Wildcats Outrun the Indians
The number two-ranked (Kpreps) Wallace County Wildcats proved to be very good on Tuesday, February 24, in St. Francis. The Wildcats spanked the Indians 32-77 in the varsity contest and also won the junior varsity game in a run-away 27-58. Before the game, seniors Cade Bracelin and Jon Hoard and their parents were recognized for their contributions to the Indian basketball program.
The Wildcats and Indians exchanged scores for the first four minutes of the varsity contest, but then the Wildcats' defensive pressure and quickness began to take a toll. The game opened with a Wallace County (WC) trey just seconds into the game. The Wildcats earned a five-point advantage moments later on a nice driving score. Cade Bracelin scored the Indians' first basket. After an exchange of baskets ending in another Bracelin score, this time from the post, the Indians had closed the gap to two points (11-13) about four minutes into the game. The Wildcats then blew the game open. The Indians struggled to make shots and allowed several turnovers. The result was 9 unanswered points for the Wildcats to close the first period. St. Francis trailed 11-22 after one quarter.
Wallace County opened the second period with an offensive rebound basket and a turnover leading to another WC score. Taylor Rogers scored on a nice drive to stop the WC run at the 5:50 mark. Jakob Church's offensive rebound basket was followed by a WC trey. Two consecutive Indian turnovers resulted in five more Wildcat points. With just over three minutes left in the second period, the Indians had fallen behind 15-36. The Indians received two free-throws and a post basket from Cade Bracelin and a steal-two from Tate Busse to trim the margin back to 15 points (21-36), but Wallace County scored the final four points of the period to lead 21-40 at halftime.
The third period was all Wallace County. The Wildcats converted several Indian miscues into quick points early in the period to lead 21-49. Tate Busse drained a trey at 5:45 to slow the run, but the Wildcats followed with another 9-point run extending the deficit to 24-58. The Indians were having difficulty with the aggressiveness and skilled play of the Wildcats and unfortunately were failing to convert on the good looks they did earn. The third quarter ended with the Indians trailing 26-62.
St. Francis earned two baskets in the final period, a trey and post-move, both by Cade Bracelin. The Wildcats emptied their bench and cruised through the final quarter under the 30-point rule. The Indians lost to a very good Wallace County team 32-77.
Wallace County had three players in double figures: Nate Klinge (6' 1" senior) 20 (11 in the 1st period), Ivan Montes (5' 11" senior) 17, and Luke Schemm (6' 3" junior) 11. The Wildcats converted 7 of 9 free-throw attempts and made 6 treys.
St. Francis received 16 points from Cade Bracelin and 8 from Tate Busse. Other Indians contributing to the cause were Quinton Cravens 4, Taylor Rogers 2, and Jakob Church 2. The Indians were 3 of 5 from the stripe and made 3 treys.
Coach Jeff Beims shared the following comments on the game, "When you play a team like Wallace County that came really close to winning a state title last year, and expects to challenge for another this year, you have to play almost perfect to beat them. We thought there were a couple of keys to defeating them. First we had to take care of the ball. They feed off turnovers created by their pressure. Second, we had to keep them from scoring in transition. I thought in the first half we did a pretty good job of executing that game plan, but unfortunately there was a third key to defeating them…we had to score ourselves! We had some decent looks that just wouldn’t fall for us. I think had we been able to keep the score close we could have given them a scare, but that wasn’t to be. I was proud of the fact that, even though it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t going to be our night, the guys kept playing hard and went down fighting."
The junior varsity boys were never in the game against the Wildcats. Wallace County jumped out to a 0-10 lead halfway through the first period and stretched the margin to 2-16 by the first quarter buzzer. St. Francis' only score came on an assist by Jeremiah Neitzel to Carl Fabre on a cut through the lane. The pressure defense of the Wildcats completely disrupted the Indians, and as the turnovers mounted, so did the Wildcats score.
The Indian miscues continued throughout the second period, and the Wildcats attained a 30-point advantage (2-32) with just under three minutes remaining in the first half. At that time, the Wildcats backed off the full-court pressure. Halftime arrived with the Indians trailing 4-34 after receiving another basket by Carl Fabre.
With everyone receiving playing time for the Wildcats and the full-court pressure off, the Indians competed much better in the second half. The Indians outscored the Wildcats 10-7 in the third period and reduced the margin to 14-41. The game ended with the Wildcats leading 27-58.
St. Francis will play Quinter in the first round of Sub-State action on Monday, March 2, at 7:30 p.m. The Sub-State Tournament will be held in Quinter.
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