Cold Shooting Dooms Indians
The Indians suffered through an extremely cold shooting night against the Dighton Hornets in the opening round of the Northwest Kansas League Basketball Tournament in Sharon Springs. The Indians field goal percentage was near 20% for the evening resulting in a 27-48 loss to the Hornets. The Indians and Hornets had played the previous Friday in Dighton with the Indians earning a come-from-behind win 34-29. The loss moves the Indians' season record to 7-2.
St. Francis will now play Quinter at 3:00 p.m. in the Junior Varsity Gym on Thursday, January 17. Quinter lost to Hoxie 60-43 in first round action. On the other side of the bracket, Wallace County defeated Decatur Community 57-33 and Rawlins County earned a steal-two with 6 seconds remaining to edge by Greeley County 39-38.
Dighton jumped out to a 0-9 lead three minutes into the contest. The Hornets received two baskets each from Kaden Bradstreet (6' 3" Jr.) and Marcus Rowe (6' 3" Jr.) to earn the advantage. At the 4:43 mark of the first period, Brady Dinkel scored on an offensive rebound to get the Indians on the scoreboard. Jesse Baxter followed with a stick-back basket; Dinkel added a turnover-two narrowing the deficit to 6-9. Rowe added left-wing jumper to close the first period. St. Francis trailed 6-11 at the horn.
Both teams played zone defenses throughout the first period. St. Francis switched to man defense to open the second period. After a free-throw by Jesse Baxter, the Hornets reeled off eight unanswered points to lead 7-19. The Hornets received a right-corner trey from Blaine Whipple (5' 10" So.) on an out-of-bounds play, a right-wing trey from Kaden Bradstreet, and a steal-two by David Cramer (6' 0" Sr.) to earn the larger advantage. After Jesse Baxter added an offensive rebound score, Dighton earned two more field goals; a jumper in the lane by Jason Ward (6' 4" Jr.) and a right-wing trey at the buzzer by Bradstreet. The Indians cold shooting had placed them at a 9-24 deficit at halftime. The Indians were out-scored 3-13 in the second period. The Indians also had 7 turnovers in the first half; Dighton had three.
Unfortunately, the Indians did not shoot much better in the second half. Though Jesse Baxter opened the third period with a jumper from the right elbow, the Hornets answered with three unanswered baskets of their own. Cramer scored on a cut through the lane, Rowe added a post basket, and then Cramer earned a lay-up off a St. Francis turnover. The deficit was now 11-30. Brady Dinkel followed with a free-throw area jumper, and K.C. Krien added a driving score (plus one). Dighton answered with a post score by Bradstreet and a turnover-two by Cramer.
The Indians earned a double-digit scoring quarter in the final period with 11 points. Dighton would add 14 to their total. After a free-throw by Brady Dinkel, Bradstreet scored from the post. K.C. Krien's right-wing jumper was followed by a driving score by Cramer (plus one). The Cramer free-throw extended the Hornet's lead to 20 points (19-39) with 6:41 remaining. Dighton soon added three free-throws by Bradstreet and a drive by Burke Shapland (6' 1" Jr.) to extend the margin to 19-44. With approximately three minutes remaining, Jesse Baxter added a stick-back basket for the Indians. Bradstreet answered with a fast-break basket. With primarily the Dighton reserves playing the last few minutes, Baxter added two free-throws and Dinkel added a post score. Cramer scored on a post lob with about a minute remaining. Draven Houtman scored the final basket of the contest from the right wing. The Indian reserves all saw action in the final minutes. St. Francis had shot poorly, and the Hornets had won the contest 27-48.
Dighton's Kaden Bradstreet led all scorers with 20 points. David Cramer added 13 and Marcus Rowe 8. Dighton made 4 of 10 from the line, committed 14 turnovers (11 in the 2nd half), and had 11 fouls.
St. Francis was led in scoring by Jesse Baxter with 11 points. Brady Dinkel added 9. Others scoring for St. Francis included K.C. Krien 5, and Draven Houtman 2. The Indians made 5 of 9 from the stripe, had 10 fouls, and committed 12 turnovers.
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