By John Mesh
The Nickerson boys defeated the Bucklin Red Aces 45-39 and the Nickerson girls lost to St. John 65-24 Thursday on the second day of the Larned High School Gene Keady Classic.
In the boys game, Nickerson trailed Bucklin 14-10 in the first quarter, but took a 29-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Bucklin went on a 10-3 run in the third quarter to cut Nickerson’s lead to 2 points at 32-30. Nickerson outscored the Red Aces 13-9 in the fourth quarter.
Nickerson’s boys will play the fifth-place game at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Larned High School gymnasium.
The St. John girls led Nickerson 21-2 at the end of the first quarter, 36-14 at halftime and 55-19 at the end of the third quarter.
The Nickerson girls will play in the seventh-place game at noon Saturday.
Haven basketball teams sweep Meade at Kingman Eagle Classic
The Haven Wildcat girls basketball team defeated Meade 64-31 Thursday afternoon in the Kingman Eagle Classic and the Haven boys team defeated Meade 62-37.
Sienna DeFrain scored 20 points to lead the Wildcat girls. Avery Brawner scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Rilynn Patry scored 14 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.
Sydney Holzrichter scored 9 points and grabbed 3 rebounds. Zaprina Percy had 6 assists and 2 steals.
The Haven boys led by just 3 points at halftime at 22-10, but outscored the Buffaloes 40-18 in the second half.
Gatlin Rinehart scored 21 points to lead the Haven Wildcats and Dalton Biontrager added 16 points. Blake Richey contributed 8, Nash Wray 5, Maguire Jacques 5, Jace Martin 4 and Detrick Nisley 3.
Richey grabbed 7 rebounds. Nisly and Nash Wray each had 5 assists. Jacques had 5 steals, Nash Wray 4, Rinehart 3 and Bontrager 3.
Samuel Lynn led the Meade Buffaloes with 15 points.
The Haven girls and boys teams will play the Kingman girls and boys on Friday. Sterling High School’s boys and girls play Clearwater Friday.
Saturday games: 5th place at noon and 1:30 p.m; 3rd place at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Championship games at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Cheney Cardinal Classic
The Cheney High School boys and girls basketball teams swept Chaparral Thursday night and advanced to the tournament championship games Saturday in Cheney.
The Cheney boys won their Pool A game 66-38 and the Cheney Cardinal girls won 45-34. In Pool B, the Wellington girls defeated Pratt 70-23 and the Pratt boys defeated Wellington.63-46.
The Cheney boys will play Pratt for first place at 7:30 p.m. and the Wellington boys play Chaparral for third place at 4 p.m.
The girls championship game will feature Cheney vs. Wellington at 6 p.m. The girls third-place game features Pratt vs. Chaparral at 2:30 p.m.
In Pool A games on Monday, Chaparral’s girls and boys swept El Dorado. The Roadrunner boys won 65-61 and the girls won 45-41.
In Pool B games on Monday, Pratt’s boys and girls swept Hutchinson Trinity Catholic (58-33 in the girls game and 77-55 in the boys game).
In Pool A games on Tuesday, Cheney’s teams swept El Dorado (48-16 in the girls game and 90-33 in the boys game).
In Pool B games on Tuesday, Wellington’s boys and girls swept Trinity (90-17 in the girls game and 78-67 in the boys game).
Moundridge Early Season Tournament
The Inman High School girls basketball team beat the Hillsboro Trojans 53-51 Thursday in the Moundridge Early Season Tournament Thursday afternoon.
The Inman varsity boys lost to Hillsboro 67-27 on Thursday, the JV boys won 44-36 and the JV girls lost 30-16 in a two-quarter game.
In the varsity girls game Thursday against Hillsboro, Inman tied the score at 51-51 with 22 seconds left in the game. Katie Nichols then scored the go-ahead layup on a pass from Suttyn Harris. Inman led at halftime 20-18.
In Thursday’s other boys game, Moundridge defeated Lyons 52-40.
On Tuesday, the Inman varsity girls lost to Moundridge 60-47 and the varsity boys team lost 66-30. The JV girls won 47-45 and JV boys lost 55-43.
Also on Tuesday, the Hillsboro boys defeated Lyons 60-49 and the Hillsboro girls beat Lyons 53-22.
Fairfield Falcon Classic
In first-round boys action Monday and Tuesday at the Fairfield Falcon Classic, Cunningham defeated the Reno County Sabres 63-33, Stafford defeated Burrton 72-18, Otis-Bison defeated Fairfield 66-35 and Pretty Prairie defeated Flinthills 57-55.
Junior Justin Ballard led the Burrton Chargers with 9 points. Senior Noble Phillps scored 5 points and had 4 steals. Senior Colton Robinson had 8 rebounds and 3 steals.
In first-round girls games Monday and Tuesday, Flinthills defeated Cunningham 46-39, Stafford defeated Pretty Prairie JV 37-23, Fairfield defeated Otis-Bison 52-37 and Pretty Prairie defeated Reno County Sabres 44-19.
In second-round girls games on Thursday, Pretty Prairie defeated Fairfield 46-26 and Reno County Sabres defeated Otis-Bison 33-26.
In second-round boys games Thursday, Fairfield lost to Flinthills 52-49, Stafford edged Cunningham 49-48 and Otis-Bison defeated Pretty Prairie 77-52.
Schedule changed for Nickerson-Haven basketball games
Haven and Nickerson have moved the games scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 25, will now be played Tuesday, Jan. 7, at the Nickerson High School gymnasium.
The change allows both schools an additional three days to prepare for preseason contests.
The two-quarter Nickerson-Haven JV girls game will be played at 4 p.m. at the new gym, followed by JV boys at 4:45 p.m. (new gym), C team boys at 6 p.m. (old gym), varsity girls at 6 p.m. (new gym) and varsity boys at 7:30 p.m. (new gym).
Nickerson will hold Senior Night on Friday, Feb. 21. The Panthers will host Hillsboro.