South Gray High School fed off a 31-point performance from senior guard Chase Clancy to defeat Macksville 54-45 on Tuesday in the Class 1A state quarterfinals.
“I was getting to the rim easy,” Clancy said. “In the first half, I was able to drive. I think they were watching out for the 3-pointer.”
South Gray, the No. 2-ranked team by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, will get a rematch with top-ranked Quinter (26-0) at 4:45 on Thursday at Gross Memorial Coliseum on the Fort Hays State University campus.
Quinter eliminated the Rebels at last year’s state tourney.
“I am happy to move on to the next round,” South Gray head coach Mark Applegate said. “It doesn’t matter who we play.”
Macksville led by 10 points halfway through the third quarter, but could not hold onto the lead.
“It was the same old story,” Macksville’s head coach Jeff Kuckleman said. “All year, the games we lost, we had big leads we blew.”
South Gray trailed 40-38 to enter the fourth quarter, but South Gray’s Ricky Friesen and Austin Love would both sink 3-pointers to give South Gray a 44-40 lead.
“We needed some energy,” Friesen said. “We drew up a play for me and luckily I put it in. It got us going and gave us some momentum.”The Rebels would carry the lead for the remainder of the fourth quarter.
Both teams entered the game with stingy defenses, not allowing any points in the first three minutes.
South Gray would block three shots in that period. The Rebels’ Bligh Schulte had three blocks in the game.
Schulte would score the game’s first points, grabbing a blocked shot out of the air and tossing it in the hoop like it was an alley-oop pass.
Macksville’s Evan Loomis tied the score at 2-2 on the Mustangs next possession.
Loomis would leave the game with 16-points.
After each team made a shot, Macksville’s Seth Filbert drained a 3-pointer and his team would score again seconds later to go up 9-4.
At that point, South Gray’s Chase Clancy found his rhythm, leading the Rebels on a 6-0 run to take a 10-9 lead. Clancy would score South Gray’s next 21 points and Ricky Friesen would be the only Rebel to score again in the first half.
With two minutes left in the second quarter and Macksville up 25-23, Loomis nailed a 3-pointer to start a 6-0 run.
