Both Olpe and Hartford struggled offensively in the first quarter Monday at White Auditorium.
But as the Eagles began to pick up their offense in the second quarter, the Jaguars continued their woes in what turned out to be a 49-23 win for Olpe in an opening round game of the boys Lyon County League tournament.
Olpe led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter. Austin Bass made the only field goal of the period and Tyson Pettijohn went 1-2 during a trip to the foul line to account for the other point. The two teams combined to miss 20 shots in the period, 19 field goals and one free throw.
“We knew shots were going to come, but they weren’t coming to us,” Olpe senior guard Colby Nuessen said. “I don’t know if it was nerves, but they just wouldn’t fall for us.”
The Eagle offense picked up in the second quarter as Olpe scored 20 points, eight of them from Nuessen. He went 1-2 during a trip to the line early in the quarter, then found his rhythm in the last 2:30, when he made a 3-pointer and two jumpers.
“Finally,” he said. “The first half, most of them felt good, they just would go in and out.”
Hartford’s offense didn’t find the same success. The Jaguars scored three points in the second quarter. A basket from Chris Schwinghamer got his team on the board with 5:45 remaining and a free throw from Colten Barrett generated the third point with 4:58 remaining in the quarter. The Jaguars didn’t score again for the rest of the half.
“We’ve got to be able to finish and we’ve got to be able to hit a wide-open jump shot when we get the opportunity to do that,” Hartford coach Patrick Gardner said.
Things began to pick up for Hartford in the second half, the Jaguars outscored Olpe 15-12 in the third quarter. The 20-point halftime deficit proved to be too much to overcome and Olpe gained more ground in the fourth quarter to ultimately win by 26 points.
“I think they had it 35-18 at the start of the fourth quarter,” Olpe coach Chris Schmidt said. “We talked about the first few possessions, reversing the ball, getting good looks. I was ready to pull it out if we had to, but we made some good decisions.”
Nuessen and Bass led the Eagles in scoring, each logging 14 points. Schwinghamer scored seven points to lead Hartford.
The second-seeded Eagles advanced to the semifinals to play Burlingame at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The third-seeded Bearcats beat Southern Coffey County 40-28 Monday to advance. The seventh-seeded Jaguars will play SCC in a consolation bracket game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Monday at White Auditorium
Hartford 0 3 15 5 — 23
Olpe 3 20 12 14 — 49
HAR: Schwinghamer 7, Barrett 6, Kraft 6, Troyer 2, Veatch 2.
OLPE: Bass 14, Pettijohn 3, N. Haag 6, Nuessen 14, G. Haag 4, Smith 2, Stueve 4, Brinkman 2.