BY KEVIN PRICE
kprice@gbtribune.com

ST. JOHN — For the St. John High School boys’ basketball team, the goal of making the championship game of its Lions Club Mid-Winter Classic all but dropped out of reach after the first half of play on Friday night against Macksville.
The Mustangs led 30-13 going into halftime, and a second-half surge from the Tigers was weathered by Macksville, which won 70-53 to advance to the championship game on Saturday against Pratt.
The two teams remain rivals by proximity, being that the two cities are seperated by 16 miles of highway and both teams are in the Central Prairie League.
The game proved to be a physical battle, seeing a combination of 43 free throws attempted between the two teams, including 36 in the second half.
Macksville looked to dominate early on, riding the perimeter shooting of Adam Oak, who finished with 18 points and six assists. Oak had 14 of the Mustangs’ 30 points by halftime.
“We played pretty well,” Macksville head coach Jeff Kuckelman said. “We didn’t play as well as we could have. We left several points out there. We missed several point-blank range shots that we usually make. If we finished a little better, we would have a little better control at halftime, but all in all, we played pretty hard.”
In the third quarter, the Tigers came out determined to turn the game around, and Zach Minnis, a 5-foot-11 senior guard, led his team with nine points in the third quarter on his way to a game-high 24 points.
“I think we relaxed,” Kuckelman said. “We had kind of a nice lead and we relaxed a little bit. I don’t think we were as tense on defense as we were in the first half.
“Minnis did a good job getting some open looks and knocking them down. You know, you start hitting some 3-balls and that starts getting you back in a hurry, and they did that. I thought we responded well to that, and he didn’t get many looks after that.”
Brandon Blakeslee added a pair of 3-pointers on his way to nine points in helping the Tigers cut into the Mustangs’ lead with a 14-5 run.
“We needed to play loose in the first half like we did in the second half,” Kinnamon said. “We had some kids, I don’t know if they are afraid to make some mistakes or afraid to make plays in the first half, but made plays in the second half. We were able to score the ball in the second half. It wasn’t like we didn’t get some good shots in the first half.
“Macksville’s size inside bothered us. Bunker’s so big, he’s hard to get around and then hard to keep off the glass. Bevan’s a good player, too.”
Macksville, however, did not remain silent.
The ’Stangs, outscored 19-17 in the quarter, were able to get Zach Achor, the Tigers’ 6-4 post player and only answer to Macksville’s 6-6 Derek Bevan and 6-5 Kyle Bunker.
“That was key for us,” Kuckelman said of getting Achor into foul trouble. “He’s their size, for the most part. Even when he was in foul trouble, we still wanted to attack him and get him into even more foul trouble, and I think we did a pretty good job of that. It kind of got him out of the game, and we attacked the basket really well after that.”
Kinnamon said he was proud of how his players handled Macksville’s  post players.
“Ethan Long, for being 6-foot and a sophomore, I thought he did a pretty good job trying to guard Kyle Bunker,” he said. “He’s just pretty big, pretty physical, but I thought he battled.
“I thought Mercer battled. I thought Jacob Faulk and Esai Macias all battled for giving up as much size as they did. It was a case where too many offensive rebounds, too many shots that they hit and too many shots that we missed the first half. It got out of hand.”
Bunker finished with a double-double,leading the Mustangs with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
The Tigers continued to improve, scoring 21 points in the final quarter, led by Minnis, who scored seven points and finished the game 6 of 6 from the free-throw line.
But Macksville stayed one step ahead, scoring 23 points in the fourth period, thanks to Taylor Tranbarger, who scored nine points in the final eight miuntes on his way to 18 points. Tranbarger also grabbed seven rebounds, six off the offensive board.
“Tranbarger was the one that really killed us tonight,” Kinnamon said. “He had 17 (points). He was the kid we were hoping to keep around seven or eight points. That’s a huge difference right there.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
St. John Lions Club
Mid-Winter Classic
BOYS
Macksville 70, St. John 53
MACKSVILLE
     Jorge Baray 0 0-0 0, Kyle Bunker 8 8-9 22, Colten Ary 0 0-0 0, Seth Filbert 1 0-0 2, Adam Oak 6 4-6 18, Taylor Tranbarger 6 3-5 17, Efrain Lopez 0 0-0 0, Guerrero Lopez 0 0-0 0, Adolfo Ibarra 3 1-2 7, Derek Bevan 2 0-0 4. Totals 26 14-22 70.
ST. JOHN
     Kade Kinnamon 0 3-5 3, Zach Minnis 7 6-6 24, Kinser Crissman 0 0-0 0, Brandon Blakeslee 3 1-2 9, Omar Ramirez 0 0-0 0, Spencer Nusser 0 0-0 0, Jacob Faulk 0 0-0 0, Esai Macias 0 0-0 0, Ethan Long 1 1-2 3, Zuriel Reyes 3 0-0 7, Dace Mercer 0 0-0 0, Zach Achor 2 3-4 7. Totals 16 13-18 53.
Macksville    11    19    17    23    —    70
St. John     6     7    19    21    —    53
     Three-point goals — Macksville 4 (Oak 2, Tranbarger 2); St. John 7 (Minnis 4, Blakeslee 2, Reyes).