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South Gray boys pass Bluejays test
Published 12/12/2009 in Sports
By KEVIN THOMPSON
sports@gctelegram.com
CIMARRON ¬-- Coaches are also teachers. One of their teacher functions is to assess team performance.
Both Doug Minneman of Cimarron and Mark Applegate of South Gray would have to give their teams an "A." And a "C."
It just depends on which part of Friday's semifinal match-up they graded.
The end result was a 66-46 win for South Gray over Cimarron in the Bluejay Invitational, putting them into the championship game against Meade tonight.
"We played really well the first half. We shot the ball really well," Applegate said. "Things go well when the ball goes in the hole. You play better defense when you shoot well."
His team's grade for the first half: A.
Second half, not so good. And Applegate credits the Bluejays with his team's lower marks.
"I thought Cimarron did a really good job of breaking our press and making good passes," he said. "We didn't make as many shots. Cimarron did a better job of coming out and guarding us. And they rebounded well."
Minneman agrees.
"The second half we played with a little more intensity, with more urgency. We did a better job of handling their press," Minneman said.
His team's grade for the second half: A-/B+.
Same for the first few minutes of the game, when the Bluejays jumped out to a 5-1 lead. South Gray's Chase Clancy then went on a tear, hitting four 3-pointers in his team's 23-4 run over the next 12 minutes.
The Rebels were 13-of-26 shooting in the first half, while their press and tenacious defense caused 17 Cimarron turnovers, something the Bluejays could never recover.
Clancy ended the night with 27 points, including five 3's.
"Chase is a good shooter. We have some other good shooters who weren't hitting tonight, but Chase is just consistent," Applegate said.
Austin Love added 11 points and Bligh Shulte 10 to lead South Gray's offense.
Applegate was impressed with Cimarron's effort in the second half.
"They came out determined they were going to play better and they did," he said. "That's a tribute to those kids and their coach."
And again, Minneman agrees.
"The second half we did a good job of looking for each other and hitting that open guy and hitting layups to finish," he said. "We were definitely more aggressive in that second half."
Cimarron outscored South Gray 31-29 in the second half, hit 11-of-16 shots, and cut its turnovers in half, a huge improvement over the first half.
"Our kids battled to the end. We were taking a charge late in the game, and that shows me we're laying ourselves on the line for our teammates," Minneman said.
The Rebels will face Meade in the finals at 8 p.m. at Cimarron High School.
"That's going to be a dogfight," Applegate said. "Meade's an awfully good team. Whoever wins is going to have to play well."
Cimarron will face Bucklin in the third place game.
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South Gray 66, Cimarron 46
SOUTH GRAY -- Clancy 11 0-0 27, Mosher 2 0-0 4, Love 4 2-4 11, Watkins 0 2-2 2, Hendricks 3 0-1 6, Shulte 3 2-5 10, Holloway 1 1-2 4, Friesen 0 2-2 2. Totals 24 10-16 66.
CIMARRON -- Slaven 2 6-11 10, Franzitta 2 2-4 6, Trevino 0 0-1 0, Blattner 4 3-6 11, Bryant 5 0-0 10, Wehkamp 4 0-0 8, Sharp 0 1-2 1. Totals 17 12-24 46.
South Gray 19 18 12 17 -- 66
Cimarron 9 6 15 16 -- 46
3-point goals -- South Gray 8 (Clancy 5, Love 1, Shulte 1, Holloway 1).
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Meade 65, Bucklin 42
In the first semi-final game, Meade took care of Bucklin 65-42.
Meade outscored Bucklin 19-7 in the final quarter to put away what had been a fairly close game until then.
Tia Temaka-Frost scored 19 and Dakota Benear 15 to lead the Buffaloes.
Zach Kruetzer and Jeff Torline both scored 11 points to lead Bucklin.
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MEADE -- Hernandez 4 0-0 8, Little 2 2-3 6, Temaka-Frost 8 3-4 19, Cordes 1 1-2 3, Hardaway 1 0-0 2, Benera 6 2-4 15, Wiens 3 0-2 6, Gleason 3 0-0 6. Totals 28 8-15 65.
BUCKLIN -- Kruetzer 2 7-10 11, Herrera 0 0-2 0, Coverdale 1 0-0 2, Rudd 2 4-4 8, Seacat 1 0-0 2, Vasquez 0 0-2 0, Torline 4 3-4 11, Demoret 2 2-2 6. Totals 13 16-22 42.
Meade 17 11 18 19 -- 65
Bucklin 14 8 13 7 -- 42
3-Point goals -- Meade 1 (Benear 1); Bucklin 0.
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