While they didn’t bring home a trophy, Crest High’s Lancers capped a wildly successful week at Iola’s War on 54 Tournament with a win over an old rival Friday.
Crest took control with a 15-2 run over Marmaton Valley, and then withstood a ferocious Wildcat rally down the stretch to win, 49-40, in the War on 54 third-place game.
The Lancers’ Ryan Golden again lived up to his name, giving the Midas touch to Crest’s offense through a dominating first half. He wound up with 23 points, 18 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
“We’re definitely, even from last weekend to this one, two or three steps ahead of where we’ve been. And it’s not just one player. The whole team is buying in.”
Marmaton Valley didn’t go down easily.
Wildcat reserve Cooper Scharff came off the bench to spark a defense-fueled comeback attempt.
He scored three times in succession as part of a 16-7 run, sparked by Dominic Smith’s free throw with 1:40 remaining to pare what had been a 14-point Lancer lead to 43-39 with 1:40 left.
“We were a little gassed there toward the end,” Marmaton Valley head coach Cornell Walls said. “We’ve had struggles playing the first two quarters all year. We fought back, and got within four. We had some opportunities, but unfortunately couldn’t put the ball in basket.
“I was proud of how the guys picked up their defensive intensity. We put Cooper in to get some quickness out there. Our press worked really well. It just was not enough, and we ran out of time.”
The Lancers didn’t let MV get any closer.
Rogan Weir hit 1 of 2 free throws for Crest with 53 seconds left, and his missed rebound was knocked out of bounds by the Wildcats, giving the Lancers possession. Jacob Zimmerman added two more charities to make it a seven-point game, essentially sealing the game.
Zimmerman scored eight points with two steals. Rogan Weir added eight assists and six rebounds. Denton Ramsey had four steals.
Brayden Lawson scored 12 and Smith 11 for the Wildcats.
“We tried to give it away late,” Sporing said. “We got a little slow and missed a lot of layups. I don’t know if it’s because it was the third game this week. I may give them the benefit of the doubt for that.”
Crest (5-5) resumes regular season play Tuesday at Northeast-Arma. Marmaton Valley (3-70 hosts Pleasanton.
FG/3pt FT F TP
Crest (7-15-15-12—49)
White 0 0 1 0
Golden 10 3 3 23
R. Weir 2 1 2 5
McGhee 3 0 3 6
Ramsey 0/1 0 1 3
Prasko 1 2 4 4
Zimmerman 2 4 4 8
Totals 18/1 10 18 49
Marmaton Valley (9-2-12-17—40
Campbell 0 1 0 1
D. Smith 1/2 3 4 11
Morrison 1 0 2 2
Lord 2/1 0 3 7
Scharff 2 1 0 5
C. Smith 0 0 5 0
Lawson 6 0 2 12
Rewind 0 2 4 2
Totals 12/3 7 20 40
