Boys Win Rematch In Atwood
The St. Francis Indians defeated the Rawlins County Buffaloes in their rematch contest. The Buffaloes defeated the Indians 65-76 one week prior in the semi-final contest of the Northwest Kansas League basketball Tournament. On Tuesday, January 28th, the Indians avenged the earlier loss with a 53-48 victory over the Buffs in Atwood.
The game was well played by both teams, especially in the first quarter. Both teams executed very well on offense and defense. Good ball movement led to excellent shots, and the players were making them. Rawlins County opened with a trey. Jacob Baxter followed with a free throw line jump shot. Rawlins County responded with an offensive rebound basket. An assist by Wyatt Landenberger set up another Baxter score to get the Indians within one, but RC countered with a trey by Tiemeyer to lead 4-8. Consecutive baskets by Mason Schiltz, one from the left wing and one from the post, tied the contest. RC's James Peterson scored on a drive on the next possession at 4:05. A basket by Jacob Baxter tied the game at 10-all. Another high post basket by Baxter (assist Landenberger) gave the Indians their first lead. Peterson answered for Rawlins County from the post, but consecutive baskets by Taylor Rogers, the second one coming after a steal by Landenberger, gave the Indians a 16-12 lead with just under 2 minutes left in the first period. A Tiemeyer trey trimmed the lead to one, but Rogers scored on an offensive rebound at 1:03. After a miss by RC, Baxter outleted the basketball to Cade Bracelin streaking to the basket. Cade was fouled on the drive and made both free throws. The Indians were up 20-15 with 43 seconds remaining. Atwood closed the first period scoring with a trey.
The second period pace was a bit slower, as both teams increased their defensive pressure and shots became more difficult. Turnovers increased also. RC's Michael Capo drained a trey to put the Buffaloes ahead 20-21. A nice assist by Carl Fabre to Mason Schiltz returned the Indians to the lead. At 3:52, a rebound by Bracelin - assist Landenberger - lay-up by Schiltz combination finally earned another score. Carl Fabre scored for the Indians in the latter portion of the first half to bring the halftime score to 26-21. The Indians had held the Buffaloes to three points in the second period.
The St. Francis lead increased to 28-21 after a basket by Wyatt Landenberger to open the third period. By the 4:06 mark, the margin had increased to 13 points (35-22) after the Indians received baskets from Schiltz, Baxter, and Rogers as well as a Schiltz free throw. The Buffaloes had gone cold for a bit, but they were about to make a move. The Buffaloes scored the next 11 points to trim the margin to 35-33. An assist by Jacob Baxter, leading to a basket by Lenny Olivares, stopped the Buffalo run at 2:05. The final basket of the period was scored on a post move by Peterson for the Buffaloes. The Indians held a slim 37-35 advantage after three periods.
A beautiful post move by Cade Bracelin moved the score to 39-35. The Indians were in some foul trouble, and the bonus was in Rawlins County's favor. Several free throws preceded a trey by Capo, and the Buffaloes regained the lead at 5:35 (39-41). Baxter answered from the high post. RC scored on an offensive rebound (and one) before Baxter scored again from the high post at 4:43 (43-44). At 4:05, Peterson earned an offensive rebound basket for the Buffs (43-46). St. Francis took the lead on an assist by Cade Bracelin on a Mason Schiltz baseline drive. Two free throws by Schiltz gave the Indians a 49-46 advantage with 2:26 left in the game. At 1:10, a turnover by the Indians gave RC a chance to tie the game. The Buffs missed the shot, and the ball went out-of-bounds under the RC basket. At 0:55, the Buffs called time-out to set up their full-court defense. St. Francis had trouble advancing the basketball past the time line, and called time-out at 0:46. The Indians committed another turnover at 0:46 and committed a foul with 40 seconds left. Rawlins County made 1 of 2 to move the score to 49-47. Mason Schiltz rebounded the ball and was fouled by Capo, his fifth. With 35 seconds left, the Buffs fouled again. Bracelin made both shots to move the score to 51-47. At 0:25 Jacob Baxter committed a foul on a three-point shot attempt and left the game with five fouls. Rawlins County only made one of the three awarded shots. On the last miss, Jeremiah Neitzel rebounded the ball and was immediately fouled by the Buffs. Neitzel missed the free throw. After another RC missed field goal, Neitzel was fouled again after grabbing another rebound. Again, the Indians failed to cash in on the bonus shot. Rawlins County attempted another trey, missed, and the ball was rebounded by Schiltz. The Buffs fouled again with 4 seconds left. Schiltz made the first free throw. St. Francis called time-out. After the time-out, Schiltz drained the second bonus shot. The Indians had not played real well in the final moments of the game, but escaped with a hard-earned 53-48 victory.
Coach Jeff Beims made the following statement regarding the win, "After a disappointing league tournament, it was good to get a win on the road against a really good Atwood team. They are a big, senior laden team, that tends not to beat themselves. We did what we do best…we played defense. We took them out of their comfort zone in the first half especially, and maybe more importantly kept them off the boards. We also hit the shots we needed to. Atwood plays a sort of hybrid zone defense, and I thought our boys executed pretty well against. We got the ball in the paint, and for the most part finished the shots when we got it in there."
Mason Schiltz led the Indians in scoring with 17 points. Jacob Baxter played well also and scored 16 points. Taylor Rogers added 8 points. Cade Bracelin was very active on the boards, grabbing 14 rebounds and scoring 6 points. The Indians committed 15 turnovers in the contest and made 11 of 14 free throws.
James Peterson (6' 5" Sr.) led the Buffaloes with 14 points. Michael Capo (5' 10" Sr.) chipped in 13 points. Dylan Tiemeyer (6' 1" Sr.) had a cold shooting evening, but still scored 8 points. Rawlins County was 10 of 19 from the stripe a only committed 8 turnovers.
The junior varsity Indians defeated Rawlins County 51-43.
The Indians do not play again until Tuesday, February 4th, when they will play Brewster-Triplains, in Brewster.
