By Rick Peterson Jr. – KSHSAA Covered
COLBY – South Gray hit Olpe with an early shooting barrage that staked the Rebels to a 17-point halftime lead in Friday’s Class 1A Division I semifinal.
But South Gray coach Mark Applegate had seen enough of Olpe over the last three years to know the Eagles wouldn’t go quietly.
“I knew they’d be right back in the game,” said Applegate, whose Rebels have met up with Olpe at the state tournament in each of the past four seasons.
Indeed, Olpe opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to seven, but the Rebels spent the rest of the game answering every push from the Eagles.
South Gray kept a cushion throughout the fourth quarter to fend off Olpe for a 68-62 victory and advance to the state championship game for the third time in four years. South Gray (23-2) will meet Lawrence-Bishop Seabury (21-4) in Saturday’s 4 p.m. 1A DI title game at the Colby Event Center.
“I was proud of these boys. I really was,” Applegate said of his team.
The win moved South Gray to 2-2 in the state battles with Olpe. Olpe beat South Gray in the 2021 and ‘22 championship games before the Rebels took the win in last year’s third-place matchup and Friday’s semi.
“I’ve known (Olpe coach Chris Schmidt) for a long time. I told him, ‘We’re 2-2 out here (at state) – but you won the two state championships,’ so he’s really got the edge on us,” Applegate said.
Still, there’s no downplaying the magnitude of Friday’s triumph, giving the Rebels a chance to go for their fifth state championship. All four of South Gray’s titles (1997, 2007, ‘08, ‘18) titles have come under Applegate.
Senior Dominic Martin got the Rebels off to a sizzling start, pouring in 19 first-half points. He and Sam Moore combined for 7 of the 9 3-pointers South Gray hit in the first half, taking a 41-24 lead into the locker room.
“He’s got a lot of confidence – sometimes too much,” Applegate said of Martin. “He hit some big shots. Gavin Wahl hit some shots, and Sam Moore hit some shots early that really helped us get rolling.”
Blake Skalsky fueled the Eagles’ 10-0 run to start the third quarter before Wahl hit a 3 to put the Rebels up 10. South Gray never lost control from there.
Martin finished with 24 followed by 14 from Sam Moore and 13 apiece from Wahl and Joey Dyck.
South Gray finished 12 of 26 from 3 while Olpe was 5 of 17 from behind the arc.
Dyck battled foul trouble but helped put away Olpe in the fourth. His 3-pointer restored a 13-point lead with 5:40 left.
Applegate credited sophomore Asa Briscoe for giving the Rebels key minutes in the second half after Dyck picked up his fourth foul.
“He did just a whale of a job on defense,” Applegate said. “We did a great job of fighting through that adversity.”
Freshman Brecken McGuire scored a game-high 25 for Olpe while Skalsky finished with 22.
Olpe (21-4) will face Quinter in Saturday’s noon third-place game.
BISHOP SEABURY 73, QUINTER 45 – Seabury utilized its size advantage early and often, storming into its first state championship game in program history after dominating the second half of Friday’s semi.
Quinter had no answer for Seabury 6-foot-7 junior Chase Honarvar, who scored 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting and hit his only 3-point attempt.
Aidan Page and Jace Smith scored 17 and 16, respectively, to give the Seahawks a three-pronged attack.
“We usually see (Honarvar) getting double or tripled teamed every night.” Seabury coach Trey Johnson said. “He’s just hard to guard because he can shoot 3s too, which we saw tonight. And he’s a good dribbler, so we run a lot of our offense through him or Jace Smith. Those two had a great night.”
It was a six-point game at halftime before Seabury outscored Quinter 42-20 in the second half.
“We came out strong on defense. We knew what we needed to fix and we fixed it a little bit,” Johnson said. “We hit some shots finally and got some good boards.
“We told them (at halftime) they had 16 minutes to go play as hard as they can to get to the championship, and that’s what they did.”
Johnson, in his first year as Seabury head coach, said it was a proud moment for the program to reach its first state title game.
“It’s fantastic,” he said. “In 2020 when COVID happened they had a really solid quad that was on the way to winning, I think.
“South Gray is tough. A lot of shooters. They’re very good at what they do – passing, moving the ball and playing good team defense. It will be fun.”
Avery Briggs scored 14 for Quinter while Shea Salyers added 13.
CLASS 1A DIVISION I BOX SCORES
SOUTH GRAY 68, OLPE 62
Olpe … 11 … 13 … 14 … 24 … – … 62
South Gray … 21 … 20 … 8 … 19 … – .. 68
Olpe (21-4) – McGuire 8-15 7-9 25, Lienemann 0-0 0-0 9, Skalsky 9-18 4-7 22, Redeker 1-5 0-0 3, Bailey 3-9 0-0 6, Markowitz 0-0 0-0 0, Cole 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 2-6 0-0 6, Whitmore 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 11-16 62.
South Gray (23-2) – Moore 3-8 5-6 14, Salmans 1-5 2-4 4, Moore 0-1 0-0 0, Dyck 6-14 0-0 13, Martin 8-19 3-4 24, Wahl 5-8 0-0 13, Briscoe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 10-14 68.
3-point goals – Olpe 5-17 (McGuire 2-6, Robinson 2-5, Redeker 1-3, Bailey 0-3). South Gray 12-26 (Martin 5-12, Moore 3-5, Wahl 3-5, Dyck 1-3, Salmans 0-1). Rebounding – Olpe 31 (Skalsky 11), South Gray 31 (Moore 8). Assists – Olpe 6 (McGuire 2, Redeker 2), South Gray 11 (Moore 5). Turnovers – Olpe 9, South Gray 11. Total fouls – Olpe 16, South Gray 13. Fouled out – none.
BISHOP SEABURY 73, QUINTER 45
Quinter … 14 … 11 … 12 … 8 … – … 45
Seabury … 14 … 17 … 21 … 21 … – … 73
Quinter (20-4) – Hargitt 0-0 0-0 0, Havlas 0-0 0-0 0, Salyers 5-13 1-2 13, Kinderknecht 4-7 0-0 9, Briggs 6-16 0-0 14, Catura 0-1 0-0 0, Gruenbacher 1-4 0-0 2, Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, Selensky 0-0 0-0 0, Deaton 0-0 0-0 0, Packard 2-5 1-2 5, Bridges 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-50 2-4 45.
Seabury (21-4) – Hoffman 2-8 0-0 8, Page 7-12 3-4 17, Smith 7-16 0-1 16, O’Hara 2-4 0-0 4, Honarvar 11-15 1-1 24, Peterson 0-1 0-0 0, Okazaki Lopez 0-0 0-0 0, Brockhoff 2-2 0-0 4, Shumaker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-58 4-6 73.
3-pointers – Quinter 4-14 (Salyers 2-4, Briggs 2-5 Kinderknecht 1-3, Gatura 0-1, Gruenbacher 0-1, Johnson 0-1). Seabury 3-13 (Smith 2-6, Honarvar 1-1, Hoffman 0-5, O’Hara 0-1). Rebounds – Quinter 21 (Salyers 4), Seabury 34 (Honarvar 7). Assists – Quinter 8 (Gruenbacher 4), Seabury 7 (Smith 6). Turnovers – Quinter 8, Seabury 10. Total fouls – Quinter 9, Seabury 9. Fouled out – none.
