BY BUDDY TABLER
Special to the Tribune
ST. JOHN—The high flying Ness City Eagles used a huge height advantage to pound the ball inside Thursday. They raced to a 32-12 halftime lead and pounded the Indians 64-46 in first round play at the St. John Mid-Winter Classic.
Ness City was led in scoring by Devin Brown’s 22 points. Christian Scheopner scored 10 points and John Pfannenstiel 11. Andres Rios snared 10 rebounds. Larned struggled against the size of Ness City as the Eagles repeatedly got the ball inside to Brown, 6-6 Christian Scheopner and 6-2 Chandler Stiawalt. Ness City finished the game with a 43-23 rebound advantage.
Larned freshman Chance Sanger scored 15 points. Jonathan Herter and Nick Orth chipped in with eight points apiece.
Ness City plays Central Plains in Friday’s 8:15 p.m. semifinal. Larned (2-8) meets Nickerson at 4:45 p.m. Friday.
Time after time, Ness City got the ball deep inside to 6-3 Devin Brown as the Eagles jumped to a 16-4 lead. Brown scored 16 first-half points. Meanwhile Larned was struggling both from the field and the charity stripe. The poor shooting and a decided rebounding disadvantage doomed the Indians to the poor first half start.
Larned coach Jerrod Smith said, “We have trouble playing well in all four quarters. I can’t get solid play throughout the game, it’s like we don’t realize there are four quarters of basketball in every game. That said, I was pleased with our effort in the second half, that we improved our offense, scored 34 second-half points and competed better.”
Larned actually outscored Ness City in the second half, 34-32 but it was too little, too late.
Larned did a good job of attacking the lane but couldn’t convert the points from the charity stripe when fouled. The Indians would made 7 of 18 free throws while shooting 33 percent. Ness City , on the strength of a lot of inside baskets, shot 46 percent from the field and finished 8 of 11 from the charity stripe.
NESS CITY 64, LARNED 46
Larned 4 8 17 17 – 46
Ness City 16 16 18 14 – 64
LARNED
Chance Sanger 6-12 0-0 15; Johnathan Herter 3-6 1-2 8; Mason Schartz 1-10 1-4 3; Carson Smith 1-1 1-4 3; Dalton Bright 0-2 1-3 1; Thomas Harmon 2-9 2-2 6; Alex Barger 0-1 0-0 0; Mason Perez 0-2 0-2 0; Kody Mead 1-1 0-0 2; Nick Orth 3-6 0-0 8; Colton Massey 0-2 0-0 0; Totals 17-52 7-18 46.
NESS CITY
Devin Brown 10-14 2-3 22; John Pfannenstiel 4-11 0-0 11; Christian Scheopner 4-10 2-3 10; Chandler Stiawalt 3-9 0-0 8; Andres Rios 2-7 3-3 7; Brennan Chacon 1-1 0-0 3; Payton Fellhoelter 1-4 0-0 2; Riley Tillotson 0-0 1-2 1; Trevor VanDegrift 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 25-57 8-12 64.
3-point goals—L 6-20 (Sanger 3-7, Orth 2-5, Herter 1-1, Massey 0-2, Harmon 0-2, Schartz 0-3), NC 6-19 (Pfannenstiel 3-9, Stiawalt 2-5, Chacon 1-1, Rios 0-1, Fellhoelter 0-3). Assists—L 11 (Schartz 6); NC 14 (Stiawalt 4). Steals—L 7 (Schartz 3); NC 5. Rebounds—L 20 (Schartz 5); NC 27 (Rios 7). TO—L 10, NC 10.
MACKSVILLE 79, WICHITA WEST 56
ST. JOHN — Macksville drilled 10 3-pointers and Diego Delgadillo scored 29 points and Jacob Rein 23 points as the Mustangs rolled past Class 6A Wichita West 79-56 in a Mid-Winter Classic consolation game. Macksville (7-4) will play in the fifth-place game at 4:45 p.m. Saturday.
Delgadillo converted five 3-pointers and Brigdon Russell made four 3-pointers in a 16-point effort. The Mustangs (7-4) roared to a 24-9 first quarter lead and 45-24 halftime lead.
Knowledge McPherson led Wichita West with 19 points and Corey Anderson-Haynes added 15 points.
