Centre defeats Herington
The first night of the preseason tournament at Herington was a good night for Centre High School as the boys' and girls' teams both brought home a win.
The boys defeated Herington, 64-58 on Dec. 7. The outcome never was in doubt, as the Cougars led by a comfortable margin until the final seconds of the game.
Centre led 19-9 at the end of the first quarter and maintained a 10-point lead, 39-29, at halftime.
After a 48-39 third quarter finish, Dustin Burnett opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer followed by a lay-up to give Centre the biggest lead of the night, 53-40.
The Railers didn't give up and battled back to outscore Centre 19-16 in the fourth quarter. They pulled within six with five seconds to go but conceded victory to the Cougars.
Between the two of them, Seth Jirak and Burnett racked up more than a third of Centre's points, 19 by Burnett and 18 by Jirak.
Andrew Hajek had nine rebounds, stole the ball five times, and scored six points. Justin Garrard provided five assists and scored seven points before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Hope
The Cougars played the Hope Lions Thursday. They were defeated, 67-54.
The boys started out strong and took the lead, 14-10, after two three-point goals, one by Bryant Gutsch and one by Jirak, in the middle of the first quarter.
Hope scored a three but Centre's Burnett and Andrew Hajek combined for a total of three consecutive field goals to put Centre up 20-14 at the end of the quarter.
The Lions crept up on the Cougars during the second quarter and took the lead. A last-second three-point shot by Jirak put Centre within four, 32-36, at halftime.
The boys weren't able to maintain their momentum in the second half. Hope began the third quarter with seven unanswered points to lead 43-32. Centre didn't score until almost five minutes had passed.
A three-pointer by Scott Peterson and one by Burnett kept the Cougars from falling farther behind, but they ended the quarter down by 11, 44-53.
The boys struggled to hold their own during the fourth quarter. Garrard scored eight of Centre's 12 points including the last six as the game drew to a close. Hope scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to win by 13 points.
Three players were in double digits: Burnett 16, Garrard 14, and Jirak 10. The team scored 43 percent from the field and completed six of 14 three-point attempts.
Garrard led rebounding with 11, and Gutsch provided four assists.
Northern Heights
The final game of the tournament was played Saturday against Northern Heights, a team with a lot of height. All but four of Heights' players were six feet or taller.
The Cougars struggled offensively and had a difficult time getting to the basket. Most shooting attempts were from outside the free throw lane.
Centre was behind 10-15 at the end of the first quarter, but outscored Heights, 9-8, in the second. Jirak scored a three at the buzzer to bring the Cougars within four points, 23-19 at halftime.
Heights outscored Centre 13-8 and 21-15 in the final two quarters to win the game by 15 points.
The Cougars shot 35 percent from the field and completed two of 10 three-point attempts. They were six of eight at the free-throw line.
Jirak led scoring for Centre with 13 points. He and Kevin Mueller provided six rebounds each.
After the tournament, the Cougars' overall record stood at 1-3. They played Bennington at home Tuesday in the first regular season league game.
