Sterling, the defending Kansas Class 2A state champions and the No. 1-ranked team in Class 2A this year, defeated Hugoton 78-55 in the championship game of the 54th annual Sterling Invitational Boys Basketball Tournament Friday night and improved to 13-0.
“We played very free today,” said Sterling Coach Derek Schneider, whose comments were posted on the tournament website sterlinginvitational.com. “A basket on one end starts with a stop on the other.”
Southeast of Saline defeated Hugoton 43-21 to win the championship game of the 13th annual Sterling Invitational Girls Basketball Game Friday night.
Both title games were played at Sterling College.
The Sterling boys jumped out to a 31-8 lead in the first quarter against Hugoton and cruised to the title game victory.
Sterling’s Boston Ekart (29), who has committed to play basketball at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, and Blake Smith (24) combined for 53 points.
Jacob Lewis added 12 points. Eckart grabbed 11 rebounds. Wyatt Newberry had 5 assists. Smith had 4 assists and 4 steals.
Ekart, Smith and Lewis were named to the Boys All-Tournament Team along with Lyons’ Paco Espinoza and Hugoton’s Cameron Rosas. Logan Issac was the tournament’s top boys 3-point shooter.
Gavin Salazar led Hugoton in scoring with 20 points. Rosas had 8 points and 10 rebounds. Miguel Hernandez scored points and Adrian Adigun added 6.
Sterling is rolling,” Sports in Kansas said on its Facebook page. “Ranked No. 1 in 2A, this group continues to look every bit like a championship contender on the hardwood after already delivering a 1A state football title in the fall.
“Confidence is high, momentum is real and the way Sterling is playing right now, the possibility of bringing home two state championships in the same school year doesn’t feel far-fetched at all.”
The Southeast of Saline girls led 19-7 at halftime and outscored Hugoton 24-14 in the second half. Southeast of Saline improved its record to 9-3.
Kylah Samuelson scored 12 points to lead the Southeast of Saline Eagle girls in scoring. Reese Heinrich added 10. Maddie Williams led Hugoton with 7 points.
The Girls All-Tournament Team consisted of Southeast of Saline’s Abigail Pearson and Samuelson, Sterling’s Aleya Ravenstein, Hugoton’s Amiley Lewis and Scott City’s Piper Fox.
In other boys finals on Friday, Scott City defeated Hutchinson Trinity Catholic 63-28 in the third-place game, Smoky Valley defeated Lyons 63-54 in overtime in the fifth-place game and Southeast of Saline defeated Kingman 54-48 in the seventh-place game.
In other girls finals on Friday, Scott City defeated Sterling 48-37 in the third-place game, Smoky Valley defeated Kingman 44-38 in the fifth-place game and Lyons defeated Hutchinson Trinity 50-41 in the seventh-place game.
In Scott City’s victory over Hutchinson Trinity in the boys third-place game, Scott City jumped out to a 36-18 lead at halftime and outscored the Celtics 27-10 in the second half.
Junior Meza led the Scott City Beavers with 26 points. Avery Radke added 10 points. Beau Towell led Trinity with 8 points.
The Celtics committed 22 turnovers. The Beavers moved to 6-5 while Trinity fell to 4-9.
Kriatian Ryan poured in 28 points, including seven in overtime to pull out the 63-54 victory for Smoky Valley in the fifth-pace boys game. After trailing 19-8 after the first quarter, Lyons came back in the second half with 16 points in each of the third and fourth quarters.
Quanick Hamilton led the Lions with 20 points, followed by Paco Espinoza with 12. However, the Lions could only come up with four points in the exptra period to fall to 5-8 overall. Smoky Valley moves to 7-5 after tournament action.
Still recovering from injuries sustained during a state-title run in football, the Southeast of Saline Trojans picked up a 54-48 win over Kingman, Friday afternoon in the seventh-place boys game. Scoring 19 points int he opening period, the Trojans held off the Eagles to improve to 4-10.
Tiernan Ptacek poured in a game-high 26 points to lead the Trojans. The Eagles were led by Dawson Wood with 19 points and Grayson Smith with 17. The loss dropped the Eagles to 2-13.
In the Lyons girls win over Hutchinson Trinity in the girls seventh-place game, Keirah Davis led Lyons with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Hayden Linden added 8 points.
The Trinity Celtic girls placed three players in double figures. Anika Paulsrud and Cienna Maskill each scored 11 points and Brecken Dowsy added 10.
In Scott City’s win over Sterling in the third-place girls game, Scott City led at halftime 24-14. Sterling outscored Scott City 24-23 in the second half.
Scott City’s Payton Gentry and Piper Fox scored 13 points apiece. Sterling’s Aleya Ravenstein scored 21 of the Black Bears’ 37 points and was named to the Girls All-Tournament Team.
In the fifth-place girls game, Smoky Valley scored 25 fourth quarter points to post a 44-38 win over the Kingman Eagles.
Kenzley Haxton finished with 18 points to lead the Vikings. She connected on four three-pointers in the final quarter to help grab the win. Smoky Valley is now 4-7 and Kingman drops to 2-13 overall.
Sterling Invitational boys scores
First round Monday
Sterling 81, Kingman 35
Scott City 59, Lyons 46
Hugoton 81, Southeast of Saline 53
Hutchinson Trinity 59, Smoky Valley 48
Consolation round Thursday
Lyons 50, Kingman 41
Smoky Valley 59, Southeast of Saline 55
Semifinals Thursday
Sterling 69, Scott City 34
Hugoton 60, Hutchinson Trinity 21
Finals Friday
1st place: Sterling 78, Hugoton 55
3rd place: Scott City 63, Hutchinson Trinity 28
5th place: Smoky Valley 63, Lyons 54 OT
7th place: Southeast of Saline 54, Kingman 48
Sterling Invitational girls scores
First round Tuesday
Southeast of Saline 79, Hutchinson Trinity 28
Scott City 52, Smoky Valley 32
Hugoton53, Kingman 22
Sterling 60, Lyons 37
Consolation round Thursday
Smoky Valley 48, Hutchinson Trinity 17
Kingman 39, Lyons 30
Semifinals Thursday
Southeast of Saline 45, Scott City 23
Hugoton 54, Sterling 20
Finals Friday
1st place: Southeast of Saline 43, Hugoton 21
3rd place: Scott City 48, Sterling 37
5th place: Smoky Valley 44, Kingman 38
7th place: Lyons 50, Hutchinson Trinity 41
