Knights fall in Corner Conference finals

MALVERN - A costly turnover late in the game prevented Fremont-Mills from ending Stanton’s perfect season as the Vikings won the Corner Conference Tournament Championship 48-44 Saturday night in Malvern.

Stanton improved to 15-0 on the season with the win, which gave them their first CC Tournament championship since 1997.
Both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm early in the game, as Stanton led 9-7 after the first eight minutes.

The lead changed hands a couple times in the second quarter as Stanton battled foul trouble, losing big men Brady Johnson and Alex Becthold. Playing with a smaller lineup, Stanton rallied and extended their lead to 27-21 by halftime.

Both teams scored a dozen third quarter points, giving Fremont-Mills a chance to rally late.

A Parker Powers three-pointer, his second of the game, allowed Fremont-Mills to cut the lead to 44-42 and the Knights had the ball in the final minute with a chance to tie the score.

Stanton, however, forced a turnover and David Sorensen would hit all four free throws he attempted in the game in the final 21 seconds to seal the win for Stanton.

Sorensen led all scorers with 21 points while Drake Johnson scored 12.

Powers scored 12 for Fremont-Mills while Sam Phillips added 11 points and six rebounds before leaving the game in the third quarter after picking up a technical foul.

Fremont-Mills 72,
Clarinda Academy 36

TABOR - Fremont-Mills coach Mike Wood is no fan of zone defense.
“It kills me not to play man-to-man,” said Wood.

As problematic as playing a zone defense was for the coach, it’s hard to argue with the result. The Knights’ zone bottled up Clarinda Academy’s dribble drives and held the Eagles to just eight fourth quarter points in a 72-36 victory in the Corner Conference boys basketball tournament opening round last Wednesday.

“I thought we did a good job, we played a 3-2 tonight and I thought we did a good job of keeping them from driving on us. That’s why we played zone. The first time we played them and they had a kid who really sliced us up. We did a good job of turning them to the outside.
Just how hard was it for the Wood, a staunch man-to-man defensive-minded coach to play zone defense?

“To not plan man-to-man is harsh for me,” Wood said. “It’s our identity. We want to play full court man. But I thought their quickness would hurt us so we wanted to drop back and turn the ball to the outside, hold to one shot and get the ball back in transition. We did that tonight.”

The Eagles’ quickness did give the Knights trouble. Very early. After matching the Knights at 7-7 in the first four minutes, F-M closed the first quarter on a 14-2 run and led 21-9 after a quarter.

The Knights, despite not shooting it well the first half, led 34-18 at intermission.

“Sometimes you have to shoot until you get hot,” Wood said.

In the third quarter, the Knights extended their lead to 44-24 on Lane Goodman’s layup with 3:15 to go.

The Knights opened the fourth quarter on a 15-3 run and led by as many as 38 in the final frame.

“I thought this game came down to ball security,” Wood said. “They did a good job early of poking it away and they did a good job of getting the ball out of our hands. We talked at halftime about securing the basketball first and getting out in transition.”

Dalian Melgoza and Sam Phillips shared the team lead with 17 points. Phillips added 12 rebounds and Melgoza connected on 3-of-7 three’s.

“He’s matured a bunch since the start of the season until now,” Wood said of Melgoza, a junior guard. “That’s what you’re looking for from your point guard.”

Kendall Lewis paced Clarinda Academy with 12 points.

East Mills 47,
Sidney 44

TABOR - Just six days ago, East Mills built a narrow four point lead on Sidney only to watch the Cowboys rally in the final minutes to snatch a victory from the Wolverines.
Last Wednesday, East Mills would have nothing of it.

The Wolverines withstood a furious Cowboy rally in the final 1:29 that cut the lead to just one with 2.6 seconds left and a desperation heave that glanced off the front of the rim as time expired to down Sidney 47-44 in the opening round of the Corner Conference boys basketball tournament in Tabor.

“For a little bit there, this felt like that one,” said East Mills coach Kevin Schafer after the game in reference to his team’s previous 47-46 loss to Sidney.

In the first half, utilizing a tight zone defense to negate the Cowboys’ size inside – in particular 6-foot-7 Dylan Lucas – the Wolverines built an eight point lead early in the second quarter and led 25-20 at halftime.

To open the third quarter, East Mills got a layup from Jordan Childers and a runner from Dylan Schroeder to push their lead to 35-24 midway through the frame.

East Mills would hold on to a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter before Sidney began to chip away. A three pointer by the Cowboys’ Chase Reed cut the margin to 43-38 with 1:21 to go. The Wolverines would have a chance to extend their lead on its next two possessions but went just 1-for-3 at the line.

Sidney’s Cameron Whitehead answered with a layup and, following a Wolverine turnover, hit 1-of-2 at the line to make it 44-41 with 12.1 to go in the game.

The Cowboys then sent Miguel Sanchez to the line with 10.1 seconds to go. The senior hit 1-of-2 to make it 45-41.

Sidney darted up the court on the ensuing possession and cut the lead to 45-44 on Reed’s second three pointer of the quarter.
Trailing by one, Sidney fouled East Mills guard Weston Copperstone. The junior calmly stepped up to the line and nailed both free throws to put the Wolverines back in front 47-44 with just 1.4 on the clock.

Whitehead’s 70-foot heave at the buzzer ricocheted off the front of the rim.

“I was a little disappointed we gave them some wide open three’s there late,” Schafer said. “Guys didn’t communicate and their guys got free. We didn’t spread out enough and were too worried about their posts instead of taking away the three. We should have been in a situation there where we didn’t even have to guard them up four.”

Schafer said his team’s offensive game plan that called for challenging the Cowboys’ defense was key this time around.
“We knew we had to penetrate,” Schafer. “The first time we went against (Dylan) Lucas he blocked five or six shots. So our kids  were much smarter about when we attacked him. We dished a lot instead of going up and we got our posts involved that way.”

East Mills limited Sidney to 39 percent shooting and held a 29 to 18 rebounding edge.

Copperstone led the Wolverines with 13 points, shooting 3-for-4 from behind the arc. Noah Richer added 10.

Lucas and Whitehouse paced Sidney with 12 points.