CLAFLIN — The St. John High School boys’ basketball team climbed out of a 40-28 hole in the final quarter to beat Central Plains 56-50.
The Tigers scored 28 points in the final eight minutes, and took the lead with one minute, 29 seconds left on a 3-pointer from Kade Kinnamon.
“We played hard the whole game,” Central Plains head coach Clay Mettlen said. “We stuck to our game plan in the fourth quarter. Basically, we dared them to shoot 3s, if on the 3-point line with a hand in their face. If they wanted open looks, they had to step back a couple feet. Daring them to make NBA-ranged 3s.
“They made NBA-ranged 3s, and it is very difficult to defend that range in high school. They burned us on it late in the game.”
The game started slow. Neither team scored until Central Plains point guard Benn Kirmer broke the lull with a field goal at the 4:31 mark in the first quarter.
“We were horrible,” St. John head coach Clint Kinnamon said. “We were bad except that last six or seven minutes of the game. I’m glad they got the light switch turned on or we’d have got our butt beat.
“Central Plains played great. They banked on us missing some shots, and we missed shots early. We were missing some wide open shots. But we made some shots in the second half, and our defense was better.”
St. John, which only made 12 field goals in the game including eight 3-pointers, didn’t score until the 1:44 mark in the first quarter.
Central Plains maintained its lead through three quarters, until St. John scored five of its eight 3-pointers in the fourth. The Tigers went on a 26-8 in the fourth quarter, which ended with a pair of 3s from Kade Kinnamon.
Kinnamon finished with eight points.
“I am proud of our kids,” Clint Kinnamon said. “We were down 12 at one point, and we could have packed up there, but we didn’t.
“(Kade) hit two 3s late that were really big. Zuriel (Reyes) hit a 3 that was big. Then I think Bieberle (of Central Plains) came down and answered right back. We made some shots down the stretch.”
Spencer Nusser led St. John with 14 points, and Dean Wade and Reyes joined him in double digits with 11 apiece.
Central Plains sophomore Evan Liebl finished with a game-high 16 points.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
At Claflin

Friday

BOYS

St. John 56, Central Plains 50
ST. JOHN (9-5)
     Kade Kinnamon 2 2-4 8, Kinser Crissman 0 2-4 2, Omar Ramirez 0 0-0 0, Zuriel Reyes 3 3-3 11, Spencer Nusser 3 5-6 14, Esai Macias 0 4-8 4, Ethan Long 1 3-4 6, Dean Wade 3 5-12 11. Totals 12 24-41  56.
CENTRAL PLAINS (5-9)
       Benn Kirmer 2 5-7 9, Layne Bieberle 1 2-2 5, Patrick Hubbard 0 0-3 0, Tim Stueder 2 2-3 7, Bryce Straub 1 0-0 3, Joe Barton 2 0-0 4, Colton Zink 2 1-1 6, Evan Liebl 6 4-6 16. Totals 16  14-22 50. 
St. John            6  16   6   28 —  56
C. Plains         10  19  11  10  —  50
     Three-point goals — St. John 8 (Nusser 3, Kinnamon 2, Reyes 2, Long); Central Plains 4 (Bieberle, Stueder, Zink, Straub).