Oilers’ defense shuts down Tigers

BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

ST. JOHN – For Central Plains Oiler Devin Ryan, it was business as usual at Friday’s 51st St. John Midwinter Classic.

For Ryan, that means business was good.

Ryan defended St. John point guard Mason Osborne and the No. 1 ranked 1A Oilers rolled past the Tigers 42-31 in the semifinals keyed by a vintage defensive effort. Ryan drew a charging foul as Osborne made 3 of 12 shots and committed several turnovers.

“Coach always wants us to shut down the dribble drive,” Ryan said. “Being a point guard, he’s got the basketball. I just tried to stay in front of him. Defending him without fouling – that’s my goal.”

Mission accomplished.

The Oilers outscored the Tigers 6-0 in the second period and limited St. John to 28 percent shooting on 12 of 43 field goals. The Tigers failed to score on 16 offensive possessions in the second period.

“It’s really hard to find much to nitpick other than a couple of times they drove past us,” said Central Plains coach Brett Rolfs. “That was really good defense tonight, holding a talented offensive team to 31 points.”

Oiler Brett Liebl performed admirably as both ends with a game-high 19 points while holding down 6-7 St. John center Tanner Halling to seven points. Liebl pump faked and worked Halling into two fouls in the first six minutes.

The Oilers committed an uncharacteristic 12 turnovers and shot 33 percent the first half in a tightly-officiated contest that slowed both teams. When the whistles loosened, the offensive flow picked up.

“Our offense needs some work,” Rolfs said.

Alex Hickel scored eight points and Devin Ryan added seven points. The Oilers converted 15 of 17 free throws.

St. John committed 10 first-half turnovers and converted 3 of 17 field goals to trail 18-7. The Tigers trailed 34-19 after three periods when they found their rhythm with quicker shots.

Eddy Calleros drilled back-to-back 3-pointers. Tanner Halling and Osborne scored to get the Tigers within 38-29 with a 10-4 run. Calleros scored nine points and Halling added seven points.

The Oilers (12-0) have won 38 consecutive games, a streak in jeopardy in Saturday’s championship against Wichita Sunrise (16-8), featuring a 6-7 and 6-8 frontline.

“Without a doubt, that will be the biggest and best basketball team we’ve seen by far,” Rolfs said. “We’ll have to play a lot better to compete.”

Central Plains 12 6 16 8 – 42

St. John 7 0 12 12 – 31

CENTRAL PLAINS (12-0)—Liebl 7-11 5-6 19, Hickel 3-10 2-2 8, Devin Ryan 1-3 5-5 7, Oeser 2-5 0-0 5, Menges 0-1 3-4 3, Totals 13-30 15-17 42

ST. JOHN (9-3)—Calleros 3-11 0-0 9, Tanner Halling 3-12 1-1 7, Osborne 3-12 0-1 6, Woolf 1-2 0-0 2, Collin Halling 2-4 0-0 4, McVey 0-0 2-2 2, Fisher 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 12-43 3-4 31

3-pointers—CP 1-6 (Oeser 1-2, Menges 0-1, Ryan 0-1, Hickel 0-2), SJ 4-16 (Calleros 3-9, Woolf 1-2, C. Halling 0-2, Osborne 0-3)

MACKSVILLE 62, KC CHRISTIAN 57 – Karson Waters scored 18 points and Kody Made added 17 points as Macksville held off Kansas City Christian 62-57 to advance to the fifth-place game against Nickerson. The Mustangs outscored the Panthers 13-3 from the free throw line.

Macksville 16 18 8 20 – 62

KC Christian 14 15 12 16 – 57

MACKSVILLE (8-4)—Waters 4 9-10 18, Mead 7 3-7 17, Lickiss 4 1-2 10, Miller 3 0-0 7, Frink 2 0-0 6, Blaske 2 0-0 4, Totals 22 13-19 62

KC CHRISTIAN (4-5)—Hubbel 6 0-0 16, Trujillo 6 0-0 16, Spencer 5 0-0 10, Engel 3 1-3 7, Tywater 1 2-2 4, Schuchardt 1 0-0 2, Birnbaum 1 0-0 2, Totals 23 3-5 57

SUNRISE 58, NESS CITY 39 – Sunrise’s frontline of 6-7 Paul Oteino (14 points) and 6-8 Jevaughn Furguson (11 points) combined with guard Shaathon Walker (19 points) to overpower Ness City 58-39.

Ness City (9-2) was paced by John Pfannenstiel with 12 points.

Ness City 7 11 8 13 – 39

Sunrise 17 10 18 13 – 58

NESS CITY (9-2)—Pfannenstiel 3 5-7 12, Seib 2 2-2 6, Rios 3 0-0 6, Buetler 2 0-0 6, Reinhardt 2 0-0 4, Stoecklein 1 0-0 2, Guzman 1 0-0 2, Edwin Rodriguez 0 1-2 1, Totals 14 8-11 39

SUNRISE (16-8)—Walker 9 1-2 19, Oteino 6 2-2 14, Furguson 5 1-2 11, Chuang 4 0-0 10, Blake 1 0-0 2, Turner 0 0-2 0, Allen 1 0-0 2, Totals 26 4-8 58