Indians Move Into Championship Contest
St. Francis 69, Quinter 47
The Indians advanced into the NWKL championship game with a 69-47 win over a good Quinter team in the semi-final contest of the NWKL Tournament on Friday. The Indians used smothering defense, strong rebounding, and good offensive execution to earn the win. The Bulldogs only held the lead once (2-3) as the Indians asserted their will gradually throughout the contest.
Quinter's Lane Keith (5' 8" senior) swished a left-wing trey giving the Bulldogs their only lead of the contest after an initial stick-back basket by Brock Waters to open the contest. Tate Busse followed with a steal-two. On the next Indian possession, an assist by Waters resulted in a Busse trey. Quinter called time-out at 5:35, and after returning to the floor, received another Keith trey. Quinton Cravens answered with a driving basket to move the score to 9-6. At 4:03, Zack Funk (6' 2" senior) drained consecutive free-throws keeping the score close. Moments later, Taylor Rogers drew a charge on a driving Bulldog establishing a bit more momentum for the Indians. A Waters drive was followed by a out-of-bounds play score by the Bulldogs' Cody Bogart (6' 5" senior). On the next Indian possession, another Busse trey (assist Waters) kept the pressure on. Busse's next trey (assist Dalton Straub) gave the Indians their biggest lead thus far (17-10). Bogart responded with a bucket in the lane preceding a final score by Cravens from the elbow (assist Waters). St. Francis led 19-12 at the first quarter break.
Dalton Straub's steal lead to a post basket by Quinton Cravens to open the second stanza (21-12). After a Quinter trey, Waters' assist set up another Cravens score. Quinter was not going away without a fight, and Funk soon swished another trey trimming the margin to 23-17. The back-and-forth action continued with a Dinkel left-corner trey (assist Jeremiah Neitzel) and a shot by Quinter's Connor Havlas (6' 3" sophomore) in the lane. Waters then preceded another Havlas post basket with a score. At 3:08, the Indians began to increase the advantage with two free-throws by Neitzel and a steal-two dunk by Tate Busse (34-21). Bogart scored the final bucket of the first half from the post for the Bulldogs. St. Francis led 34-23 at halftime.
St. Francis opened the second half with a 13-0 run in the first three minutes of the third period. A baseline jumper by Jeremiah Neitzel started the the run. An assist by Tate Busse to Brock Waters soon added a fast-break score. Quinter called time-out at 6:52 trailing 38-23. The Indians soon added a two free-throws by Waters, a Busse steal-two, and a left corner trey by Neitzel (assist Busse). A fast-break basket by Quinton Cravens advanced the lead to 47-23 with five minutes left in the period. Quinter's Keith drained a right-wing trey at 4:12 halting the Indian run. But the Indians weren't done yet. An offensive rebound score by Neitzel and additional baskets by Waters and Cravens pushed the advantage to 51-28. At 1:23, Keith sank another trey for the Bulldogs, The quarter closed after two Busse free-throws. St. Francis had blown the game open with the outburst and now led 53-31.
Dalton Straub's driving basket opened the final period. After two quick Quinter scores, Tate Busse's assist let to a trey by Brock Waters from the left-wing. Waters returned the assist-favor on the next possession ending with a Busse trey. Quinton Cravens' steal and assist to Busse resulted in the second dunk of the contest for the Indians (64-36). The Indians added scores by Cravens and Brady Dinkel in the closing minutes. St. Francis had played well, defeating a good Quinter team 69-47.
Tate Busse led all scorers with 24 points. Quinton Cravens added 18 to the Indians' point total. Others scoring for the Indians included Brock Waters 12, Jeremiah Neitzel 9, Brady Dinkel 4, and Dalton Straub 2. The Indians converted 8 of 10 from the line.
Zach Funk and Lane Keith each scored 12 for the Bulldogs. Connor Havlas added 10. As they usually do, the Indians played smothering defense with fouling, resulting in only four free-throw attempts for the Bulldogs. Quinter scored two points at the stripe.
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