LYONS — Derrick Kaiser’s brilliant performance wasn’t enough to rescue the Hoisington Cardinals Saturday in the Class 3A Lyons basketball substate.
Kaiser scored 24 points to nearly rally the Cardinals from a 19-point deficit with seven minutes left. Beloit held off Hoisington’s furious rally to escape with a hard-fought 55-50 championship victory.
Kaiser scored 13 points, hit a trio of 3-pointers and scored off a slam dunk in the fourth quarter. But that came after Beloit’s Austin Budke and Payton Vetter opened the fourth quarter with scores for a 45-26 lead.
Cody Stetler chipped in four free throws and Trent Schremmer and Taylor Crawford scored fourth-quarter baskets. The Cardinals were within 49-42 when they missed two free throws with 1:24 left.
Beloit (17-6) managed to convert 10 of 25 free throws in the fourth quarter. The Trojans made 19 of 41 free throws to barely off the Cardinals (18-5).
Beloit outcored Hoisington 33-9 in the first and third periods for an advantage that the Cardinals were unable to overcome. Hoisington finished 18 of 55 from the field, 9 of 37 from everyone but Kaiser.
“Derrick played like he didn’t want to go home and he wanted to make it to state,” said Hoisington coach Kyle Haxton. “It’s really disappointing to lose that ballgame. I thought we were the better team. But it says a lot about our kids the way they kept coming back. They kept rallying, but we couldn’t quite finish the job.”
Beloit threatened to blow the Cardinals out of the gym with a stunning 21-5 first quarter. The Trojans threw the Cardinals off balance with a triangle-and-two defense against Cardinal standouts Kaiser and Cody Stetler. Joshua Hesting, Caleb Palen and Alex Niemczyk took turns shadowing Kaiser. Vetter handled the job against Stetler.
“We’ve played against that defense before, but we didn’t knock down the shots we needed,” Haxton said. “We missed some layups and missed some free throws.”
The Trojans showed amazing offensive execution with 7 of 16 first-quarter shooting and four 3-point goals. Zachary Brummer knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Tanner Finney and Joshua Hesting also converted 3-pointers.
The Cardinals’ finally adjusted and closed within 28-22 at halftime. The third quarter was even worse offensively for the Cardinals. They committed nine turnovers in the quarter and went 7:30 without a field goal until Kaiser buried a 3-pointer.
Haxton said the Cardinals got away from their offense in the third period.
“We wanted to move the basketball better than we did and we needed to attack the basket better,” he said. “We didn’t move the ball at all like we wanted to that third quarter.”
“The defense was giving me the outside shot and I made my first one, so coach gave me the green light,” Brummer said.
Beloit’s 6-foot-5 Zachary Brummer nailed a career best four 3-pointers for 16 points. Brummer was 2 of 15 from 3-point range for the season.
Beloit’s Austin Budke and Finney each scored 13 points. Hoisington outscored the Trojans 41-36 from the field, but Beloit outscored Hoisington 19-9 from the line.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Class 3A sub-state tournament

At Lyons

BOYS

Saturday

Beloit 55, Hoisington 50
BELOIT
     Austin Budke 4-10 5-12 13; Tanner Finney 2-6 8-12 13; Joshua Hesting 1-2 0-0 3; Payton Vetter 3-6 2-6 8; Caleb Palen 1-1 0-0 2; Alex Niemczyk 0-1 0-4 0; Zachary Brummer 4-10 4-6 16; Blake Pestinger 0-1 0-1 0. Totals 15-36 19-41 55.
HOISINGTON
     Derrick Kaiser 9-18 1-2 24; Cody Stetler 1-7 6-8 8; Trent Schremmer 2-10 1-3 5; Ryan Becker 3-9 0-0 6; Anthony Broeder 1-6 0-2 2; Taylor Crawford 1-3 1-2 3; Zachery Gaddis 1-2 0-2 2. Totals 18-55 9-19 50.
Beloit                                21  7  12  15 — 55
Hoisington                         5  17  4   24 — 50
     Three-point goals — Beloit (Brummer 4, Finney 1, Hesting 1); Hoisington (Kaiser 5).