Tigers survive Larned’s upset bid
BY BUDDY TABLER
Special to the Tribune
ST. JOHN — St. John rode Tanner Halling’s 20 points to a 46-45 basketball victory over Larned Tuesday in the St. John Midwinter Classic.
It was a hard-fought battle between two excellent defensive teams.
“We really shot the 3-pointer tonight, which was a key,” said St. John coach Clint Kinnamon. “Tanner Halling played strong. They let the guys play tonight.”
Larned had a chance to tie, trailing by three but Eddy Calleros defended the final attempt. Mason Perez scored a last-second two-point basket as the buzzer sounded.
The Tigers will challenge No. 1 1A Central Plains (11-0) in Friday’s 4:30 p.m. semifinals.
Larned took a 16-10 lead at
the end of the first quarter but the Tigers roared back with a 14-point swing,
22-8, to lead at halftime 32-24 in a see-saw affair.
“We really played well in the second half,” said Larned coach Jerrod Smith. “We trapped more defensively and did a good job on their big guy. Tanner Halling, holding him to six second-half points.”
Larned clawed back to trail 40-35 at the third quarter break and outscored St. John 10-6 in the final stanza but it wasn’t enough, falling one point short.
Tanner Halling led the Tigers with 20 points while Mason Osborne added 10 and Eddy Calleros seven. The Tigers shot 18 of 29 from the field and converted 6 of 10 free throws.
Larned’s Chance Sanger scored 15 points while Trent Fletcher added 13 and Mason Perez six. The Indians were 17 of 42 from the field and 5 of 6 from the charity stripe. They will play Nickerson at 4:45 Thursday.
Larned 16 8 11 10 – 45
St. John 10 22 8 6 – 46
LARNED (6-3)—Sanger 15, Skelton 5, Fletcher 13, Perez 8, Rupp 2, Thomas 2
ST. JOHN (9-2)—Tanner Halling 20, Marshall Woolf 9, Osborne 10, Calleros 7
CENTRAL PLAINS 64, NICKERSON 38 — No. 1 ranked 1A Central Plains played flawless basketball placing three players in double figures to roar past Nickerson 64-38 in Tuesday’s Midwinter Classic.
The Oilers (11-0) play St. John in Friday's 4:30 p.m. semifinals.
The Oilers placed Devin Ryan (16), Brett Liebl (15) and Alex Hickel (13) in double figures. The Oilers made the extra pass and converted several second-chance baskets by hustling for missed shots.
Devin Ryan handled the key defensive assignment, holding leading scorer Hunter Jones to three points.
Ryan converted four 3-pointers and Liebl and Hickel took turns working inside against 6-7 Nickerson center Connor MacDonald, who blocked and altered several field goal attempts. MacDonald scored 13 points.
Nickerson 6 12 8 12 – 38
C. Plains 19 11 18 16 – 64
NICKERSON (5-6)—MacDonald 6-9 1-1 13, Crossman 4-7 1-2 9, Broomfield-Tate 2-5 2-4 6, Carpenter 1-1 0-0 3, Nisly 1-2 0-0 2, Damato 1-1 0-0 2, Peterson 0-4 0-0 0, Jones 1-5 1-2 3, Arozarena 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 16-35 5-9 38
CENTRAL PLAINS (11-0)—Devin Ryan 6-10 0-0 16, Liebl 7-15 1-2 15, Hickel 4-12 2-4 13, Oeser 3-6 1-1 7, Menges 2-7 2-2 7, Bieberle 1-1 0-0 2, Heredia 1-2 0-0 2, Thompson 1-1 0-0 3, Totals 24-54 7-9 64
3-pointers—N 1-3 (Carpenter 1-1, Peterson 0-2), CP 8-15 (Ryan 4-8, Hickel 2-2, Thompson 1-1, Menges 1-3, Oeser 0-1)
ST. JOHN MIDWINTER CLASSIC
TUESDAY—Central Plains 64, Nickerson 38; St. John 46, Larned 45
THURSDAY—Consolation, Larned 6-3 vs. Nickerson 5-6, 4:45; Wichita Sunrise 9-2 vs. Macksville 7-3, 6:30; Ness City 8-1 vs. KC Christian 4-3, 8:15
FRIDAY—Consolation—Sunrise-Macksville loser vs. Ness City-KC Christian loser, 1:30; SEMIFINALS—Sunrise-Macksville winner vs. Ness City-KC Christian winner, 3; Central Plains 11-0 vs. St. John 9-2, 4:30
SATURDAY—SEVENTH—3; FIFTH—4:45; THIRD—6:30; FIRST—8:15
