Friday evening the semifinals and consolation games for the Boys' RPAC Basketball Tournament took place and we saw some great matchups. The East was played at Arapahoe High School and the West side was held at Hitchcock County High School. Both Thursday night and Friday night, we had packed gyms for the games.
WEST CONSOLATION GAMES
In the first consolation game on the West side, it was #6 seeded Maxwell versus #5 seeded Wallace. The Wildcats were able to squeak by with a win, 36-33. Maxwell built a nice lead going to the fourth quarter at 31-18. Wallace though made a furious comeback to make things very interesting. Eventually, though, Maxwell secured the win.
For Wallace, Matt Lungrin scored 12 and Colt Franklin had 11. Levi Huffman had 10 points to lead Maxwell. Both of these squads are done in the tournament.
The second consolation game was #3 seed Paxton versus #4 seeded Hitchcock County. The Falcons came out and dominated on their home floor, winning 64-42. Hitchcock County asserted themselves early with 40 points in the opening two quarters while holding Paxton to 22. They maintained the lead and never looked back.
The Falcons had a huge game from Jaxon Unrein, with 29 points and seven three-pointers. The school record at Hitchcock County is 10 set by Gabe Ware, so Unrein chased it for a while. Adam Kisker had 16 points too. Josh Eakins led Paxton with 17 points. Ethan Hardin had nine. Both squads are done in the tourney.
EAST CONSOLATION GAMES
The opening game on the East side was a consolation game between #5 seed Bertrand versus #6 seeded Medicine Valley. Bertrand won 57-45. The Vikings used a strong first half with 33 points to take control. They allowed 27 points in the first, but they tightened up on defense in the second half to get the win.
Medicine Valley was led by Brody Sneff and Mason Roblee each with 13 points. Thunder Nelson had 18 points, JC Kehr had 18 also, and Marshall Steinbrink scored 14 for Bertrand. Both of these teams are done in the tournament.
The next game was the third meeting of the season for these two teams, #3 Arapahoe versus #4 Southern Valley. The Eagles won for the third time, 52-33. It was 26-23 at halftime in favor of the Eagles but a strong second half propelled them to the win.
Kade Fisher had 10 points to lead Arapahoe. Kamden Bose went off for 27 points for Southern Valley. These teams are done in the tournament now.
WEST FINALS
Back on December 9th, Dundy County Stratton and Maywood-Hayes Center played each other. The Tigers got the better of the Wolves, 49-47. Well, in the West finals, #1 seed Maywood-Hayes Center avenged that loss, taking down the #2 seeded Tigers 49-39. Early in this game it was a defensive battle. But gradually the offenses built some steam.
A good chunk of the buckets were coming off of breaking the press and finding the open man. At halftime, we were tied up at 20-20. In the second half, both teams kept battling, but Gage Gerlach had some timely buckets in the third and fourth quarters for MHC. It was one of those games you just didn't want to end as the competition was fantastic.
DCS was led by Jackson Kerchal with 13 points and Lane Bybee had 11. MHC was paced by Haydn Farr, Jerry Ingison, and Gage Gerlach each with 12 points.
EAST FINALS
The East finals were a matchup between a pair of teams that have not seen each other this season, #1 Alma and #2 Cambridge. It was another grind-it-out game too, as Alma won 40-36. It was tough sledding in the first quarter, Alma led 7-5.
The second quarter wasn't much better and at halftime, it was 16-13. In the second half the offense picked up more for both teams, and the game stayed close. Alma though did just enough to hold off the Trojans.
Zavier Mitchell and Tucker Biskup were excellent for the Cardinals. Mitchell had 16 and Ticker Biskup scored 13. Brohdey Wood led Cambridge with 10 points and Ben Hoberty had nine.
So it will be #1 Alma versus #1 Maywood-Hayes Center in the title game for the boys side. For MHC, this is the second straight RPAC title game and they are looking to win back-to-back championships. As a co-op, they have made the championship game twice. Hayes Center won the first-ever RPAC Championship in 2008. They were runner-up in 2009. Alma was the runner-up in that first title in 2008 versus Hayes Center. Alma was the runner-up in 2017 too against DCS. So, this is their third appearance and they are looking for their first RPAC Championship.
So the schedule looks like this for Saturday:
2:30 P.M. #1 Alma (15-2) versus #2 Paxton (11-6) Girls 3rd and 4th place game
4:15 P.M. #2 Cambridge versus #2 Dundy County Stratton Boys 3rd and 4th place game
6:00 P.M. #1 Southern Valley (17-1) versus #1 Maywood-Hayes Center (15-1) Girls Championship
7:45 P.M. #1 Alma (15-2) versus #1 Maywood-Hayes Center (14-2) Boys Championship
The RPAC Rundown will have updates from the games across our social media platforms. If you missed our blog post from Thursday night's girls' games, click here.