State basketball wrap-up (3-11)
*Jeffrey Lutz
I’m feeling a little selfish right now in my glee that I saw so many good basketball games today. I mean, I really should share these games with others, right? Well, I tried through my updates on the blog, but I’m enjoying the fact that this has been an awesome day of basketball in Class 6A at Emporia’s White Auditorium.
I expect tomorrow’s semis will be excellent, too. So let’s talk about today’s games:
Class 6A:
Blue Valley Northwest opened the day with a beating of Dodge City. You know, Dodge City is a very good team, but BV Northwest was hot shooting all game long. It never got cold. Really, an impressive showing.
BV North beat SM South in overtime in an amazing game, especially by SM South’s Will Spradling, who had 34 points.
Heights had a fairly tight first half with Manhattan, but Heights then took care of it in the second half, winning 56-41.
Maize and Leavenworth was such a well-played game, such a battle. Nino Williams came on late for Leavenworth and had a huge block on Maize’s Ryan Schultz with 6 seconds to go. Ryan Schultz played well, though. Maize probably should have won this game, but Leavenworth played a great final 4 minutes.
In 5A, it was the girls today.
Tiffany Bias, fresh off the announcement that she had won the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year, led Andover Central to a win over Shawnee Heights.
Bishop Carroll beat Newton.
Bishop Miege beat McPherson. While this was a difference in seeds, I’m not really surprised by this outcome. Miege is a good team. I don’t think it wins another title this year, though.
St. Thomas Aquinas beat Topeka Seaman.
In 4A boys, Sumner beat Topeka Hayden 64-63. Hayden missed a shot at the buzzer for the win.
Ottawa defeated Holton, Coffeyville beat Nickerson and Pratt beat Circle.
While I’ll highlight semifinals tomorrow, how can I not at least mention Pratt and Sumner in the semis. I’d love to see that game.
In 3A girls, Garden Plain beat Hillsboro, Thomas More Prep beat Riley County, Marion beat Beloit and Jefferson North beat Frontenac. I’m happy that Garden Plain won for one reason — I’d hate to see the Owls get that big win over Collegiate and fall flat. So pleased to see that the Owls are in the semis.
In 2A boys, Nemaha Valley beat Spearville. (Thank goodness I went with my gut and picked Colgan in the finals. I originally had Spearville winning it all.)
Colgan beat Olpe, Berean beat Lyndon and Sacred Heart beat Hill City.
In the 1A semifinals, South Gray boys beat Quinter (dang it! I initially picked Hanover winning 1A, then I switched to Quinter).
Hanover beat Baileyville, so South Gray meets Hanover in the championship tomorrow.
In the 1A girls semis, it was South Gray beating St. John and Argonia beating St. Paul. Glad to see Argonia in the finals. It’s not only an area team, but this team has had excellent regular seasons and done little in the postseason.
Good luck to all the teams who will be playing on Friday!