MACKSVILLE 79, WICHITA WEST 56
MHS 24 21 14 20 – 79
WW 9 15 15 17 – 56
MACKSVILLE
Delgadillo 8-12 6-7 29; Rein 8-12 6-7 23; Russell 5-9 2-2 16; Parr 0-3 1-1 1; Lickiss 1-3 0-1 2; Waters 2-4 0-1 4; Negrete 0-1 1-2 1; Miranda 0-0 1-2 1; Casper 1-1 0-0 2; Kuckelman 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 24-50 21-27 79.
WICHITA WEST
McPherson 6-15 6-9 19; Anderson-Haynes 5-18 3-6 15; Barksdale 1-2 0-0 2; Johnson 0-1 0-0 0; Mboob 0-1 1-2 1; Gadcon 2-3 0-0 4; Porter 2-4 1-2 5; Brazil 0-6 1-4 1; McGehee 1-1 0-1 2; Saulsberry 0-0 1-2 1; Murdock 0-0 1-2 1; Barnes 1-4 2-2 4; Totals 19-58 15-29 56.
3-point goals—M 10-23 (Delgadillo 5-10, Russell 4-8, Rein 1-3, Parr 0-2); WW 3-15 (Anderson-Haynes 2-3, McPherson 1-6, Barnes 0-3). Rebounds—M 24 (Waters 7), WW 33 (McPherson 7). Assists—M 9 (Russell 4), WW 6 (McPherson 4). Steals—M 5 (Waters 2), WW 6 (Brazil 2). TO—M 9, WW 17.
CENTRAL PLAINS 60, NICKERSON 37
ST. JOHN – Alex Hickel and Brett Liebl each scored 15 points to lead Central Plains past Nickerson 60-37 in the Mid-Winter Classic Basketball Tournament.
The Oilers play Ness City in Friday’s semifinals.
The Oilers (8-2) outscored the Panthers 15-2 in the second period when Nickerson made one of 10 shots.
Devin Ryan converted four 3-pointers for 12 points. The Oilers held the Panthers to 16 of 53 shooting. Braden Stewart led Nickerson with 15 points.
Nickerson 8 2 13 14 – 37
C. Plains 12 15 20 13 – 60
NICKERSON
Braden Stewart 6-17 0-0 15; Kuhns 0-2 1-2 1; Engelland 1-3 0-0 3; O’Toole 0-8 0-0 0; Camron Stewart 0-1 0-0 0; Frederick 0-1 0-0 0; Tanner Schrag 4-9 0-0 8; Petz 5-11 0-1 10; Henke 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 16-53 1-3 37.
CENTRAL PLAINS
Alex Hickel 5-14 4-4 15; Brett Liebl 6-9 3-5 15; Devin Ryan 4-6 0-0 12; Collin Schlochtermier 1-2 0-0 2; Bryce Miller 2-5 0-0 4; Phil Donecker 1-1 0-0 2; Alex Barton 4-12 0-2 8; Lee Letourneau 0-1 0-0 0; J.J. Heredia 1-2 0-0 2; Myles Menges 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 24-53 7-12 60.
3-point goals—N 4-17 (B. Stewart 3-8, Engelland 1-3, Kuhns 0-1, Frederick 0-1, O’Toole 0-4); CP 5-11 (Ryan 4-5, Hickel 1-2, Heredia 0-1, Barton 0-3). Rebounds—N 33 (Schrag 9), CP 22 (Ryan 6). Assists—N 6 (Frederick 2), CP 7 (Hickel 3). Steals—N 4, CP 8 (Hickel 3). TO—N 15, CP 10.
ST. JOHN MID-WINTER CLASSIC
THURSDAY
Macksville 79, Wichita West 56
Ness City 64, Larned 46
Central Plains 60, Nickerson 37
FRIDAY
4:45 p.m.—Nickerson vs. Larned
6:30 p.m.—St. John vs. Pratt
8:15 p.m.—Central Plains vs. Ness City
SATURDAY
7th—Wichita West vs. Larned-Nickerson loser, 3 p.m.
5th—Mackvielle vs. Larned-Nickerson winner, 4:45 p.m.
3rd—Semifinal losers, 6:30 p.m.
1st—Semifinal winners, 8:15 p.m.
