The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
West Central 7th grade basketball team edged Southeastern 51-48 Wednesday night in Lewistown to capture the Regional Championship. Joliet Laraway awaits them in Germantown Hills Saturday (Feb. 2) at 11:30 a.m. where they will participate in the Class 2A State Tournament.
Southeastern jumped out to a 2-0 lead but their lead was quickly erased on Jacob Quigley's trey from the corner. West Central ended the first quarter leading 11-6.
West Central began the 2nd period with a quick bucket. On the Sun's next possession Kaiden Droste stole a pass and beat everyone to the other end and scored an easy lay-up.
That made the score 15-6 and forced the Suns to call a timeout with just 23 seconds gone in the period. Southeastern then outscored West Central 16 to 7 the remainder of the quarter and the half ended 22 all.
Midway in the 3rd period, West Central was on the short end of a 27-25 score and Mason Carnes popped a 3 pointer to put the Heat ahead 28-27. Moments later, Carnes struck again from long range and the Heat was in control 31-27. The teams traded 7 point flurries and the 3rd period ended with the Heat on Top 38-34.
The 4th period was played very close up to the last minute. With the Heat up 47-46 Kaiden Droste threaded the needle with a neat pass to Landon Winters who laid the ball in and the Heat had a 49-46 lead with under a minute to go.
On the Heat's next possession Landon Winters was fouled and he stepped to the line for a crucial 1 and bonus. He calmly sank the first one which prompted a Southeastern time out in an attempt to freeze him.
After the time out Winters then sank the bonus for a 51-48 lead. Southeastern could not penetrate the Heat's defense and the game ended with the 51-48 victory.
Kaiden Droste led the Heat with 25 points. His rebounding, quick drives to the basket and passing was too much for Southeastern to defense. Droste was followed by Mason Carnes who netted 11 points, then Landon Winters with 8. Six of his points came in the frantic 4th quarter. Jacob Quigley scored 8 and Bryce Bigger rounded out the scoring with 1. Southeastern's Danny Stephens was the game's leading scorer with 30, Garrett Walker had 14 and Josh Kaitenbach rounded out the scoring with 4.
Coach Tyler Klossing stated that a key play and momentum changer was when Zach Smith took a charge from Danny Stephens during the 4th period. Klossing said, "the momentum quickly swung our way after that play". He added, "another key situation was in the final minute of the game when Landon sank those free throws sandwiched around a time out. That was big!" He also pointed out the defensive effort of Colton Fletcher in the 2nd quarter. "Kaiden got his second foul early in the 2nd and Colton went in to guard Stephens in order to protect Kaiden from getting a 3rd foul in the first half. Colton did a great job". Klossing pointed out he was extremely pleased with the pressing defense led by Bryce Bigger, Landon Winters and Kaiden Droste. "Their job was to pressure the ball and trap in order to disrupt Southeastern's efforts to get into their offense". The result was several steals which led to points.
West Central had a large contingency of fans on hand and they were treated to a very exciting victory.
West Central Regional team: Joe Tucker-11, Bryce Bigger-3, Zach Smith-35, Nick Woods-1, Jacob Quigley-22. Back: Colton Fletcher-40, Landon Winters-33, Kaiden Droste-32, Ian Dunlap-13, Mason Carnes-31, Tyler Neumann-10. Coaches Tyler Klossing and Quinn Leath.