Indians Drop Semi-Final Game to Plainville
The Indians' basketball season came to an end on Friday, March 2, in Wakeeney. Though the Indians competed well, they lost a back-and-forth contest to a very good Plainville team. The final score--75-81. The game featured 7 ties, 16 lead-changes, and four players scoring more than 20 points. The game may have been closer than the final score. St. Francis made 12 treys; Plainville made 11. St. Francis made 15 of 24 from the free-throw line; Plainville made 14 of 23. The Indians collected 22 fouls; Plainville 21. St. Francis' largest lead was 6; Plainville's greatest advantage was 7. It was a highly competitive contest. The difference in the game may have been turnovers; St. Francis had 21 (13 in the 1st half) , the Cardinals 8 (only 2 in the 2nd half).
Plainville (17-6) defeated Hoxie (20-2) in the Sub-State championship game on Saturday evening in a similar contest 65-62. Plainville now advances to play in the Kansas State Tournament on March 8-10.
The Plainville Cardinals team features good size and strength inside, quickness and good ball handling quards, and an aggressive presence both offensively and defensively on the floor. The Cardinals opened the contest with a driving basket by 6' 0" sophomore Jared Casey. Tate Busse and Brady Dinkel each followed with treys to give the Indians an early advantage. Busse's driving score gave the Indians their largest lead of the contest (8-2) moments later. It didn't take long for the Cardinals to answer. A free-throw and driving basket by Casey plus a trey by 5' 10" senior Chase Cellmer tied the contest, and a steal-two by junior Tanner Copeland (5' 10") placed the Cardinals in front 8-10. Free-throws by K.C. Krien and Dinkel tied the contest at 10-all. Hayden Gillum (6' 3") senior showed his versatility with a nice post-move basket returning the lead to the Cardinals. At 1:22, St. Francis took a time-out for strategy. Late in the quarter, a baseline drive by Casey was answered by a shot in the lane by Dalton Straub. St. Francis trailed 12-14 at the close of the first period.
A top-of-the-key trey by Brady Dinkel opened the second period and returned the lead to the Indians. After a basket by Casey in the lane, Dinkel scored in the lane at the opposite end after a nice assist by Dalton Straub. On the next Plainville possession, Copeland converted two free-throws to move the score to 17-18. Dinkel followed with a banking shot from the left wing placing the Indians back in front. The back-and-forth action would continue, but the Cardinals would take the lead for a while on a trey by Chase Cellmer on the ensuing possession. Tate Busse made 1 of 3 after being fouled on a three-point attempt, but Cellmer soon scored on a fast-break. After two more Busse free-throws, Cellmer added a driving score (22-25). Busse's assist set up a score by Straub, but Casey followed with an offensive rebound. At 4:11, Plainville took a 30-second time-out to discuss strategy. The brisk pace continued. Wyatt Hacker made a beautiful assist to Dinkel leading to a score on a cut to the rim. Cellmer followed with a left-wing trey and back-to-back free-throws giving Plainville a 6-point advantage (26-32). Dinkel swished another top-of-the-key trey (assist Straub) cutting the margin in half, but Anthony Ventura answered with a nice post-move basket for the Cardinals. After two Busse charity tosses, Chandler Cellmer (5' 9" senior) drained a left-wing trey returning the Cardinal lead to six (31-37). On the next St. Francis possession, Busse drained a right-wing trey. With 55 seconds left in the half, Busse swished a transition-trey from the top-of-the-key to tie the contest once again (37-37). On the next Indian possession, Busse's third consecutive trey gave the Indians the lead. St. Francis held a slim 40-37 lead at halftime. In the period, Cellmer had scored 12 points for the Cardinals; Busse had contributed 14 and Dinkel 10 for the Indians. St. Francis had 13 turnovers in the first half. With the frantic pace, everyone welcomed the intermission.
