HAVEN, Kan. – Looking for a return trip to the 3A state tournament, the Hesston boys had one of their toughest battles of the season. Trailing most of the night, the Swathers put together a strong finish on their way to a six-point win over the Cheney Cardinals.
Hesston 50, Cheney 44 – It was a back-and-forth start to the game as the two teams were tied at seven with 4:30 left in the first quarter. From that point, Cheney went on an 11-0 run to lead 18-7 and they held the eleven point lead at 20-9 after the first quarter. Hesston battled in the second quarter, but only closed within eight at half as the Cardinals led 24-16 going into the locker room.
Undeterred, Hesston came out strong in the third quarter. They outscored the Cardinals 17-12 as Drew Bartell scored seven of the 17 Swather points in the quarter. Cheney led 36-33 after the third quarter. Hesston would tie the game on two different occasions at 37 and 39, but Cheney had the answer. The Cardinals led 41-39 with 3:29 remaining, but from that point, the Swathers took over. Hesston went on a 9-0 run to take a 48-41 lead with 24 seconds remaining. Hesston came up with big free throws during that stretch, including two from Ty Unruh. He entered the fourth quarter at 1-7 from the line on the night, but calmly made two to put the Swathers up by four. Bartell connected on one of two free throws with 24 seconds left, but the second one extended the lead to three possessions. Alex Lynch made a three-pointer for Cheney to cut the lead to 48-44, but two more free throws from Gavin Larson extended the lead out to six again and the Swathers would win by that final of 50-44.
Unruh led Hesston with 18 points on the night, scoring eight in the final quarter. Bartell finished with 14 and Kason Landes scored 12 for the Swathers. They improved to 24-2 on the season with the win, advancing to the state tournament for the 17th time in school history. Cheney was looking for a second consecutive state tournament berth, but finished their season at 18-7 with the loss. Lynch led the Cardinals with ten points as the only double figure scorer.
Hesston is the number two seed at the 3A State tournament as they will open defense of their 2025 title against Scott City on Tuesday. Wichita Collegiate has the number one seed after winning the Sub-State 1 title in Haven on Friday night, 70-41 over Neodesha. Game times and locations will be announced for state tournament games on Saturday night.
Cheney – Lynch 10, Koehn 9, McDaniel 8, Tolar 7, Thomas 6, Johnson 4
Hesston – Unruh 18, Bartell 14, Landes 12, Larson 6
