By BUDDY TABLER

Special to the Tribune

LARNED –  The Larned boys’ bid for a Keady Classic championship came up short Saturday as the St. John Tigers outlasted the Indians in a terrific battle, 52-45.

It was a game dominated by St. John’s height and Larned’s quickness.

Tanner Halling led the Tigers with 26 points. While Collin Halling added nine and Mason Osborne and Eddy Calleros had eight apiece. The Tigers made 19 of 34 field goals and converted 13 of 22 free throws.

Osborne was named Most Valuable Player and 6-7 Tanner Halling was named to the All Tournament team. Halling averaged 25 ppg in three games and Osborne averaged 12 ppg.

“Our defensive game plan worked as we hoped, but Halling is a handful around the basket,” said Larned coach Jerrod Smith. “Time-after-time we were guarding him with guys a foot shorter. He’s too good for anyone to do that four quarters. We didn’t shoot well. If we had, it might have been a different outcome.”

Larned finished the game 17 of 46 from the field. Jaylen Thomas scored 15 points while Chance Sanger added 13.

Mason Perez, Jaylen Thomas and Chance Sanger were all named to the All Tournament team. Larned (2-2) travels to Cimarron Tuesday.

Larned posted a 12-10 first-quarter lead as they forced the Tigers into five first-quarter turnovers. The two teams continued to battle evenly throughout the second quarter as St.John continually forced the ball inside to their 6-7 center, Tanner Halling and the Indians relied on speed and a scrappy defense to maintain a slim 19-18 lead.

The third quarter was more of the same but St. John was able to eke out a 32-30 lead as the fourth quarter began. Larned’s 2-3 zone defense had kept the Tigers at bay throughout the first three quarters but they began to find cracks for scores as the fourth quarter melted down.

More and more the height of Halling enabled him to get to either the basket or the free throw line as the Tigers continued to pound the ball inside.

Also named all-tournament were Larned’s Jaylen Thomas, Mason Perez and Chance Sanger, Hoisington’s Drew Nicholson and Mason Haxton, Ellinwood’s David Hammeke, Macksville’s Kody Mead and Karson Waters and Kiowa County’s Kamden VanderHoek.

St. John 10 8 14 20 – 52

Larned 12 7 13 13 – 45

ST. JOHN (4-0)—Tanner Halling 8 12-16 26, Calleros 2 0-0 8, Osborne 2 3-6 8, Fisher 2 0-3 6, Collin Halling 2 0-2 4, Totals 17 13-23 52

LARNED (2-2)—Jaylan Thomas 6 2-3 15, Chance Sanger 5 0-0 13, Rupp 2 1-2 6, Skelton 2 1-2 5, Fletcher 1 1-1 3, Perez 1 1-2 3, Smith 0 0-2 0, Totals 17 6-12 45

SPEARVILLE GIRLS 57, KINSLEY 50 (1ST) – Most Valuable Player Ehlaina Hartman scored 19 points to lead the Royal Lancers to the Gene Keady Classic championship.

Other named all-tournament were Spearville’s Alissa Heskamp and Brianna Ede, Kinsley’s Rylee Gleason and Josena Frame, St. John’s Paige Doran, Hoisington’s Maleigha Schmidt, Ellinwood’s Madison Ward, Larned’s Katelyn Sanger and Kiowa County’s Sabrina Thomas and Breckan Vandenhoek.

MACKSVILLE BOYS 71, HOISINGTON 69 (3RD)—Macksville’s Kody Mead scored 19 points and Karson Waters added 18 points as the Mustangs stunned Hoisington in the third-place game. The Mustangs converted 23 of 39 field goals, a 59 percent clip.

The Mustangs led 44-29 at halftime when the Cardinals staged a second-half rally that came up two points shy.

Mason Haxton led the Cardinals with a career high 25 points and five assists. Drew Nicholson added 20 points and five assists. The Cardinals converted nine of 25 3-pointers.

Macksville 25 19 10 17 – 71

Hoisington 11 18 17 22 – 69

MACKSVILLE—Mead 6-6 7-11 19, Waters 6-12 6-9 18, Lickiss 3-6 6-6 12, Miller 4-7 0-0 11, Acosta 0-0 2-2 2, Frink 2 1-2 5, Blaske 2-3 0-1 4, Totals 23-39 22-31 71

HOISINGTON (1-3)—Haxton 8-17 7-7 25, Nicholson 6-13 5-5 20, Donovan 4-11 1-2 10, Brewer 2-7 1-4 7, Richards 1-2 0-0 3, Xavier Robinson 0-4 0-0 0, Woydziak 0-3 0-0 0, Chase Robinson 2-6 0-0 4, Dolezal 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 23-64 14-18 69

KIOWA CO. GIRLS 28, ST. JOHN 24 (3RD)—Kiowa County’s Regan Rhodes scored eight points to lead the Mavericks in the third-place game. Paige Doran led the Tigers with eight points.

