Indians Defeat Greeley County For 5th Place
The Indians defeated Greeley County 54-48 to earn the consolation championship of the Northwest Kansas League Basketball Tournament in Sharon Springs on Saturday, January 19. The Indians received double-figure scoring from Brady Dinkel and Jesse Baxter as well a good complimentary play from each team member that played to earn a hard-fought victory over a scrappy Jackrabbit team.
St. Francis jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead receiving a trey from Brady Dinkel (assist Connor Keller) and basket from Jesse Baxter (assist Keller) to open the game. Greeley County's (GC) Fabel Yanez (Jr.) drained a left-wing trey to get the Jackrabbits on the scoreboard. Baxter earned a stick-back basket, but Sebastian Torres (Sr.) soon answered for GC. Dinkel's deep trey from the top-of-the-key moved the advantage to 10-5. After a score by GC's Seth Williams, the Indians earned a 6-point run on a left-wing jumper by Baxter, a drive by Josiah Sims, and mid-post jumper by Draven Houtman. At 1:07, GC used their first time-out trailing 16-7. After returning to the floor, Manuel Chavez (So.) drained a right-wing trey for the Rabbits. St. Francis would score the final two baskets of the period on a baseline cut by Houtman (assist Baxter) and a very deep buzzer-beating trey by Dinkel. St. Francis led 21-10 after one-quarter of action.
The Jackrabbits had come to compete, and opened the second period with an 9-point run. Jose Chavez started the run with a left-corner trey. Sebastian Torres followed with two post baskets. Manuel Chavez's steal-two trimmed the St. Francis lead to 21-19. Brady Dinkel responded with driving score, and Colton Neitzel added a shot from the right baseline. After a floater in the lane by GC's Jaly Yanez (Sr.), Josiah Sims earned back-to-back steals and turned both into assists to Dinkel restoring a comfortable lead to the Indians (29-21). Torres then added a press-offense basket for the Jackrabbits. A nice assist from Fabel Yanez on a cut by Jaly Yanez accounted for the final score of the half. St. Francis led 29-25 at halftime.
Colton Neitzel's second-half opening basket was answered by a bucket by Sebastian Torres. Jesse Baxter then added a stick-back basket and jumper from the left-elbow. GC's M. Chavez followed with a stick-back basket. K.C. Krien's baseline drive (plus one) returned the advantage to nine (38-29). After a press-offense basket by Torres, Brady Dinkel added a driving score and top-of-the-key trey. St. Francis out-scored the Jackrabbits 14-6 in the third period, and the margin was now 43-31.
As they had done in the second period, GC opened the final period with a run. A free-throw by Williams was followed by a lane basket by Torres (assist J. Yanez) and a smooth post-move by M. Chavez. The flurry narrowed the Indian advantage to 43-36. After an offensive-rebound basket by Jesse Baxter, the Jackrabbits received a trey from Torres and steal-two from Aaron Vazquez (Sr.) to further narrow the gap to 45-41. Brady Dinkel followed with a trey. At 3:06, Greeley County called time-out for strategy. On the next St. Francis possession, Dinkel earned two free-throws on a drive and sank them both. Fabel Yanez answered with a steal-two, and again GC called time-out (50-43). On the return to action, Torres drained a deep trey for GC (50-46). The Indians were now being very deliberate offensively, and GC was forced to foul. K.C. Krien (2 of 2) and Colton Neitzel (1 of 3) added free-throws extending the margin. With 9 seconds remaining J.Chavez earned a steal and finished the play with an assist to Torres. At 4 seconds, Jesse Baxter added 1-of-2 from the line to make the final score 54-48.
St. Francis received double-figure scoring from Brady Dinkel (25) and Jesse Baxter (13). Other Indians contributing to the scoring were Colton Neitzel 5, K.C. Krien 5, Draven Houtman 4, and Josiah Sims 2. The Indians made 7 of 13 from the line, had 14 turnovers, and committed 10 fouls.
Greeley County committed 15 turnovers and 13 fouls and made 2 of 6 from the stripe. The Jackrabbits were led in scoring by Sebastian Torres with 16 points. Manuel Chavez added 11.
The Indians will play Rawlins County in St. Francis on Friday, January 25.
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