On the first possession of the third period, Plainville committed a rare turnover, but the Indians could not turn the error into points. The Cardinals earned the first three baskets of the second half, getting two strong post-move scores by Hayden Gillum and a top-of-the-key trey by Jared Casey. The 7-point explosion gave Plainville a 40-44 advantage. St. Francis earned their first basket of the period on an offensive rebound and assist by K.C. Krien leading to a Brady Dinkel score. Tanner Copeland followed with a left-wing trey for Plainville (42-47). Krien scored on a Busse assist, and at 5:17, a steal-two (plus one) by Busse tied the game again at 47-all. As they had done all night, the Cardinals scored on their next possession; a deep-trey by Casey. A post-move score by Gillum extended the margin to five, but a driving score by Busse followed. A left-wing trey by Busse at 3:40 again tied the contest (52-52). A Busse trey from the other side gave the Indians the lead. Again, on the next possession, Plainville answered, getting a right-wing trey from Chase Cellmer to tie the game. Casey's floater in the lane put the Cardinals back in front for a few moments. Busse was fouled at the buzzer and converted 3 of 3 from the stripe to give the Indians a 58-57 lead at the close of the third quarter.
St. Francis opened the final period with a trey by Tate Busse (assist Adam Krien). Copeland followed with a baseline drive. An uncontested top-of-the-key trey by Chase Cellmer returned the Cardinals to the lead and triggered a St. Francis time-out at 5:58. After returning to action, Brady Dinkel scored a nice reverse-layup on a baseline drive. Dinkel's "and-one" gave the Indians a 64-62 advantage. On the ensuing Cardinal possession, Cellmer drained a top-of-the-key trey retaking the lead. St. Francis would never lead again. A Cardinal free-throw was followed by two Busse charity tosses tying the game. Again......, Plainville scored on their next possession; getting a right-wing trey from Casey. The addition of two Casey free-throws extended the deficit to 66-71. Dalton Straub banked in a right-wing shot for St. Francis. A driving score by Copeland and a steal-two by Casey increased the margin to the largest of the game--seven points (68-75). At 3:26, the Indians took a time-out to re-group. Dinkel swished a left-wing trey trimming the deficit and followed with another three-ball moments later narrowing the gap to one (74-75). At 1:59, an official time-out was taken for blood clean-up. Approximately 20 seconds later, Casey missed the front-end of a one-and-one, but the Indians could not convert their shot attempt. At 1:09, Copeland sank back-to-back free-throws for Plainville. On the Indians' possession, Adam Krien was fouled on the rebound. Adam made the first of 2 with 44.3 seconds remaining to move the score to 75-77. After a Plainville time-out, Krien missed the second attempt, and the Cardinals rebounded the basketball. The Indians immediately fouled. With 42.2 seconds remaining, Gillum missed consecutive free-throw attempts. Unfortunately, the Indians committed a turnover and were forced to foul again. With 27.1 left, Copeland sank consecutive free-throws to extend the lead to 75-79. After another Indian miss, the St. Francis fouled again. This time, Copeland made 1 of 2. Unfortunately, the Cardinals secured the rebound on the second attempt, and the Indians were forced to foul again. Chase Cellmer made 1 of 2 with 10.6 seconds left to move the score to 75-81. The Indians would not score and lost a nail-biter to a very good Plainville team, 75-81. Plainville shot 10 free-throws in the final minute and 9 seconds of the game making just enough to secure the win. The Cardinals made 9 of 15 charity tosses in the final quarter.
Four players scored more than 20 points in the contest. Tate Busse led all scorers with 38 points (28 in qtr.s 2 & 3; 7 treys). Chase Cellmer and Jared Casey each had 26 for Plainville. The pair combined for 9 treys in the contest). Brady Dinkel scored 22 for St. Francis (10 in 2nd qtr.). Tanner Copeland added 16 points to the Cardinals score while Dalton Straub chipped in 11 for St. Francis. Others contributing to the St. Francis point total were K.C. Krien 3 and Adam Krien 1.
The Indians completed the 2017-2018 season with a record of 16-6. Plainville will play Pittsburg-St. Marys Colgan (21-2) at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday, March 8, at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
Results other Sub-State championship contests involving area teams of interest:
Girls 1A-DII: Quinter defeated Otis-Bison 35-29; Wallace County defeated Wheatland-Grinnell 60-46
Boys 1A-DII: Otis-Bison defeated Quinter 49-47; Wallace County defeated Wheatland-Grinnell 41-37
Girls 1A-DI: Stockton defeated Rawlins County 73-65
Boys 1A-D1: Rawlins County defeated Dighton 43-35
Girls 2A: Hill City defeated Hoxie 57-37
Girls 3A: Scott City defeated Norton 41-34
Boys 3A: Phillipsburg defeated Goodland 43-39
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