Indians Defeat Quinter to Open 2017-18 Season
The St. Francis Indians won both of their contests against the visiting Quinter Bulldogs on Friday, December 1, in St. Francis. St. Francis opened the evening with a 18-13 win in a two-quarter junior varsity contest. In varsity action, the Indians controlled the Bulldogs 70-35. Due to disciplinary reasons and injury, Quinter entered the evening with only 7 available players from their 13-man roster. Even with a limited number of players, Quinter played the scheduled two-quarter junior varsity contest allowing more players to receive court time.
As might be expected in the opening game of the season, both teams struggled to score in the first period of the junior varsity game. Adam Krien scored the opening basket of the game on an assist by Colton Neitzel. After a Quinter free-throw, Krien added a steal-two and Cutler Mayer drained a top-of-the key basket to give the Indians a 6-1 lead. Late in the first period, Quinter earned a lay-up basket by Abram Cassi after a St. Francis turnover. St. Francis led 6-3 after one period of play.
The scoring picked up in the second quarter as both teams became more relaxed in their play. After an offensive rebound score by Quinter's Collin Blackwill, Adam Krien (trey) and Cutler Mayer each added baskets for the Indians. With the addition of an Krien free-throw, the Indians' advantage increased to 12-5. Quinter responded with a left-wing trey by Collin Thielin and a right-wing trey by Kasen Ostmeyer trimming the advantage to one (12-11). The action caused a St. Francis time-out with 2:39 remaining. After the time-out, a pass by Krien set up a driving score by Jesse Baxter. Draven Houtman followed with an offensive rebound score, and Krien added a driving basket to increase the margin to 18-11. Late in the contest, St. Francis used a delay tactic to run out the clock. Quiinter earned a driving score by Ostmeyer in the waning seconds to make the final score 18-13.
Scoring for St. Francis in the junior varsity game were: Adam Krien 10, Cutler Mayer 4, Jesse Baxter 2, and Draven Houtman 2.
St. Francis dominated the varsity contest. After an admirable aggressive start by the Bulldogs, the Indians rolled to a large-margin victory. Tate Busse scored in the lane to open the contest, but Quinter's Kasen Ostmeyer (sophomore) answered with a right-wing trey giving Quinter an early lead. A Busse steal and assist lead to a basket by K.C. Krien, but another Ostmeyer score from the left baseline put the Bulldogs back in front 4-5. After two Busse free-throws, Abram Caasi (senior) scored on a nice cut to the basket. Ostmeyer added a left corner trey extending the deficit to 6-10. Busse responded with a left-wing trey. Still on fire, Ostmeyer drained a top-of-the key trey moving the score to 9-13. Busse then sank back-to-back treys to return St. Francis to the lead. But Ostmeyer wasn't quite done yet and drained another trey putting Quinter back in the lead (15-16). The rest of the first quarter scoring added to the St. Francis account. Dalton Straub scored on an offensive rebound, Busse added a deuce, and a Busse to Straub break added three more. St. Francis led 22-16 after one quarter of play.
Quinter freshman Collin Thielen scored on an offensive rebound to open the second period. Brady Dinkel and Adam Krien each added baskets to extend the margin to 26-18. Quinter's Luke Kaiser (senior) scored on a nice drive, but then a Busse assist led to a free-throw line jumper by Draven Houtman. Quinter called time-out at 5:05 trailing 28-20. The Bulldogs earned an offensive rebound basket by Caasi after the return to action, but Houtman soon answered. A nice baseline drive by Kaiser was followed by a left-wing trey by Dinkel. With the addition of a three-point play by Dalton Straub (assist Dinkel), the Indians earned a double digit lead 36-24. The next two plays sealed the fate of the contest. On two consecutive possessions, Tate Busse earned steals and turned them into two-handed dunks. Freshman Tucker Gillespie earned a post basket on a break late in the period for Quinter. Busse's free-throw closed the half with the Indians leading 41-26.
St. Francis scored the first 21 points of the third quarter to blow the game open. Dalton Straub's out-of-bounds play basket was followed by a driving score by Tate Busse and another Busse steal-dunk. Quinter called time-out with 5:40 remaining in the third period trailing by 21 (47-26). Busse earned a steal-three after the time-out. Conner Keller then drained a left-wing deuce and a trey. A nice assist by Richard Johnson to Dalton Straub added two more. With the addition of two Dinkel treys and two strong post moves by Johnson, the Indians led 67-29. The Indians led 67-31 at the break after a basket by the Bulldogs in the closing seconds of the third period. The Indians had scored 26 points in the period and had made 5 treys.
The final quarter was played with a running clock. With all of the suited players receiving playing time, the Indians coasted to a 70-35 win.
St. Francis was led in scoring by Tate Busse with 27 points. Dalton Straub chipped in 12 and Brady Dinkel added 11. Others scoring for St. Francis included Richard Johnson 7, Connor Keller 5, Draven Houtman 4, Adam Krien 2, and K.C. Krien 2. The Indians made 6 of 11 from the line.
Quinter was led by Casen Ostemeyer with 15 points Collin Thielen scored 9. Quinter made 1 of 4 from the stripe.
St. Francis will play Heartland Christian in the first round of the Sagebrush Invitational Tournament in Brewster on Monday, December 4. The game tips-off at 7:30 p.m. in the South Gym at Brewster High School.
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