HAYS – The Hays High/Great Bend basketball substate semifinal was decided on a last-second basket.
The Indians ended the Panthers’ season 46-42 Wednesday with a game-winning 3-pointer and a clinching free throw. The Indians won last week’s battle for homecourt advantage against the Panthers 46-42.
It appeared the substate showdown was headed to overtime when Panther defenders Braylon Council and Carter Coombs walled off Jack Weimer on a driving missed shot in the final seconds of a 42-42 tie.
It was impossible to tell whether Council deflected Weimer’s shot out-of-bounds. Panther Jacob Hall nearly saved the basketball back inbounds with 3.8 seconds left.
Council was unable to work past moving screens by Chason VanDerWege and Keamonie Archie that freed Weimer for the game-winning 3-pointer. Kyzer Fox converted a final free throw after intercepting an inbounds pass.
"I knew it'd be a double screen to the corner. What hurts the most is everybody in the gym knew No. 12 (Weimer) was going to shoot that thing," said Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh.
The rivalry featured a high level of intensity from start-to-finish where every shot and rebound was contested.
"Our guys battled," Kriegh said. "It was a street fight."
Carter Coombs fed Ian Premer for a 3-pointer for a 38-37 Panther lead. Tyler Stuhlsatz's shot was blocked by Kyreese Groen and he missed a contested shot through contact. Indian Devin Schmidtberger delivered his fifth 3-pointer for a 40-39 that Hays extended to 42-39. Great Bend's Cayden Scheuerman converted a banked 3-pointer for a 42-42 tie.
"We know No. 25 (Schmidtberger) can shoot the basketball. We played off him too much," Kriegh said. "We've got to do a better job contesting shooters. We needed to execute better."
Coombs scored 10 points with Hall (8), Premer (7) and Stuhlsatz (7) contributing valuable points in a low-scoring affair.
The Panthers (11-10, 5-3 WAC) graduate seniors Council, Stuhlsatz, Scheuerman, Mathew Moeder and Kendryk Turner.
"They'll be missed. They worked hard on a daily basis and led by example," Kreigh said. "A lot of credit goes to our seniors."
Schmidtberger scored 15 points and Weimer added 14 points. Hays (13-8) advances to a substate championship game at No. 3 ranked Wichita Kapaun-Mt. Carmel (20-1).
Great Bend 8 10 12 12 – 42
Hays High 14 6 13 13 – 46
GREAT BEND (11-10)—Coombs 4-7 1-1 10, Hall 2-6 3-4 8, Premer 2-7 2-4 7, Scheuerman 2-3 2-4 7, Stuhlsatz 3-12 0-1 6, Spray 1-2 0-0 2, Council 1-4 0-0 2, Totals 15-41 8-14 42
HAYS HIGH (13-8)—Schmidtberger 5-8 0-0 15, Weimer 4-10 5-6 14, Fox 3-3 1-3 7, Muller 2-4 0-0 4, VanDerwege 2-6 0-0 4, Archie 1-1 0-0 2, Ruder 0-3 0-0 0, Groen 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 17-37 6-9 46
3-pointers—GB 4-9 (Hall 1-1, Premer 1-1, Scheuerman 1-2, Coombs 1-2, Council 0-1, Stuhlsatz 0-2); H 6-15 (Schmidtberger 5-6, Weimer 1-5, Groen 0-1, Muller 0-1, Ruder 0-2)
