BY RAY STRUNK

Special to the Tribune

ELLINWOOD – The No. 1 ranked Class 2A St. John Tigers roared to a 22-0 lead and coasted past Ellinwood 61-41 in Tuesday’s Central Prairie League basketball game.

St. John (9-0, 3-0 CPL) was paced by Chase Fisher with 14 points. Jorge Calleros added 11 and Alexis Valenzuela added six points. The Tigers played without all-state point guard Cole Kinnamon for the second game in a row.

St. John’s Jorge Calleros knocked down three buckets and converted all three of his free throw attempts in the first quarter.

Ellinwood’s Nathan Monday scored the Eagles’ first points of the game, knocking down two free-throws just under a minute into the second quarter.

Ellinwood got hot from three to spark a 12-4 second quarter run. Peyton Duvall buried two from behind the arc. Monday and Tyson Martinez each added threes of their own, bringing the Eagles to within 15 points nearing halftime.

Monday led the Eagles (3-4, 0-1 CPL) with 12 points. Martinez and Duvall each added nine points. The Eagles play at Mackville Friday.

St. John seemed to have answers to everything Ellinwood brought all night. Chase Fisher, Triston Long, and Alexis Valenzuela each knocked down buckets in the final two-and-a-half minutes of the first half. The Tigers went into intermission with a 35-14 lead.

St John came out strong in the second half. The Tigers outscored Ellinwood 18-10 in the third quarter to extend their lead to 54-24 as they entered the final quarter of play.

With a comfortable lead, St. John coach Clint Kinnamon subbed out his entire starting roster to give younger players some valuable varsity minutes.

The Eagles were able to chip away at the lead during the fourth quarter but it was too little, too late. St. John held onto the lead and won 61-41, improving to 10-0 on the season.

SJ 18 17 18 8 — 61

EHS 0 14 10 17 — 41

SJ—Fisher 6-12 0-1 14, Jorge Calleros 3-6 5-5 11, Long 3-4 1-2 7, Eddy Calleros 1-5 0-0 3, Valenzuela 3-4 0-0 6, Smith 2-4 0-0 4, Osborne 2-4 0-0 5, Halling 2-4 4-7 8, Hacker 1-2 1-2 3, McVey 0-0 1-2 1; Ibarra 0-2 0-0 0; Totals 23-47 13-21 61.

EHS--Monday 2-10 6-6 12, Duvall 3-6 0-0 9, Martinez 3-12 1-2 9, Kasselman 1-3 4-5 6, Jacobs 1-5 0-0 3, Garman 1-1 0-0 2; Hammeke 0-1 0-1 0; Wondra 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 11-39 11-16 41.

CENTRAL PRAIRIE BOYS
St. John 3-0 9-0
Otis-Bison 2-0 8-0
CPlains 1-0 6-2
Ness City 2-1 8-1
Ellinwood 0-1 3-4
LaCrosse 0-1 4-4
Victoria 0-1 0-8
Macksville 0-2 4-4
Kinsley 0-3 1-8

TUESDAY’S GAMES
St. John 61, Ellinwood
Otis-Bison 71, Kinsley 25
Ness City 53, Spearville 45
Macksville 63, LaCrosse 31
Stockton 73, Victoria 34

FRIDAY’S GAMES
Central Plains at Victoria
Ellinwood at Macksville
Kinsley at Kiowa County
Ness City at Trego
Otis-Bison at LaCrosse