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Pawnee Heights Tigers unbeaten at holiday break
pawnee heights boys
The Pawnee Heights Tigers won the Natoma Basketball Tournament.

By JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

ROZEL — The Pawnee Heights boys basketball team (7-0) is unbeaten, but untested. 
Coach Gustavo Flores believes the No. 7 state-ranked 1A Division 2 Tigers have gained a winning attitude against mostly a non-league schedule. The Tigers finsished 10-11, 3-8 in league last year.
“We’ve come out with wins against a weaker schedule, but we’ve learned from them,” Flores said. “We’re excited to be 7-0, but there’s room to improve. We’re not the best team we can be — far from it. We’ve got a long ways to go.”
The Tigers feature Kade Scott (22 ppg), Caleb Karst (15 ppg) and Dalton Hamby (10 ppg). Pawnee Heights is averaging 59 points per game and yielding 41 points per game.
Flores was encouraged by a comeback 58-53 victory over Minneola and a dominating 70-51 victory at Minneola.
“Minneola was our best basketball game offensively,” he said. “We showed good shot selection and scored inside and outside. It was the first time we put together a game on offense and defense.
Scott, a solid ballhandler, and Karst have been reliable inside scorers.
“Kade Scott has developed into a solid low-post player, so we run our offense through him,” Flores said. “Caleb Karst has learned to utilize his strength inside. He’s gained his confidence to put his shot up consistently.”
Hamby is the team’s most consistent outside shooter, especially from 3-point range. 
Kale McCoy (7 ppg) is the Tigers’ other offensive threat. Gabe Oddo, Trace Baker, Sean Peterson, Preston Stonebarger and Logan Williams are also contributing. 
“We’ve mixed our starting lineup, and Shawn Peterson has started to step up as a physical player,” Flores said. 
The Tigers use man-to-man defense as their base defense, but have employed zones and pressure defense depending on the team.
“We’re really working on our man-to-man defense,” Flores said. “A lot of man-to-man defense is communicating what screens are there and fighting through them. Good man-to-man principles help your zone defense.”
State-ranked South Gray (7-0), Hodgeman County (5-2) and Satanta (5-2) headline a rugged Southern Plains-Iroquois league schedule.
“We play a much tougher schedule and we’ll see bumps in the road,” Flores said. “We need to learn from those challenging games. When we play to our potential, we’ll be a competitive basketball team.” 
The Tigers would love to achieve school history as the first Pawnee Heights team since 1972 to qualify for the state basketball tournament. Pawnee Heights High School lost 61-59 to Bogue High School in the 1972 Class A state tournament at Great Bend.

Surprisingly, Rozel captured state titles in 1959 and 1960 under coach Richard Boone. Burdett captured the 1954 state title under Hall of Fame coach Jay Frazier, who developed into a legenedary coach at McPherson High School.

PAWNEE HEIGHTS TIGERS (7-0)
W—*Fowler 57-44
W—Natoma 52-37
W—Palco 50-26
W—Western Plains 55-36
W—Western Plains 75-40
W—*Minneola 58-53
W—Bucklin 70-51

PAWNEE HEIGHTS (ROZEL-BURDETT) STATE HISTORY (9-3)
1972—A—Bogue 61, Pawnee Heights 59

1963—BB—Dwight 51, Rozel 49
1960—B—Rozel 72, McLouth 51; Rozel 61, Chetopa 45; CHAMPIONSHIP—Rozel 65, Americus 57; Coach Richard Boone
1959—BB—Rozel 82, Portis 55; Rozel 59, Prescott 47; CHAMPIONSHIP—Rozel 57, Ada 56; Coach Richard Boone
1954—BB—Burdett 70, Kipp 48; Burdett 48, Simpson 44; CHAMPIONSHIP—Burdett 55, Plevna 47; Coach Jay Frazier
1925—B—Deerfield 18, Burdett 17

TIGER ROSTER
1—Gage Myers, 5-6, 10
2—Kade Scott, 6-2, 11
3—Kale McCoy, 6-1, 11
12—Caleb Karst, 6-1, 12
13—Trace Baker, 5-10, 11
14—Cody Amspacker, 6-1, 9
15—Dalton Hamby, 5-8, 11
23—Gabe Oddo, 6-0, 12
25—Aden Gilliland, 6-2, 9
30—Preston Stonebarger, 6-0, 10
33—Carlos Cordero, 5-10, 11
35—Sean Peterson, 6-2, 10
42—Logan Williams, 6-3, 11

SO. PLAINS IROQUOIS BOYS
South Gray 4-0 7-0
PHeights 2-0 7-0
Hodge Co 2-0 5-2
Satanta 2-0 5-2
Spearville 2-1 4-2
Ingalls 1-1 2-4
Kiowa Co 1-2 3-4
Ashland 1-2 4-3
So. Central 1-3 3-4
Minneola 0-2 1-5
Bucklin 0-2 1-5
Fowler 0-3 2-6

JAN. 2 GAME

*Ingalls at Minneola

JAN. 5 GAMES

*Ashland at Pawnee Heights
*Bucklin at Ingalls
*Kiowa Co. at Spearville
*Satanta at Hodgeman County
So. Central at South Barber