Tiger boys advance to sub-state after cruising by Logan 74-32

The Stockton Tigers performed like a well-oiled machine last Saturday when they faced the Logan Trojans in the finals of the Class 1A Regional Basketball Tournament held in Mankato. The Tigers, who were firing on all cylinders, cruised to 74-32 win over the Trojans, advancing them to the Class 1A Sub-State Basketball Tournament to be held in Russell this Thursday-Saturday.

Stockton, with a record of 12-11, will face Claflin-Central Plains (10-13) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, with the winner taking on the winner of the Triplains-Greeley County (15-8) vs. Rexford-Golden Plains (6-18) game. The winner of that contest will earn a berth at the state tournament to be held in Dodge City next week.

The Tigers were able to put 28 points on the scoreboard in the first quarter of their game against Logan, with Josh Coleman responsible for 15 of those.

Trevor Miller opened the contest with a trey for Stockton, followed by a three-pointer by Coleman. Kameran Hamel would then add two baskets, which sandwiched another trey by Miller, to put the Tigers up 14-0.

The Trojans’ first points of the game came at the 4:08 mark when Ty Kats scored, but Coleman and Ethan Means quickly answered to give Stockton an 18-2 advantage. Logan’s Ian Sparks made basket with 2:46 to go in the period, but in the final two and a half minutes Coleman tacked on nine more points to give the Tigers a 28-8 lead going into the second quarter.

Stockton didn’t dominate its opponents quite as much in the second period, but the Tigers maintained at least a 14-point lead. With 2:40 to go in the first half, Jace Hull’s basket put the Tigers up 40-21, and Stockton would finish out the quarter with a 7-2 run to lead 47-23 at the intermission.

Means opened second half with back-to-back treys to push the Tigers’ lead to 53-23, but two free throws by Logan’s Sparks at the 6:44 mark of the third finally put an end to Stockton’s 13-2 run. Those two free throws ended up being the only points for the Trojans in the third period as the Tigers’ Quinn Coffey would score back-to-back baskets, igniting a 13-0 run by the Stockton boys which gave them a 66-25 advantage after three quarters of play.

With the large lead, the mercy rule went into effect for the entire fourth quarter. Despite the clock running continuously, the Tigers were able to tack on eight more points in the final period on baskets by Troy Rogers, Cameron Lindsey and Nolan Buss, with Buss also adding two free throws, resulting in the final score of 74-32.

Stockton was led in scoring by Josh Coleman with 18 points. Ethan Means added 16, Trevor Miller 13 and Kameran Hamel 10.

Ian Sparks led the Trojans with 10 points.

Tiger Boys vs. Lakeside Quarterfinal Game

Tuesday night the Tiger boys were on the road to Downs to take on the third-seeded Lakeside Knights (12-6) in the first round of Regionals. Stockton, who was seeded sixth, scored the first points of the game on a trey by Ethan Means. The Tigers would go on to score 21 more points, including four three-pointers — another one by Means, and one each from Josh Coleman, Trevor Miller and Kameran Hamel — to lead 24-13 going into the second quarter.

The Knights’ Tyler Schoen made three free throws at the 6:20 mark of the second to get back within eight, 24-16, but a couple baskets by Hamel regained a double-digit lead (28-18) for the Tigers a minute later, and they were able to maintain a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.

A basket by Jace Hull with 1:19 left in the second quarter gave Stockton its largest lead thus far at 14, 39-25, and another shot by Hull with 32 seconds left gave the Tigers a 41-27 advantage, which they took into the locker room at halftime.

At the midway point of the third quarter Stockton led by as much as 16, 47-31, after Miller stole the ball and scored on the layup. Kylan Cunningham answered with a trey for the Knights, and Frank Pearce added a basket to cut the lead back down to 11, 47-36.

It seemed that every time Lakeside would gain some momentum, the Tigers would answer. Such was the case when Coleman’s trey at the 2:22 mark put Stockton up 50-36, and the Tigers would take a 52-40 lead into the final eight minutes.

Quinn Coffey opened the fourth period with a free throw, and shortly after that Means’ offensive put-back gave Stockton a 55-40 advantage. A basket by Troy Rogers with 5:35 left to play pushed the lead to 57-41, and the Tigers went on to win 64-49.

Ethan Means score a game-high 20 points to lead Stockton, with Trevor Miller adding 11.

The Knights were led by Kylan Cunningham with 13 points. Cooper Brown added 12.

Tiger Boys vs. Northern Valley Semifinal Game

The Stockton Tigers and the second-seeded Northern Valley Huskies met in the Regional semifinals. The two teams had faced each other at the end of January with Stockton winning 47-36. This time the result was much the same with the Tigers picking up a 58-49 victory.

With the help of sophomore Josh Coleman’s 17-point performance in the first quarter, which included five treys, Stockton jumped out to a 22-12 lead and had pushed the margin to 34-18 by the intermission. After three quarters the Tigers were still up 47-32, and although the Huskies were able to make somewhat of a run on the Tigers in the final eight minutes, Stockton picked up the 58-49 win.

Josh Coleman led the Tigers in scoring with a game-high 30 points.

Northern Valley was led by Bailey Sides with 22 points. Fabian Loya added 15.