By Brent Mayock & Rick Peterson, Jr – KSHSAA Covered
COLBY — No. 1 seed South gray didn’t quite hit the ground running in Wednesday’s opening Class 1A Division I boys quarterfinal at the Colby Events Center.
But once the Rebels got going, they found another gear.
Taking on a Canton-Galva team making its first state appearance since 1987, tourney-veteran South Gray saw the Eagles come out on an emotional high. After the first quarter Canton-Galva led 16-12.
From that point on, however, it was all South Gray as the Rebels outscored Canton-Galva by 40 points over the final three quarters to cruise to a 79-43 victory. The win set up a showdown with a familiar state rival for the Rebels in Friday’s 2 p.m. semifinal.
For the fourth straight year, South Gray (22-2) will take on Olpe (21-3) at the state tournament after the Eagles earned their way into the semifinals with a hard-fought 58-50 win over Clifton-Clyde. Olpe defeated South Gray in the 2021 and 2022 state championship games and the Rebels got a measure of revenge in beating the Eagles in last year’s third-place game.
Down by four after the first quarter, South Gray outscored Canton-Galva 20-7 in the second quarter and 27-6 in the third quarter to blow the game open. Joey Dyck was dominant, hitting 12 of 16 shots on his way to 26 points.
Three other Rebels joined him in double figures as Conner Salmans, Dominic Martin and Gavin Wahl each added 11 points.
Canton-Galva, which finished 12-12, was led by Wyatt Collins’ 17 points.
OLPE 58, CLIFTON-CLYDE 50 – In a battle of Eagles, Olpe fought off Clifton-Clyde’s comeback bid to hold up its end of the rematch with South Gray.
Olpe led 40-29 after three quarters thanks to four 3-pointers in the third quarter of a game where Olpe only made five overall – three of them coming from Abbott Bailey, who finished with 12 points. But led by a huge performance by Jack Skocny, Clifton-Clyde stormed back.
Skocny scored 10 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter, His and-one three-point play with 4:29 left cut Olpe’s lead to 42-38. After Olpe pushed the lead back to eight on Blake Skaslky cashing in on an and-one of his own, Skocny buried a 3-pointer to pull Clifton-Clyde within five with less than a minute to play.
But Olpe held on down the stretch to move to 21-3. Skalsky led the way with 18 points while Brecken McGuire added 13 and Bailey 12. Clifton-Clyde finished 20-4, going just 2 of 18 beyond the arc in the game.
BISHOP SEABURY 72, LA CROSSE 51 – Even with second-leading scorer Jase Smith having an off night with just nine points, Seabury had no trouble taking down No. 2 seed La Crosse.
Three Seahawks scored 17 points or more with Aidan Page leading the way with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Jace Hoffman and Chase Honarvar each added 17 points, going a combined 14 of 28 from the floor as Seabury finished 27 of 51 overalll (52.9%).
The Seahawks (20-4) got out quickly, leading 18-8 at the end of the first and steadily expanding on the lead the rest of the game. In Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal, Seabury will face No. 3 seed Quinter (21-3), which handled Central-Burden 57-43.
La Crosse finished 20-3 and was led by Caden Morgan’s 14 points. Gage Burk chipped in 13 and Logan Skillett added 12.
QUINTER 57, CENTRAL-BURDEN 43 — Trace Kinderknecht led all scorers with 16 points to lead Quinter Bulldogs to the 14-point win over Central-Burden.
The Bulldogs advanced to the semis for the first time since 2010, when they finished fourth. Quinter will play Bishop Seabury at 6 p.m. Friday.
Quinter moved to 21-3 while Central-Burden ended its season at 19-5.
Check back to KSHSAA Covered for a full box score and more details on Quinter’s win.
SOUTH GRAY 79, CANTON-GALVA 43
Canton-Galva … 16 … 7 … 6 … 14 … — … 43
South Gray … 12 … 20 … 27 … 20 … — … 79
Canton-Galva (12-12) – Schamp 2-3 0-2 4, McMannis 1-4 4-5 6, Brozek 0-4 2-2 2, N. Collins 2-4 0-0 4, W. Collins 5-11 4-4 17, Beltz 2-7 0-0 6, Ediger 0-0 0-0 0, Witte 1-4 0-0 2, Burrill 0-0 0-0 0, Nightingale 0-3 2-2 2, Ratzlaff 0-1 0-0 0, Martson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-41 12-17 43.
