Scott City Survives Colgan Scare
Hutchinson, Kan. (westernkasnasnews.com)–It wasn’t the best outing of the season for Scott City Thursday in their 3A Tournament opener with Pittsburg-St. Marys Colgan. As the old cliche goes “Survive and Advance” is what the Beavers did, by advancing to the 3A semi-finals for the third straight season with a 61-48 win over the Panthers Thursday in the first game of the day. It was also the third straight year that St. Marys Colgan was bounced out of the tournament in the first round.
Scott City led all but a few seconds of the ball game. They led the Panthers 15-10 after the first quarter. Despite foul trouble by four of their starters, the Beavers would able to close the first half on a 9-2 run to take a 35-22 lead at the break. That lead would grow to 37-22 early in the third quarter, and it would be 15 two more times. St. Marys Colgan would fight back, closing out the final 3:13 of the third quarter on an 11-2 run to pull to within 43-37 heading into the final quarter. The Panthers would score the first bucket of the final frame, but Scott City would score 10 unanswered to lead 53-39 with 5:19 remaining. It would remain between a 10-15 point lead for the Beavers the rest of the way. Scott City (23-1) got a game-high 17 from Trey O’Neil, 15 points and 10 boards from Drew Kite, while Joey Meyer added 14. St. Mary’s Colgan (17-6) was led by Dyson Dechant with 15 points and Luke Marquardt had 13. The Beavers shot 43% for the game, and hit their first 12 free throws of the game, before finishing 14-of-17 from the charity line.
Scott City will have a rematch with Nemaha Valley Friday afternoon at 4:45. The Raiders held off a Wichita-Independent comeback effort in a 53-47 win. Undefeated Humboldt rallied for a fourth quarter win over Sacred Heart 41-37, and Silver Lake survived a comeback effort from Beloit in a 52-50 victory.
