, Mercer 2, Cook 1.
Madison (9-6) — Luthi 15, Ott 11, Childers 9, Schankie 8, Hamilton 4, Elwood 4.
Olpe boys 65,
White City 34
If Olpe would have experienced a letdown on Tuesday against White City, it would not have been much of surprise.
The Eagles played back-to-back days over the weekend, winning the Lyon County League Tournament and had just one practice leading up to Tuesday’s game. But after what coach Chris Schmidt called a sluggish start — maybe a bit of an LCL hangover — the Eagles showed in the second half why they’re undefeated.
“We tried to get after it in practice on Monday and tried to get it out of our system,” Schmidt said. “It seems like it kind of takes you a while to get it out of their system and they responded in the second half and played better.”
As has been the case most of the season, Olpe was best in the third quarter, outscoring White City 22-9 to pull away.
Cole Krueger led Olpe with 19 points and eight rebounds. Bradley Argabright scored 11 points, had six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Josh Klumpe scored eight points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, and Matt Redeker scored 11 points.
Olpe boys 65, White City 34
White City 8 9 9 8 — 34
Olpe 16 10 22 17 — 65
White City — Miller 11, Smith 8, Beavers 7, Herdrich 6, Boeh 2.
Olpe (14-0) — Krueger 19, Argabright 11, Redeker 11, Klumpe 8, Vaughn 7, Dreier 4, Hall 2, Swan 2, Blankley 1.
Baldwin boys 61,
Northern Heights 50
A 13-0 start for Baldwin was too much for Northern Heights to overcome against a team that had a major size advantage on the Wildcats.
Heights did come back to cut the lead to three in the second quarter, but Baldwin put together another run to forge a 37-25 lead at halftime.
Nick Tabares led Heights with 14 points, and Roman Murray had 11. Justin Vander Tuig led the way for Baldwin with an 18-point, 12-rebound performance as Heights was outboarded 37-22.
“I am so proud of the way we played the last three quarters of basketball,” Wildcats coach Lanny Massey said. “(Baldwin’s starters were) 5’10, 6’4, 6’4, 6’5, 6’8, so we’re giving up a lot of height and we didn’t back away from them. This type of ballgame should get us ready for down the road.”
Baldwin boys 61, Northern Heights 50
Baldwin 16 21 16 11 — 61
Northern Heights 6 19 12 13 — 50
Baldwin — Vander Tuig 18, Wright 9, Toomer 10, Kueffer 7, Hecker 3, Beecher 6, Pattrick 8.
Northern Heights — K. Bronson 2, D. Swanson 5, R. Swanson 2, Heins 4, T. Tabares 6, Murray 11, N. Tabares 14.
West Franklin boys 60, Lebo 55
Adam Laflin’s 26 weren’t enough for Lebo to pull out a win Tuesday night at West Franklin.
The Wolves had a 25-21 lead at halftime, then lost it when the Falcons put up an 18-point third quarter. Lebo scored 18 in the fourth, but West Franklin’s 21 were good enough to secure the win.
Lucas Humerickhouse led the Falcons with 18 points.
West Franklin boys 60, Lebo 55
Lebo 13 12 12 18 — 55
West Franklin 10 11 18 21 — 60
Lebo — Laflin 26, Gould 8, Smith 6, Perry 5, Barker 4, D. Johnston 3, Linsey 3.
West Franklin — Humerickhouse 18, Harmon 14, Cunningham 13, Wadkins 5, Brady 5, Mcclain 3, Nitcher 2.
Crest boys 66,
Hartford 37
Hartford took a beating at Crest on Tuesday, with Todd Johnston and Brandon and Bryan Newton combining for 47 points.
The Jaguars trailed 35-19 at halftime before Crest blew the game wide open with a 26-6 run in the third quarter. Craig Woods scored 14 points for Hartford, and Adam Ewy added seven.
Crest boys 66, Hartford 37
Hartford 6 13 6 12 — 37
Crest 16 19 26 5 — 66
Hartford — Woods 14, Ewy 7, Smith 6, Grieder 4, Gilligan 3, Barrett 2, Gardner 1.