South Gray (22-2) – S. Moore 2-5 0-0 4, Salmans 4-8 1-4 11, M. Moore 4-5 0-0 8, Dyck 12-16 2-3 26, Martin 4-12 3-4 11, G. Wahl 4-9 1-1 11, Hendrickson 0-1 0-0 0, Marquez 1-1 0-0 2, Winfrey 1-1 0-0 3, Mendoza 1-1 0-0 2, C. Wahl 0-0 0-0 0, Briscoe 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 33-59 7-13 79.
3-point goals – Canton-Galva 5-11 (W. Collins 3-4, Beltz 2-5, Brozek 0-2); South Gray 6-14 (G. Wahl 3-5, Salmans 2-3, Winfrey 1-1, S. Moore 0-1, Dyck 0-1, Martin 0-3). Rebounds – Canton-Galva 18 (McMannis 3, W. Collins 3), South Gray 26 (Dyck 5). Assists – Canton-Galva 6 (W. Collins 2), South Gray 10 (S. Moore 3). Turnovers – Canton-Galva 18, South Gray 11. Total fouls – Canton-Galva 12, South Gray 14. Fouled out – none.
OLPE 58, CLIFTON-CLYDE 50
Olpe … 10 … 12 … 18 … 18 … — … 58
Clifton-Clyde … 11 … 5 … 13 … 21 … — … 50
Olpe (21-3) – McGuire 3-7 3-6 13, Lienemann 1-1 1-2 3, Skalsky 6-9 6-6 18, Redeker 2-7 0-0 4, Bailey 4-6 1-1 12, Cole 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 2-5 0-0 5, Whitmore 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 19-36 14-19 58.
Clifton-Clyde (20-4) – Reed 3-9 3-4 9, Long 2-8 3-4 7, Steinbrock 0-8 0-0 0, Skocny 11-15 5-7 28, O. Nobert 0-3 2-2 2, Koch 0-0 0-0 0, Fahey 0-0 0-0 0, Begnoche 0-0 0-0 0, B. Koch 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 17-44 13-17 50.
3-point goals – Olpe 5-14 (Bailey 3-4, McGuire 1-3, Robinson 1-2, Redeker 0-5); Clifton-Clyde 2-18 (Skocny 1-5, B. Koch 1-1, Steinbrock 0-7, Long 0-3, Nobert 0-2). Rebounds – Olpe 21 (Skalsky 5), Clifton-Clyde 21 (Skocny 7). Assists – Olpe 7 (Redeker 4), Clifton-Clyde 1 (Steinbrock). Turnovers – Olpe 9, Clifton-Clyde 7. Total fouls – Olpe 16, Clifton-Clyde 21. Fouled out – Olpe: Bailey; Clifton-Clyde: Reed, Long, Steinbrock).
BISHOP SEABURY 72, LA CROSSE 51
Seabury … 18 … 19 … 12 … 23 … — … 72
La Crosse … 8 … 14 … 13 … 16 … — … 51
Bishop Seabury (20-4) – Hoffman 7-15 2-2 17, Page 8-12 2-5 21, Smith 3-5 2-2 9, O’Hara 2-5 1-2 6, Honarvar 7-13 3-4 17, Peterson 0-0 0-0 0, Okazaki Lopez 0-0 0-0 0, Brockhoff 0-1 0-2 0, Shumaker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-51 13-18 72.
La Crosse (20-3) – Morgan 4-11 3-3 14, Holopirek 2-4 0-0 6, Nelson 0-0 0-2 0, Barriger 2-8 0-0 4, Skillett 5-8 2-6 12, Burk 6-13 1-2 13, Rush 0-0 0-0 0, Hiemstra 0-0 0-0 0, Grumbein 0-0 0-0 0, Lari 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-44 6-13 51.
3-point goals – Seabury 3-14 (Hoffman 1-6, Smith 1-2, O’Hara 1-2, Honarvar 0-2, Page 0-2); La Crosse 5-14 (Morgan 3-7, Holopirek 2-4, Barriger 0-3). Rebounds – Seabury 26, La Crosse 26 (Morgan 3). Assists – Seabury 3, La Crosse 2. Turnovers – Seabury 6, La Crosse 9. Total fouls. – Seabury 9, La Crosse 17. Fouled out – none.
