Marion to face Hillsboro in substate
Staff writer
With regular season basketball coming to a close, substate tournaments will begin this week with No. 5 seed Hillsboro facing off against No. 12 seed Marion in the first round at 7 p.m. Thursday at Hillsboro.
The Trojans are coming off eight victories in a row after beating Nickerson 47-33 on the road Friday.
“We struggled a little offensively, but our defense only allowed 33 points overall,” coach Kyle Kroeker said.
Noah Beavers finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 13 points and 9 boards. Nash Dickinson scored 12, while Easton Shahan finished with 9 assists.
It was the second straight game in which Hillsboro held its opponent to less than 30% shooting.
“Our defense will be a huge strength of this team,” Kroeker said. “We play great team defense, and they’re doing the things that don’t always make the box score.
“We look forward to the Marion County rivalry. Many of the boys grew up playing one another and know each other well. It should be a fun competition.”
Marion beat Central Christian Academy 56-42 in their last regular season game Friday. Coach Kevin Dasenbrock did not respond to requests for statistics or thoughts on the game or Thursday’s game against Hillsboro.
Goessel
The Bluebird boys produced only five points in the first quarter Thursday, while Rural Vista shot a high percentage from the field.
Goessel trailed 32-11 at halftime, and the dominance of the Heat offense continued in the second half as Goessel fell 61-28 in its final Wheat State League game of the season.
Trey Gaddis and Jack Nickel led the team with eight points each.
Friday night, however, the Bluebird offense came alive in non-league play.
Hartford led early before Goessel snatched the lead 11-9 at the end of the first quarter. The teams traded leads in the second quarter, but the Bluebirds sneaked ahead 26-25 by halftime.
The Jaguars took a short-lived lead early in the fourth quarter, but a three-pointer by Koy Smith, a reverse lay-up by Wyatt Sommerfeld, and a three-pointer from Trey Gaddis propelled the Bluebirds to a six-point lead.
Hartford came close, but the Bluebirds maintained their lead and finished the regular season with a victory, 51-47.
Seniors Koy Smith and Jack Nickel led the team with 21 and 17 points respectively.
Peabody-Burns
The Warriors ended their regular season with a 65-59 loss Friday to Tescott. Aiden Hurst led the team with 22 points followed by Jameson Miles with 13.
“We played an overall good game, just couldn’t get shots to fall down the stretch,” coach Bobby Kyle said.
Centre
The Cougars lost 58-35 at home Friday night against Chase County.