The Olpe student section spent much of the fourth quarter of Friday’s semifinal chanting “Green Machine.”
The undefeated Eagles more than lived up to their new moniker in a workmanlike 54-30 win against Madison, avenging a loss in the semifinals last season and moving on to today’s Lyon County League Tournament championship against Lebo.
“That’s our motto this year,” Olpe point guard Bradley Argabright said of the Green Machine. “They keep saying it every game, and we just hope to hear it game after game.”
Olpe (12-0) made a name for itself in football this season by making it all the way to the state championship. The Eagles did so by stuffing the ball down opponents’ throat on offense and playing a physical brand of defense. The basketball team is mostly made up of the same cast of characters — Cole Krueger, Josh Klumpe, Matt Redeker and Argabright leading the way — and they’ve carried over a similar approach from the field to the court.
Their suffocating defense has held all but two opponents under 40 points, and their pressure eventually wore down the Bulldogs, who shot only 31 percent from the field.
“We strive for that defensively,” Olpe coach Chris Schmidt said. “We’ve put a lot of work into that, and if we know that if we can stay consistent, we feel pretty good going into the second half on teams. Hopefully we can wear them down and I think that happened tonight.”
Argabright led the attack on both ends. Argabright’s on-the-ball pressure often prevented Madison from getting into its offense. Madison post players Michael Luthi and Kale Schankie provided the Bulldogs’ their best opportunity to score — they combined for 20 points — however, Olpe’s defensive pressure made it difficult for the Madison guards to get the ball into the post.
“Olpe’s pressure defense is very tough,” Madison coach Alan Brown said. “We had problems getting the right angles and getting the proper entry passes in there. Defensively, Olpe cranked it up a notch and that caused us some problems. We really hadn’t seen that tough of defense yet this year.”
Argabright also pushed the tempo and attacked the basket, a similar “we’re going right at you, let’s see if you can stop it” approach as the Eagles’ offense in football.
Argabright had a game-high seven steals and also scored a game-high 18 points to go along with three assists and seven rebounds. He made three 3-pointers in the first quarter, and Olpe jumped out to an 11-4 lead.
Argabright scored the first two baskets of the second quarter, catching an alley oop from Redeker and then knocking in a runner off the glass. His next shot was an airball 3-pointer, which was the result of tired legs.
The up-and-down tempo in the first half left everyone gasping for air. During a timeout with 58.4 seconds left in the half, even one of the referees was struggling to catch his breath.
“The first half was incredibly fast-paced,” Argabright said. “... We were huffing and puffing. That’s the most intense game I’ve played in so far.”
Madison had wilted under Olpe’s pressure in the first quarter, making only 2-of-14 shots, but the Bulldogs made 5-of-12 in the second quarter with Schankie and Luthi doing all the scoring to keep Madison within striking distance at 24-16.
Luthi opened the third quarter with a jumper and then Henry Ott buried a 3-pointer to pull the Bulldogs within three points.
Schmidt thought his team had gotten in a hurry, so he tried to slow the pace by running a flex offense. His strategy worked with Redeker finding Klumpe for a layup, and then knocking down two straight jumpers and a pair of free throws to push the lead to nine.
“We knew we couldn’t let them back in it to take the lead, because it’s hard to get on top of that team and put them away,” Redeker said. “But we responded to their run and got ahead and didn’t look back.
Olpe led by 11 at the start of the fourth quarter, and Madison’s Reece Childers made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to eight. But once again, the Eagles answered, going on an 18-2 run to finish the game.
After the game, Schmidt joked that he should have his guys come back out and practice free throws — they made only 5-of-20 — but other than that, the Eagles’ played up to their nickname.
The way the basketball team has dominated its opponents this season — similar to the football team — the only question maybe left to answer, which team is better?
“I don’t know right now,” Argabright said. “We’ll have to wait until postseason, see if we can get that state championship.”
Olpe boys 54, Madison 30
Madison 4 12 9 5 — 30
Olpe 11 13 12 18 — 54
Madison (7-6) — Luthi 11, Hamilton 2, Schankie 9, Chiders 3, Ott 5.
Olpe (12-0) — Kruegar 15, Argabright 18, Redeker 8, Klumpe 7, Dreier 2, Bass 2, Swan 2.
Fouled out — Schankie.
Lebo boys 40,
Waverly 38
With all eyes in White Auditorium on Lebo star Adam Laflin in the final seconds of Friday’s semifinal, freshman guard Trevor White stole the spotlight.
With 7.9 seconds left, Lebo got the ball to Laflin and everyone else got out of the way, as Laflin found a seam and drove down the right side of the lane, attempting what would be the game-winning layup. The ball rolled off the rim, and White was there for a buzzer-beating putback that put sixth-seeded Lebo into tonight’s championship against Olpe.
Waverly rallied from eight points down at half and outscored Lebo 12-2 to take a four-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Laflin scored 13 points, but he did not score in the third quarter, which helped Waverly get back in the game and take the lead.
“They did a great job on him,” Lebo coach Doug Piper said. “They really did. That’s another one of those situations where our whole team did a good job of being patient and taking shots when they had them.”
The two teams traded leads in the fourth quarter, and Lebo’s Devon Johnston made a pair of free throws to put the Wolves up by four with 52.9 seconds left.
Waverly’s Josh Weal, who scored a game-high 14 points, hit two straight turnaround jumpers to tie the game at 38, and Piper called timeout to discuss his team’s game plan for the final 7.9 seconds.
“When we called timeout, we told the kids there is one thing we do not want to do, and that was turn the ball over,” Piper said. “The worst that could happen was if we didn’t turn it over was we’d go to overtime and we’d win it in overtime.
“My philosophy is whenever we get to overtime, we win. I don’t know if that’s always the case, but we like to tell them that. We told them to get the ball down the court as quick as we can, and if we get a shot, we get a shot. If we don’t, we go to overtime. That’s basically what happened. There’s no magic to it. Just do it.”
Lebo didn’t need overtime, and now the Wolves are onto the championship for the fourth time in the last five years. Lebo beat Olpe 47-43 in its last appearance in the LCL title game in 2007.
Lebo boys 40, Waverly 38
Waverly 6 10 12 10 — 38
Lebo 12 12 2 14 — 40
Waverly (6-9) — Restoff 2, Lee 4, Sipe 5, Teal 14, Zilliox 5, Rice 8.
Lebo (10-5) — Gould 6, White 6, Johnston 7, Laflin 13, Smith 8.