Dodge City High School jumped on the big stage of its own tournament and came through with one of its best performances of the season.
Especially in the opening 16 minutes.
The host Red Demons, ranked No. 9 in Class 6A, built a 29-16 halftime lead and toppled No. 10 Shawnee Mission South 55-38 Thursday night in an opening-round game of the Tournament of Champions.
“It think there’s a lot of truth to that,” Dodge City head coach Dennis Hamilton said of the Red Demons’ opening-half sizz. “I thought we were very solid in the first half.
“I thought we guarded really well, made shots and held our own on the boards. That’s a big key in the game.”
Dodge City (8-1) takes on Gardner-Edgerton (4-3) tonight at 8:30 in the semifinals, while the Raiders (4-4) meet Wichita East (7-2) at 3:30 today in a losers’ bracket game.
Dodge City senior forward Terrance Williams pumped in 19 points, sophomore point guard Rico Hogan scored 12 points, had five rebounds, three streals and two assists and senior forward Landon Head had 11 points and seven rebounds.
Perhaps Shawnee Mission South could be described as the Raiders of the Lost Arc in this one, missing 19 of 24 3-pointers.
South sharpshooter Will Spradling, a Kansas State University early signee, totaled 14 points on 5 of 15 shooting, including just 2-for-9 on 3s.
Spradling was whistled for his third foul late in the second quarter, and South had no one to pick up the slack. Alex Moyer finished with nine points, but made only 2 of 7 from beyond the 3-point stripe.
“Things went our way ,” Hamilton said. “Give our kids a lot of credit. It just wasn’t one player. It was a total team effort and when you do that, playing unselfish and feeding one another, good things can happen.”
South closed to within 39-29 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter after guard Alex Moyer converted a rare four-point play. He hit a 3-pointer and was fouled in the act of shooting, making the free throw.
It was all Red Demons after that.
Williams scored off a feed from post player Miles Morin in the paint to make it 41-29, sending DCHS on a 7-0 run for a 46-29 lead with 4:50 left.
Morin later scored in the lane, and then Hogan made a steal and went coast-to-coast for a lay-in and a 45-29 edge. Head added 1 of 2 foul shots, and the lead had grown to 46-29.
Dylan Christie ended a three-plus minute drought with a 3-pointer at the 4:25 mark to make it 46-32.
But Hogan answered with another basket and, after a missed 3-pointer, Williams hit a short runner in the lane to hike the margin to 50-34 with 3:24 to go.
Perhaps the state tournament atmosphere that the TOC brings put a spring in the Demons’ step.
“No question,” Hamilton said. “This is kind of a big-time atmosphere. It really is. It’s something we feel like that every team that comes out of this tournament is going to be better off because of the competition and the atmosphere.”
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Dodge City High School jumped on the big stage of its own tournament and came through with one of its best performances of the season.
Especially in the opening 16 minutes.
The host Red Demons, ranked No. 9 in Class 6A, built a 29-16 halftime lead and toppled No. 10 Shawnee Mission South 55-38 Thursday night in an opening-round game of the Tournament of Champions.
“It think there’s a lot of truth to that,” Dodge City head coach Dennis Hamilton said of the Red Demons’ opening-half sizz. “I thought we were very solid in the first half.
“I thought we guarded really well, made shots and held our own on the boards. That’s a big key in the game.”
Dodge City (8-1) takes on Gardner-Edgerton (4-3) tonight at 8:30 in the semifinals, while the Raiders (4-4) meet Wichita East (7-2) at 3:30 today in a losers’ bracket game.
Dodge City senior forward Terrance Williams pumped in 19 points, sophomore point guard Rico Hogan scored 12 points, had five rebounds, three streals and two assists and senior forward Landon Head had 11 points and seven rebounds.
Perhaps Shawnee Mission South could be described as the Raiders of the Lost Arc in this one, missing 19 of 24 3-pointers.
South sharpshooter Will Spradling, a Kansas State University early signee, totaled 14 points on 5 of 15 shooting, including just 2-for-9 on 3s.
Spradling was whistled for his third foul late in the second quarter, and South had no one to pick up the slack. Alex Moyer finished with nine points, but made only 2 of 7 from beyond the 3-point stripe.
“Things went our way ,” Hamilton said. “Give our kids a lot of credit. It just wasn’t one player. It was a total team effort and when you do that, playing unselfish and feeding one another, good things can happen.”
South closed to within 39-29 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter after guard Alex Moyer converted a rare four-point play. He hit a 3-pointer and was fouled in the act of shooting, making the free throw.
It was all Red Demons after that.
Williams scored off a feed from post player Miles Morin in the paint to make it 41-29, sending DCHS on a 7-0 run for a 46-29 lead with 4:50 left.
Morin later scored in the lane, and then Hogan made a steal and went coast-to-coast for a lay-in and a 45-29 edge. Head added 1 of 2 foul shots, and the lead had grown to 46-29.
Dylan Christie ended a three-plus minute drought with a 3-pointer at the 4:25 mark to make it 46-32.
But Hogan answered with another basket and, after a missed 3-pointer, Williams hit a short runner in the lane to hike the margin to 50-34 with 3:24 to go.
Perhaps the state tournament atmosphere that the TOC brings put a spring in the Demons’ step.
“No question,” Hamilton said. “This is kind of a big-time atmosphere. It really is. It’s something we feel like that every team that comes out of this tournament is going to be better off because of the competition and the atmosphere.”
67th Annual Tournament of Champions
At Dodge City
Dodge City Civic Center
Thursday
Opening round
GAME 4
Dodge City 55,
Shawnee Mission South 38
SM SOUTH (4-4)
Will Spradling 5-15 2-2 14, Nick Weber 0-0 0-2 0, Jake Reid 0-4 0-0 0, Alex Moyer 3-9 1-1 9, Andrew Winkler 0-1 0-0 0, Raynder Fredrick 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Bergner 0-3 0-0 0, Brandon Stacker 2-5 0-0 4, Tim Rodden 1-1 0-0 2, Doug Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Christie 3-6 0-0 7, Karlton Hodch 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 15-46 3-5 38.
DODGE CITY (8-1)
Rico Hogan 4-10 3-5 12, Trey Hallman 1-2 0-0 2, Landon Head 4-8 3-4 11, Benito Sotelo 0-3 0-0 0, Matt Esquibel 0-0 0-2 0, Brandon Howarth 1-3 2-2 4, Terrance Williams 8-13 1-1 19, Miles Morin 1-3 5-6 7, Terell Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Derek Ridenour 0-0 0-0 0, Todd Middleton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-42 14-20 55.
SM South 7 9 9 13 — 38
Dodge City 14 15 10 16 — 55
Three-point goals — SM South 5-24 (Spradling 2-9, Moyer 2-7, Christie 1-3, Reid 0-2, Stacker 0-1, Fredrick 0-1, Winkler 0-1); Dodge 3-11 (Williams 2-4, Hogan 1-2, Head 0-2, Sotelo 0-2, Howarth 0-1). Total fouls -- SM South 21, Dodge 7. Fouled out -- Fredrick. Rebounds -- Dodge 31 (Head 7, Hogan 5, Hallman 5); SM South 28 (Stacker 6, Fredrick 5). Assists -- Dodge 10 (Head 3, Morin 3); SM South 7 (Spradling 4). Steals -- Dodge 6 (Hogan 3, Head 2); SM South 2 (Winkler, Bergner). Turnovers -- SM South 13, Dodge 9. Blocked shots -- Dodge 2 (Hogan, Howarth); SM South 1 (Stacker).
