BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
ST. JOHN — Once St. John’s Cole Kinnamon got rolling, there was no stopping the No. 1 ranked Class 2A Tigers.
Kinnamon scored 23 points to spark the Tigers past Pratt High School 51-34 in Friday’s Mid-Winter Classic semifinal. Kinnamon drilled a pair of 3-pointers in a 10-point first period for a 14-9 lead. He converted eight of 10 field goals and five free throws.
“It was one of those nights where everything was going in,” Kinnamon said. “We played a pretty good game tonight. Ness City and Central Plains, we played really great games like we did tonight.”
The top-seeded Tigers (11-0) meets Ness City (11-1) in Saturday’s championship game. The Tigers beat Ness City 53-42 Jan. 6. Ness City beat Central Plains 52-46 in the other semifinal.
The Tigers turned the trick with aggressive, ball-hawking defense that held Pratt to 12 of 40 field goals 30 percent shooting. Samson Kohman scored 18 points, but made six of 17 shots. The Tigers shut down Pratt standouts Noah Myers (one of eight) and Travis Theis (four points). Pratt made one of nine 3-pointers.
Kinnamon was the Tigers’ initial defender on Kohman. Jorge Calleros, the Tigers’ defensive ace, defended Kohman and Myers after starting on Theis. Quincy Smith and Chase Fisher also took turns slowing down Kohman.
“It wasn’t any one defensive guy. It was everybody playing defense because we were switching guys on screens,” Kinnamon said. “We were pretty good defensively. We gave up a couple of drives and gave up a few offensive rebounds.”
The Tigers led 27-14 at halftime when Pratt scored five points. Eddy Calleros delivered a huge lift with a 3-pointer and two free throws. St. John ignited its offense in the third period with a 16-8 scoring edge with Chase Fisher scoring six of his 10 points and Kinnamon added four points.
ST. JOHN 51, PRATT 34
Pratt 9 5 8 12 – 34
St. John 14 13 16 8 – 51
PRATT—Kohman 6-17 6-7 18; Stephens 0-2 1-2 1l Evert 0-1 0-0 0; Studer 0-1 0-0 0; Myers 1-8 0-0 2; Theis 1-5 1-2 4; Roadhouse 3-4 0-1 6; Stegman 1-2 1-1 3; Totals 12-40 9-13 34.
ST. JOHN—Cole Kinnamon 8-10 5-5 23; Chase Fisher 3-10 4-6 10; Eddy Calleros 1-1 2-2 5; Quincy Smith 1-4 1-2 4; Alexis Valenzuela 1-1 1-2 3; Triston Long 1-4 2-3 4; Jorge Calleros 1-2 0-0 2; Totals 16-32 15-20 51.
3-point goals—P 1-9 (Theis 1-2, Stegman 0-1, Evert 0-1, Myers 0-2, Kohman 0-3); SJ 4-6 (Kinnamon 2-3, E. Calleros 1-1, Smith 1-2). Rebounds—P 18 (Kohman 7), SJ 16 (J.Calleros 6). Assists—P 1 (Kohman 1), SJ 7 (Smith 3). Steals—P 3 (Roadhouse 2), SJ (Foisher 4). TO—P 10, SJ. 13.
ALL TOURNAMENT
Most Valuable Player—Cole Kinnamon, St. John
Chandler Stiawalt, Ness City; Devin Brown, Ness City; Samson Kohman, Pratt; Jacob Rein, Macksville
MID-WINTER CLASSIC
1st—Ness City 59, St. John 56
3rd—Pratt 52, Central Plains 45
5th—Macksville 69, Nickerson 60
7th—Larned 67, Wichita West 52
FRIDAY
St. John 51, Pratt 34
Ness City 52, Central Plains 46
Nickerson 61, Larned 59
THURSDAY
Central Plains 60, Nickerson 37
Ness City 64, Larned 46
Macksville 79, Wichita West 56
TUESDAY
St. John 57, Wichita West 20
Pratt 50, Macksville 40
