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Thursday night’s main attraction featured everything a sports fan could want — the state’s oldest tournament moving into a new home, two Western Athletic Conference rivals squaring off and a win for the home team.
The Dodge City Red Demons used valiant performances from Trey Hallman and Jace Larson, as they will move on to play Wichita Heights in the semifinals with a 43-36 victory over the Hays Indians.
“We found a way to win and I’m not exactly sure how, I think when we extended our man defense and got after them a little more in the fourth quarter, it might have wore them out,” said Dodge City head coach Dennis Hamilton. “We kept preaching the defensive end to make it happen and we battled it out.”
As expected, the first half started off as a tug of war between the two WAC rivals, as both teams looked to gain an advantage early.
The Indians, who enter this year as the youngest in the history of head coach Rick Keltner, were looking for an over-the-top performance from the young sharpshooters, and they did a fairly good job early on, limiting their turnovers in the first quarter and finding creases in the Demon defense.
Early on, it was all Dodge City as they jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but that cushion quickly became smaller and smaller as the Hays shooters kept scoring, causing Hamilton to burn an early timeout to regroup his troops with the Demons down seven.
After that timeout, the Demons responded in a positive way, bringing the first quarter to a close down only three, as the Indians held a 16-13 lead.
The second quarter was a different story as captain Trey Hallman and Jace Larson said enough is enough, as Jonathan Taylor put the clamps on Hays’ Jordan Windholz defensively, and the two Demons took over, leading Dodge to an 11-6 advantage in the second half, giving them a two-point halftime lead.
At the half, Dodge City was able to finish 41 percent from the field, while the Indians had a blistering first 16 minutes of basketball, shooting nearly 70 percent from the field, but 13 turnovers allowed the Demons to recapture the advantage.
The third quarter was one the Demons could have done without, as they watched their slim lead evaporate with a Windholz three-pointer. They could not buy a bucket throughout the quarter, making only one basket throughout the entire eight minutes of basketball.
One area of play that has really carried the Demons as of late has been their rebounding, which faltered in the third, as the Indians and Brady Werth collected offensive rebounds, allowing Hays to exit into the fourth with a 29-26 lead.
“We struggled rebounding and that was one of the things we thought we had going in our favor after the Christmas break, was board aggressiveness,” Hamilton said. “It just wasn’t as good tonight as it has been, but we live to play another day.”
Both teams exchanged buckets to kick off the final period, as the packed United Wireless Arena began to come to life. A quick layup from Hallman cut the deficit to only one as you could feel the tension mounting with the Demons climbing back into the contest.
Behind the play of Larson and Hallman, the Demons reclaimed the lead by three, as the clock approached five minutes left in the game.
The story of the night continued to be turnovers for Hays, as they squandered chances to cut into the Dodge lead or potentially tie things up.
A Windholz trey would bring the Indians a tad bit closer, but it would be too little, too late, as the Demons controlled Hays for the remainder of the game, claiming yet another Tournament of Champions win.
The Demons were led by Hallman, who finished with 17 points and three assists, while Larson wound up with 12 points and five rebounds, which was a team high. They ended up shooting 39 percent from the field, and capped the game off with a 17-7 fourth quarter.
Derek Bixeman led all Hays scorers with 14 points, as the Indians were only able to muster 20 percent from the floor in the second half.
Dodge City moves on to the 8:30 p.m. game tonight to take on the No. 12 in the country in Wichita Heights, while Hays will play at 3:30 p.m. against St. James Academy.
Thursday night’s main attraction featured everything a sports fan could want — the state’s oldest tournament moving into a new home, two Western Athletic Conference rivals squaring off and a win for the home team.
The Dodge City Red Demons used valiant performances from Trey Hallman and Jace Larson, as they will move on to play Wichita Heights in the semifinals with a 43-36 victory over the Hays Indians.
“We found a way to win and I’m not exactly sure how, I think when we extended our man defense and got after them a little more in the fourth quarter, it might have wore them out,” said Dodge City head coach Dennis Hamilton. “We kept preaching the defensive end to make it happen and we battled it out.”
As expected, the first half started off as a tug of war between the two WAC rivals, as both teams looked to gain an advantage early.
The Indians, who enter this year as the youngest in the history of head coach Rick Keltner, were looking for an over-the-top performance from the young sharpshooters, and they did a fairly good job early on, limiting their turnovers in the first quarter and finding creases in the Demon defense.
Early on, it was all Dodge City as they jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but that cushion quickly became smaller and smaller as the Hays shooters kept scoring, causing Hamilton to burn an early timeout to regroup his troops with the Demons down seven.
After that timeout, the Demons responded in a positive way, bringing the first quarter to a close down only three, as the Indians held a 16-13 lead.
The second quarter was a different story as captain Trey Hallman and Jace Larson said enough is enough, as Jonathan Taylor put the clamps on Hays’ Jordan Windholz defensively, and the two Demons took over, leading Dodge to an 11-6 advantage in the second half, giving them a two-point halftime lead.
At the half, Dodge City was able to finish 41 percent from the field, while the Indians had a blistering first 16 minutes of basketball, shooting nearly 70 percent from the field, but 13 turnovers allowed the Demons to recapture the advantage.
The third quarter was one the Demons could have done without, as they watched their slim lead evaporate with a Windholz three-pointer. They could not buy a bucket throughout the quarter, making only one basket throughout the entire eight minutes of basketball.
One area of play that has really carried the Demons as of late has been their rebounding, which faltered in the third, as the Indians and Brady Werth collected offensive rebounds, allowing Hays to exit into the fourth with a 29-26 lead.
“We struggled rebounding and that was one of the things we thought we had going in our favor after the Christmas break, was board aggressiveness,” Hamilton said. “It just wasn’t as good tonight as it has been, but we live to play another day.”
Both teams exchanged buckets to kick off the final period, as the packed United Wireless Arena began to come to life. A quick layup from Hallman cut the deficit to only one as you could feel the tension mounting with the Demons climbing back into the contest.
Behind the play of Larson and Hallman, the Demons reclaimed the lead by three, as the clock approached five minutes left in the game.
The story of the night continued to be turnovers for Hays, as they squandered chances to cut into the Dodge lead or potentially tie things up.
A Windholz trey would bring the Indians a tad bit closer, but it would be too little, too late, as the Demons controlled Hays for the remainder of the game, claiming yet another Tournament of Champions win.
The Demons were led by Hallman, who finished with 17 points and three assists, while Larson wound up with 12 points and five rebounds, which was a team high. They ended up shooting 39 percent from the field, and capped the game off with a 17-7 fourth quarter.
Derek Bixeman led all Hays scorers with 14 points, as the Indians were only able to muster 20 percent from the floor in the second half.
Dodge City moves on to the 8:30 p.m. game tonight to take on the No. 12 in the country in Wichita Heights, while Hays will play at 3:30 p.m. against St. James Academy.