KC 7 10 7 4 – 28

SJ0 7 12 5 – 24

KC—Rhodes 4 0-2 8, Casey Erickson 1 2-3 4, VanderHoeck 2 3-5 7, Sherer 0 0-2 0, Heinson 1 0-0 2, Thomas 3 1-2 7, Totals 11 6-14 28

SJ—Doran 4 2-2 8, Smith 2 3-6 7, Payton Meeyer 2 0-0 5, Bree Meyer 0 0-2 0, Crissman 2 0-5 4, Rios 0 0-1 0, Totals 10 5-17 24

ELLINWOOD BOYS 61, KINSLEY 51 (7TH)—Ellinwood’s David Hammeke scored a career high 34 points to spark the Eagles past Kinsley 61-51 for seventh place. Hammeke scored 12 points in the fourth quarter. Kodie McFarren added 11 points.

Kinsley 13 10 13 16 – 51

Ellinwood 11 22 13 16 – 61

KINSLEY—Haynes 7 0-0 19, Bryce Herrman 5 1-3 12, Kellen Herrman 4 0-0 10, Sexton 1 1-2 4, Herhardt 1 1-5 3, Brewer 1 0-0 3, Bowman 1 0-0 3, Totals 19 3-10 51

ELLINWOOD—Hammeke 14 6-12 34, McFarren 4 3-11 11, Doll 2 0-2 4, Niles 0 0-2 0, Carr 1 4-9 6, Wondra 1 0-0 2, Knop 1 1-2 4, Totals 23 14-31 61

HOISINGTON GIRLS 42, MACKSVILLE 12 (7TH)—Keeley Wolf scored 10 points and nine Cardinals scored in the seventh-place game.

Macksville 5 2 1 3 – 12

Hoisington 11 8 10 13 – 42

HOISINGTON (1-3)—Wolf 3 2-4 10, Colson 1 0-0 2, Lamatsch 0 1-2 1, Isabelle Gonzalez 1 1-2 3, Schneider 3 0-0 7, Schmidt 2 2-3 6, Dalton 3 2-6 8, Romeiser 2 0-0 4, Dolechek 0 1-2 1, Totals 15 9-18 42

MACKSVILLE—Mendez 0 1-2 1, Kuckelman 1 0-0 2, Anchutz 0 3-4 3, Ortiz 1 0-0 3, Hottovy 1 0-3 2, Holguin 0 1-2 1, Totals 3 6-11 12

 LARNED GIRLS 28, ELLLINWOOD 17 (5TH)—Larned used aggressive defense to earn fifth place at the Keady Classic Tournament to tie the tournament record for fewest points in a game.

Larned outscored Ellinwood 13-2 in the third quarter to take a 26-11 lead.

“We’ve played good defense, especially in our two wins,” said Larned coach Ashley Crosby. “ We caused 25 turnovers and last night 26, so I am very pleased.”

The Eagles made 7-27 field goals. All-tournament Madison Ward scored six points while Mya Maxwell added five.

Larned converted 12-41 field goals. All-tournament Katelyn Sanger led the Indians with 10 points while Baylea Perez added seven.

Ellinwood 3 6 2 6  — 17

Larned 6 7 13 2 — 28

ELLINWOOD—Ward 3 0-2 6, Maxwell 1 2-5 5, Petz 1 0-0 2, McReynolds 1 0-0 2, Henderson 1 0-0 2, Totals 7 2-7 17

LARNED (2-2)—Sanger 4 1-3 10, Perez 3 1-4 7, Nesby 2 1-2 5, Muldrow 1 0-2 2, Fischer 2 0-0 4, Taia 0 0-1 0, Totals 12 3-12 28

LARNED KEADY CLASSIC

SATURDAY—1st girls—Spearville 57, Kinsley 50; 1st boys—St. John 52, Larned 45

3rd girls—Kiowa Co. 28, St. John 24; 3rd boys—Macksville 71, Hoisington 69

5th girls—Larned 28, Ellinwood 17; 5th boys—Kiowa County 43, Spearville 37

7th girls—Hoisington Macksville; 7th boys—Ellinwood 61, Kinsley 51

GIRLS SEMIFINALS—Spearville 44, St. John 31; Kinsley 49, Kiowa County 43; Ellinwood 44, Hoisington 30; Larned 47, Macksville 40

BOYS SEMIFINALS—St. John 52, Hoisington 46; Larned 56, Macksville 36; Spearville 31, Ellinwood 28; Kiowa County 61, Kinsley 28

GIRLS FIRST ROUND—Kinsley 28, Macksville 22; Kiowa Co. 61, Larned 35; MONDAY BOYS—Larned 62, Kiowa County 48; Macksville 61, Kinsley 36 

GIRLS FIRST ROUND—Spearville 47, Hoisington 19; St. John 42, Ellinwood 32; TUESDAY BOYS—Hoisington 62, Spearville 30; St. John 52, Ellinwood 31