Well, we have made it. The end of the hoops season. It makes us sad, but what a year it was for the conference. The boys' state tournament took place this past weekend and a pair of RPAC teams made it, Dundy County Stratton and Maywood-Hayes Center. Let's take a look at how the teams fared.
Dundy-County Stratton
The Tigers came into the Class D1 State Tournament as the #5 seed and were set to face off against #4 seeded Ainsworth. DCS came into the game confident, and ready to go. They ran into a big and athletic Bulldog team that was very talented. DCS ended up falling to Ainsworth 62-55.
The Tigers fought tooth and nail, just could not do enough to win the game. To read the entire game story, click here.
DCS has a lot to be proud of ending the year at 22-6. This is a team that may have overachieved a little. Everyone knew they would be solid, but with an injury to Ethan Latta and essentially having to replace four starters, the Tigers played incredibly well all season long. This team will miss Jackson Kerchal, Brodie Rogers, and Lane Brown from its starting lineup among other seniors who made an impact on the squad. But, they will reload, as per usual.
Congrats to the Tigers on a nice season.
Maywood-Hayes Center
The Wolves of MHC entered the Class D2 Boys State Tournament as the #2 seed, looking to win a title. The Wolves opened the tourney with #7 seed Elm Creek on Wednesday evening. The Wolves won 58-50. You can read the full game story here.
In the next round, the Wolves battled #6 seed SEM in a tough, gritty, grind-it-out game. The final tally was 53-48. MHC had to fight hard until the very end and win a game that was kind of ugly to watch. But hey, when you win, who cares what it looks like. You can read the game story here.
With the victory, the Wolves qualified for their first-ever state championship game. And they were set to face #1 Shelton in the final.
The Wolves met their match in the title game, losing 54-42. MHC tried everything they could but struggled to knock down shots in the loss. The Wolves though, bring home their first runner-up finish since co-oping. To read the full game story, click here. A very successful season for MHC. They finished 24-4 this season. We will see what Kolby Hamilton is able to come up with next season. They will miss Jerry Ingison, Gage Gerlach, and Haydn Farr immensely, but when you have built a solid program like they have at MHC, they will always be a tough out. Fellow senior Gene Rutherford will graduate too. He was another leader for this team.
For now, congrats to MHC on a great season.
