BY JIM MISUNAS
ST. JOHN – Mid-Winter basketball champion Central Plains and runner-up St. John didn’t quite roll the clock back 50 years.
But the Oilers’ 54-45 hard-fought victory over perennial contender St. John was throwback basketball filled with classic teamwork, battles in the paint and fundamental play in the 50th Mid-Winter Classic championship.
The Oilers’ offensive balance was on full display. Leading scorer Alex Hickel was on fire with 23 points, converting tough shot after tough shot. Hickel staked the No. 1 ranked 2A Oilers to a 25-21 halftime lead with a 13 point first half.
“I started taking the basketball to the basket,” Hickel said. “Once everything clicked, I kept attacking the basket. I was getting good passes from my teammates.”
St. John coach Clint Kinnamon could only applaud Hickel’s effort against tough Tiger defense.
“When a guy is hitting tough, guarded shots, you’ve got to hand it to him,” Kinnamon said. “Outside of a couple shots that fourth quarter, we made them make guarded shots. What I enjoy is we’re getting better as a basketball team.”
Most Valuable Player Brett Liebl finished with 12 points after enjoying a 32-point semifinal Friday night. Alex Barton added 10 points. The Oilers average four players in double figures.
“The best aspect with this team is we’ve got multiple players who can get hot and be our leading scorer,” Central Plains coach Brett Rolfs. “We rode Alex Hickel’s game pretty well tonight.”
St. John’s All-Tournament picks Chase Fisher (15 points) and Tanner Halling (14 points) kept the Tigers within range. Other than St. John’s Eddy Calleros tossing in a trio of 3-pointers, it was classic old-style basketball.
Calleros drilled a 3-pointer and Halling followed Fisher’s basket with back-to-back scores for the Tigers’ 30-29 lead halfway through the third quarter.
But Central Plains (12-0) responded with superb team play with a 10-2 run to close the third quarter ahead 40-31. Liebl hit a second-chance basket. Hickel’s assist led to Devin Ryan’s 3-pointer. Hickel scored off Alex Barton’s assist. Devin Ryan’s assist fed Barton for a 40-30 lead.
The Oilers kept charge with 15 of 18 free throw shooting.
Central Plains coach Rolfs said the Oilers’ defense was solid. Liebl and Barton did the heavy defensive work inside.
“With the 6-7 Halling and 6-4 Chase Fisher, that’s a tough team to defend,” Rolfs said. “Our defensive effort was really good. I was most pleased with our defense tonight.”
Hickel said the Oilers’ game always starts with defense.
“We always talk about defense,” Hickel said. “What we want evert game is a strong defensive game.”
CP 12 13 15 14 – 54
SJ 7 14 10 14 – 45
CENTRAL PLAINS (12-0)—Hickel 7-11 9-11 23, Liebl 6-15 0-1 12, Barton 4-6 2-2 10, Devin Ryan 1-3 2-2 5, Menges 1-1 2-2 4, Totals 19-36 15-18 54.
ST. JOHN (10-3)—Fisher 7-15 1-3 15, Tanner Halling 5-9 4-6 14, Calleros 4-5 3-4 14, Witt 0-1 0-0 0, Smith 1-3 0-0 2, Osborne 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 17-38 8-13 45.
3-point goals—CP 1-5 (Ryan 1-3, Hickel 0-1, Barton 0-1); SJ 3-8 (Calleros 3-4, Smith 0-1, Fisher 0-3).
MACKSVILLE 70, WICHITA DEFENDERS 60 (3rd place)—Macksville’s Karson Waters scored 24 points to spark the Mustangs past the Wichita Defenders 70-60 in the third-place game of the 50th St. John Mid-Winter Classic.
Macksville (9-3) also placed Jacob Rein (13) and Kody Mead (10) in double figures. Kip Ammons led the Defenders with 18 points.
Macksville 14 15 16 25 – 70
Defenders 11 8 14 27 – 60
MACKSVILLE—Waters 9 4-4 24, Rein 4 3-6 13, Mead 3 4-7 10, Lickiss 5 1-7 11, Parr 2 1-2 7, Freeman 1 0-1 3, Ibarra 1 0-0 2, Totals 25 13-27 70.
WICHITA DEFENDERS—Kip Ammons 7 1-2 18, Wolters 5 3-4 16, Josh Martin 5 0-1 13, David Brown 2 2-2 6, Schmidt 2 0-0 4, A Martin 1 0-0 3, Totals 22 6-9 60.
NICKERSON BOYS 47, LARNED 29 (7th place) – Nickerson’s Hunter Jones scored 22 points and the Panthers rolled past Larned 47-29 for seventh place at the 50th Mid-Winter Classic. Jones averaged 22 points in the three-game tournament. T.J. Powell added 13 points.
Larned (4-8) scored a season high 29 points. Brock Skelton and Damontay Phillips scored six points apiece.
Nickerson 8 17 11 11 -- 47
Larned 10 5 11 3 – 29
NICKERSON (3-9)—Jones 22, Powell 13, Frederick 6, Nisly 2, Peterson 2, Broomfield-Tate 2.
LARNED (4-8)—Skelton 6, Phillips 6, Sanger 5, Harmon 5, Fletcher 3,
ST. JOHN BOYS MIDWINTER CLASSIC
SATURDAY
1st—Central Plains 54, St. John 45
3rd—Macksville 70, Wichita Defenders 60
5th—Ness City 59, KC Christian 40
7th—Nickerson 47, Larned 29
ALL TOURNAMENT--Most Valuable Player Brett Liebl, Central Plains; Alex Hickel, Central Plains; Tanner Halling, St. John;' Chase Fisher, St. John; John Pfannenstiel, Ness City
FRIDAY—Consolation—KC Christian 60, Nickerson 56; Semifinals—Central Plains 75, Wichita Defenders 48; St. John 44, Macksville 33
THURSDAY—Ness City 71, Larned 58; Wichita Defenders 60, KC Christian 54; Central Plains 64, Nickerson 40
TUESDAY—Macksville 51, Ness City 43; St. John 56, Larned 34
