Council Grove leading scorer Sean Carr had to watch the last 4 minutes, 50 seconds from the bench on Friday night.
Soon Carr would be joined by the team’s other leading scorers, Derek Ziegenhirt and Scott Bowles — all three fouled out. If the Braves would have had any chance at a comeback, it ended with three whistles. But in reality, the Braves’ chances ended sooner than that, and the noise associated with their 46-34 loss to Lyndon will not be whistles, but clangs.
Second-seeded Council Grove (8-4) shot 37 percent from the field and 0-for-10 from behind the 3-point line, losing to a Flint Hills League team for only the second time this season. Lyndon, the tourney’s sixth seed, did not shoot much better from the field (36 percent), but the Tigers made 4-of-9 3-pointers and outscored the Braves 16-8 at the free throw line to advance to today’s championship of the Flint Hills Shootout.
“Our kids did a good job defensively I thought,” Council Grove coach Bruce Hula said. “We gave up 46 points fouling at the end of the ballgame. Offensively, we just struggled. You got to give Lyndon a lot of credit for that. They did a good job taking us out of what we wanted to do, and we didn’t do what we wanted to do.”
What the Braves wanted to do was pound the ball inside to Carr, their 6-foot-4 senior big man. Lyndon does not have anyone taller than 6-foot-1, and Carr took advantage in the first half, scoring 11 points and grabbing six rebounds. But he went scoreless in the second half and didn’t even attempt a shot.
“We just struggled straightening up to the ball and getting the ball inside,” Carr said. “We didn’t play well as a team. It was by far not our best performance. We just didn’t play good.”
Carr’s 11 points led the Braves, who did not have another player score more than four points. Carr and Ziegenhirt usually provide the Braves with an inside-outside combination, but Ziegenhirt missed eight of 10 shots, including all six of his 3-point attempts.
“(Ziegenhirt) had a rough shooting night tonight and we couldn’t find a way to get Sean the ball inside,” Hula said. “... They did a good job sagging and helping, and we’re staring at our post entries and they’re reading it. Give them the credit. They did great job.”
With Lyndon limiting Carr’s touches in the third quarter, the Braves’ perimeter players tried to take over. Bowles scored two straight baskets to cut the Tigers’ lead to five, but the Braves missed their final four shots of the quarter and Lyndon went on a 6-0 run to end the quarter with an 11-point lead.
The Braves still trailed by 11 when Carr picked up his fifth foul, and Ziegenhirt and Bowles followed. Ziegenhirt picked up his fifth foul with 3:38 left and Bowles picked up his fifth with 3:04 left on the clock.
“Foul trouble really hurts us,” Hula said. “We’re not as deep as we need to be, and when your scorers are in foul trouble, you’re not getting in a position to be successul. You’re going to struggle like we did tonight.”
Lyndon has become the surprise of the tournament, advancing to the title game as a six seed. But their success does not come as a surprise to their coach or Hula. The Tigers (6-5) have lost their five games this season by a combined 17 points. In three of those losses, they had a shot to win at the end and in the other two they had a shot to tie in the last 25 seconds.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of difference in our league from one to seven — even eight, Chase County got a big win tonight,” Hula said. “I think our league is close. You’ve got to play well each and every night.”
Lyndon’s final game before the tournament started was a triple-overtime win at Northern Heights, which the Tigers also beat in the first round.
“Momentum is huge deal and the confidence with the guys,” Lyndon coach Michael Massey said. “Going into Northern Heights and beating a very good Northern Heights team on their home floor kind of the way we did gave us some confidence and got us rolling a little bit.”
Lyndon will take on Mission Valley in today’s championship at 7:30 p.m. Council Grove plays top-seeded Osage City in the third-place game at 4:30 p.m. today. The Indians gave the Braves their only loss during league play.
“That’s exactly the team we thought we’d be playing for the ’ship,” Carr said. “We were undefeated when we went to their house for the first time. It was a close game and they ended up pulling it out there. ... Hopefully we can just regroup tonight and come back and get them tomorrow.”
Lyndon boys 46, Council Grove 34
Lyndon11 13 13 9 — 46
Council Grove11 11 4 8 — 34
Lyndon (6-5) — Banzhaf 13, Wednling 2, Brown 10, Filburn 7, Wilson 4, Kirsop 2, Spencer 6, Decker 2.
Council Grove (8-4) — Carr 11, Bowles 4, Ziegenhirt 4, Dugan 4, Finch 4, Johnson 3, Frye 4.
Fouled out — Lyndon: None; Council Grove: Carr, Ziegenhirt, Bowles.