Scott City boys pull away from Lyons
Sterling, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–After a tough loss on Tuesday, Scott City had a quick turnaround on Wednesday, facing the Lyons Lions in the consolation semi-finals. While the Beavers led for a vast majority of the game, the Lions would hang close through the first three quarters. But in the fourth, Scott City would finally pull away, using transition defense into offense, to snap a two-game losing streak in a 41-25 win inside the Gleason Center at Sterling College Wednesday afternoon.
Lyons score the first five points early on, but Scott City would score eight of the final 10 points of the quarter to lead 8-7 after one period. The Beavers built their lead to 15-8 with 4:46 remaining before halftime, and would go cold for the six minutes of play. Lyons ended a seven-minute scoring drought, and scored the final five points of the break to pull to within 15-13 at the break.
Scott City would be tied with the Lions at 16 early in the third quarter, only to score the next five points to lead 21-16 nearly two minutes into the second half. Lyons scored six straight over the next two minutes to lead 22-21 with 4:20 left in the third frame. That would be their last lead of the game. The Beavers scored the next three points and took a 25-23 lead into the fourth quarter. That’s when the Scott City defense really shined. They allowed only a pair of free throws in the fourth frame, and outscored the Lions in the process 16-2 over the final eight minutes to pull away for the 41-25 win. Lyons went the final 12:20 without a field goal.
Lawson Bailey led Scott City with a career-high 18 points, including knocking down three triples in the game, while Gus Hawkins had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Lyons was led by Cade Crawford with 12 points.
Scott City is 2-0 in their first two Sterling Invitationals in the consolation semi-finals, and is 2-0 against the Lions since their first meeting in 2016. The Beavers limited the fewest points in a game since December 2018, in a 66-25 win at Goodland.
Lyons 7 6 10 2-25
Scott City 8 7 10 16-41
Lyons (2-8): Cox 1 2-3 4; Bernhardt 0 0-0 0; Crawford 3 3-5 12; Clark 2 0-0 6; Guzman 0 0-0 0; Stover 1 0-0 2; Showalter 0 0-0 0; Rincon 0 1-2 1; Team 7: 8-13 25
Scott City (5-6): Duff 0 0-0 0; Thomas 0 1-2 1; Noll 0 0-0 0; Thon 1 0-0 2; Rumford 1 0-0 2; Hawkins 4 3-4 11; Bailey 7 1-3 18; A. Tarango 1 0-0 2; E. Tarango 1 0-0 3; Gooden 1 0-0 2; Team: 16 5-9 41
Three-Pointers: Lyons 3 (Clark 2, Crawford 1); Scott City 4 (Bailey 3, E. Tarango 1); Rebounds: Lyons 17, Scott City 34; Turnovers: Lyons 15, Scott City 16; Fouls: Lyons 14, Scott City 12; Fouled Out: None.
Coach Brian Gentry Postgame
Scott City will play in the fifth place game at Sterling High School in the Ora Shields Activity Center on Friday afternoon at 4:30, as they will face either Hutchinson Trinity or Smoky Valley. Hutchinson Trinity fell to Southeast of Saline 62-33, while Hugoton scored on a buzzer-beating three to defeat Smoky Valley 51-49. In the girls games on Wednesday, Smoky Valley girls defeated Hutchinson Trinity 43-23 in the consolation semi-final, while Hugoton defeated Lyons 61-31 and SE of Saline got past Kingman 52-39.
