MANHATTAN — St. John’s Chase Fisher credited his teammates for a 22-point game that sparked the Tigers past Pittsburg Colgan 51-38 in Wednesday’s Class 2A state basketball tournament. Fisher scored 14 second-half points.
“My teammates did a great job getting me the basketball,” Fisher said. “When I scored my first 3-point play, it got everyone going.”
The 6-foot-4 Fisher used his strength to dominate in the low post.
“I size up the defense and see how they are going to play me,” he said. “They played me straight up, so there was no reason to wait shooting the ball inside.”
St. John coach Clint Kinnamon said the Tigers’ guards did a solid job passing the basketball inside to Fisher.
“We needed a big game from Chase,” Kinnamon said. “Chase has potential to play like that against anyone. He finished his shots through contact and rebounded the ball really well.”
The No. 1 ranked Tigers (23-1) will meet Lawrence Seabury Academy (19-4) in Friday’s Class 2A semifinals at Bramlage Coliseum. Seabury beat Central Prairie League runner-up Ness City 59-47. The Tigers have captured six state basketball titles.
The Tigers broke from a 33-29 lead with 11 consecutive points for a comfortable 44-29 lead. Jorge Calleros scored after his steal and Alexis Valenzuela followed with a driving shot. Cole Kinnamon and Quincy Smith converted driving shots sandwiched around two Fisher free throws for a 44-29 lead.
“A big key was we did a great job attacking their pressure,” Kinnamon said. “Cole did a great job handling Colgan’s pressure. We shared the ball extremely well and kept getting better shots.”
Super-sub Quincy Smith delivered quality play off the bench.
“Quincy’s activity was a key because he helped us offensively and defensively,” Kinnamon said. “It was great to see that type of play from Quincy.”
Colgan (17-6) was paced by Josh Hayes with 14 points and sharpshooter Simon Higginbotham scored 12 points off four 3-pointers. The Panthers kept pace with the Tigers with a patient, ball-control offense that worked for quality shots.
The Tigers countered with a zone defense that kept the Panthers’ offense on the perimeter.
“The way Colgan plays, it was going to a grind-it-out, possession by possession game,” Kinnamon said. “We don’t play a lot of zone defense. They really run a good shuffle offense against man-to-man. If you make them deviate, it gets them on edge. Our defensive activity was awfully good.”
The Tigers have won their first-round games in nine of 10 trips to the state basketball tournament.
PC 10 5 14 9 – 38
SJ 10 11 12 18 – 51
PITTSBURG COLGAN—Hayes 6-11 2-2 14; S. Higginbotham 4-10 0-0 12; Brown 1-1 0-0 2; Piccini 0-4 0-0 0; Dickey 0-2 0-0 0; Buche 1-3 0-0 2; Hizey 3-5 0-0 6; Dellasega 0-2 0-0 0; VanBecelaere 0-1 0-0 0; A. Higginbotham 1-1 0-0 2; Totals 16-40 2-2 38.
ST. JOHN—Cole Kinnamon 3-8 3-3 10; Jorge Calleros 2-6 2-6 6; Chase Fisher 8-10 6-7 22; Alexis Valenzuela 2-3 0-0 4; Quincy Smith 2-5 0-1 5; Eddy Calleros 0-1 0-0 0; Cashe McVey 0-1 0-0 0; Mason Osborne 1-1 0-0 2; Triston Long 1-2 0-0 2; Totals 19-37 11-17 51.
3-point goals—PC 4-15 (Higginbotham 4-9, Picini 0-2, Dickey 0-2, Dellasega 0-2), SJ 2-8 (Kinnamon 1-3, Smith 1-3, J. Calleros 0-1, E. Calleros 0-1). Rebounds—PC 24 (Hayes 5); SJ 24 (Fisher 6). Assists—PC 7; SJ 7 (Long 2, Kinnamon 2). Steals—PC 3, SJ 5 (Smith 3). TO—PC 12, SJ 7.