Crest — Johnston 17, Bra. Newton 15, Bry. Newton 15, Milner 7, Decker 4, Stinnett 3, Wiley 3, Buck 2.
Silver Lake boys 46,
Osage City 35
Silver Lake outscored Osage 27-12 in the second half to erase a four-point halftime deficit and earn a road win.
Tyler Bartee and Josh Carson each scored eight for the Indians.
Silver Lake boys 46, Osage City 35
Silver Lake 16 3 15 12 — 46
Osage City 11 12 7 5 — 35
Silver Lake — Roberts 14, Bruce 14, Campbell 5, Kruger 5, Bledsoe 2, Stebbins 2, Renfro 2, Lowe 2.
Osage City — Bartee 8, Carson 8, Michael 5, Marple 4, Schweiger 3, Keighley 2, Hallgren 2, Mcfarland 2, Conner 1.
Northern Heights girls 72, Baldwin 41
Andrea Miller led Northern Heights with 15 points, seven rebounds and five steals to beat Baldwin at home.
The Ladycats shot 50 percent and had 17 assists on 21 field goals. They jumped out to a big lead early, leading 28-14 after the first quarter, and cruised to their second straight win following a loss in the Flint Hills Shootout championship.
“I thought that we played very well tonight,” coach Tim Riemann said. “Baldwin is a good team and I thought that we did a good job finding the open player tonight and shot the ball well. I thought we also played very well defensively and forced them to take tough, contested shots.”
Amy Boline joined Miller in double figures with 11 points. Heights improved to 13-2 with the win.
Northern Heights girls 72, Baldwin 41
Baldwin 14 11 10 6 — 41
Northern Heights 28 15 13 16 — 72
Baldwin — Weege 3, Burkhart 3, Durr 4, Behrens 6, Zordel 9, Brecheisen 2, Miles 4, Brown 3.
Northern Heights (13-2) — Hobson 6, Linsey 3, Lee 6, Miller 15, Boline 11, Zumbrum 6, Boline 6.
Chase County girls 47, Flinthills 21
Aubrey Watts scored 17 points to lead Chase County past Flinthills.
Chase County held Flinthills to only three field goals. Ashley Cahoone added eight points for the Bulldogs.
Chase County girls 47, Flinthills 21
Chase County 12 11 18 6 — 47
Flinthills 4 5 6 6 — 21
Chase County — Nelson 1, Riley 1, Tanner 1, Grokett 6, Wells 5, Duncan 2, Watts 17, Scott 2, Cahoone 8, Rains 4.
Flinthills — Harsh 12, Finsted 2, Naill 3, Jackson 4.
Osage City girls 52,
Silver Lake 42
Osage City led by one at the end of the third quarter and outscored Silver Lake 20-11 in the fourth quarter.
Kady Paul led the Indians with 15 points, making 7-of-8 free throws. Carly Spicer scored 11 points, Paige Fort scored 10 and Katie Schroeder added 10.
Osage City girls 52, Silver Lake 42
Silver Lake 10 9 12 11 — 42
Osage City 14 8 10 20 — 52
Silvers Lake — Lewis 31, Hansen 4, Lockwood 3, Dallman 2, Pfannenstiel 2.
Osage City — Paul 15, Spicer 11, Schroeder 10, Fort 10, Sturdy 6.
Hartford girls 56,
Crest 53
Mikayla Wilson and Kellie Farr both scored 11 points to help hold off a late rally by Crest.
Hartford outscored Crest 21-14 in the second quarter to take a nine-point lead into halftime. The Jaguars made only 1-of-9 free throws in the fourth quarter but Crest did not have enough to pull off the comeback win.
Hartford girls 56, Crest 53
Hartford 12 21 13 10 — 56
Crest 10 14 14 15 — 53
Hartford — Wilson 11, Farr 11, Williams 2, Wilkerson 7, Hamman 8, Lee 2, Clark 4, Veatch 5, Preeo 6.
Crest — Strickler 15, Westhoff 6, Stoneking 14, Schooler 8, Honn 6, Beecher 4.