The Macksville Mustangs clinched the sub-state title, Saturday at Dodge City by defeating Quivira Heights 46-44 in a game that came down to the waning seconds.
The first quarter was a defensive struggle with both teams fighting for open shots on the basket. Macksville hit nine points in the early going with two-pointers from Marc Renfro, Kyle Bunker, Derek Bevan and Garrett Aves while the Thunderbirds from Quivira scored only four off a deuce from Joseph Kratzer and a pair of penalty shots from Taylor Siemsen.
“We did not play real well, but we kept on fighting and made enough plays to win the game,” said Mustang head coach Jeff Kuckelman.
In the second the offense opened up a bit with Evan Loomis dumping in a three-pointer and Renfro dropping a deuce with four of four in penalty shots. Seth Filbert added a deuce along with a two from Bunker and 2-2 on a plus one penalty for Aves for 15 points.
However, Quivira Heights matched the Mustangs with 15 of their own with a pair of treys from Siemsen and deuces from the Jacob Ingham, Jordan Dahlke, Jacob Ingham, and Gunner Phelan putting the score at 24-19 in the Mustangs favor at the break.
In the early going Quivira out-rebounded the Mustangs, but had trouble making the shots fall. In the third quarter that would not be the case as the Thunderbirds scored 15 to the Mustangs seven taking over the lead at 31-34.
“We need to shoot the ball better and rebound better to have a chance to win games in the state tournament,” Kuckelman said.
The fourth was a nip-and-tuck battle. Macksville tied the score at 34-34 in the opening seconds of the fourth off a three-pointer by Adam Oak, but fell behind again with the score sitting at 38-40 Heights favor with 5:40 left in the game.
With just over two minutes left, Aves sunk a deuce tying the score again at 42-42, and Renfro hit a pair from the line to give the Mustangs a short-lived lead.
With just over a minute to play the Thunderbirds tied the sore again at 44 off two penalty shots before Bunker brought the lead back with a deuce as the clock ticked down to 15-seconds.
“I wasn’t too worried,” Bunker said. “We always seem to pull it together in the fourth quarter.”
After a missed shot by Quivira, a jump ball gave possession to the Thunderbirds under their own basket with .3 seconds showing. The Thunderbirds’ final shot fell short giving the Mustangs the sub-state title and setting the up for state play at FHSU, which began Tuesday.
“We feel extremely fortunate to have beaten a quality team like Quivira Heights,” Kuckelman said.
“They fought us to the very end.”
Macksville had two players breaking double digits with Renfro hitting 14, and Bunker scoring 10.
First round play at the state tournament started tuesday with Macksville (22-3) taking on Montezuma-South Gray (24-1).
