Regular basketball season ends for SHS Tiger teams

With the regular season coming to an end last Friday for the Stockton Tigers, their sights are now set on Regionals which began this Tuesday and run through Saturday. Both Tiger basketball teams traveled to Downs-Lakeside this Tuesday to take on the Knights. The winners advance to the semifinals of the 1A Regional Basketball Tournament, hosted by Rock Hills High School in Mankato, Thursday through Saturday.

The Lady Tigers, with a record of 8-11, earned a fifth seed in the tourney and played fourth-seeded Lakeside (9-8) on Tuesday. The winner of the game advances to take on topseeded Thunder Ridge, who is undefeated at 17-0, this Friday in Mankato.

The Tiger boys (9-10) are the tourney’s sixth seed, and played thirdseeded Lakeside (11-6) on Tuesday. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Northern Valley (2nd seed; 13-5) vs. Thunder Ridge (7th seed; 7-11) game, on Thursday in Mankato.

The finals of the tournament will be held on Saturday, with the top two teams advancing to substate the following week. Complete brackets can be found at kshsaa.org, or by going to the school’s Facebook page, USD #271 Stockton School – Stockton, Kansas.

Last week’s games found Stockton hosting La Crosse on Tuesday, and traveling to TMP in Hays on Friday for a Mid-Continent League match-up. Of the four varsity games played, the only win for the Tigers came on Tuesday when the Stockton girls cruised to a 71-31 Victory over the Lady Leopards. The Tiger boys fell in a hard-fought battle to La Crosse 44-41.

In the games against TMP, Stockton came out on the short end of a 64-45 score in the girls contest, and fell to the Monarch boys 74-51.

Lady Tigers vs. La Crosse

The Lady Tigers made 10 treys in their game against LaCrosse, which was just one point shy of the Lady Leopards’ entire game total of only 31 points. The hot shooting from behind the arc helped propel the Stockton girls to an easy 71-31 victory over the visitors.

After jumping out to a 24-8 lead following the first quarter of action, Stockton would go in at the intermission with a 39-19 advantage. The Lady Tigers came out strong in the third period and outscored La Crosse 21-7 to push the lead to 60-26 going into the fourth quarter. With the mercy rule in effect for the final eight minutes, Stockton went on to win 71-31.

Shae Griffin scored a game-high 34 points for the Lady Tigers, including five three-pointers. Macy Odle and Olivia Dix added 11 and 10 points respectively, with nine of Odle’s points coming on three treys. The other two three-pointers were made by Tatum Hamilton, who finished the game with 8 points.

La Crosse was led by Brooke Herrman with 18 points.

Tiger Boys vs. La Crosse

The game between the Stockton and La Crosse boys was a close one throughout, with the teams playing within one to three points of each other for most of the way. Both squads competed hard on the offensive and defensive ends, and it was a shame that either one had to lose. However, in the end, it was the Tigers who suffered the heartbreaking loss, falling 44-41 on a three-point shot by La Crosse with seven seconds left in the game.

Stockton and the visiting Leopards exchanged baskets early in the first quarter, and were tied at 6-6 on a shot by Ethan Means at the 5:17 mark. Blake Pierce then hit back-to-back shots over the next minute to give La Crosse its largest lead of the game, 11-6.

With 2:52 remaining in the period, Stockton had knotted the contest back up at 11-11 on a shot by Kameran Hamel and a trey by Josh Coleman. The Tigers would end up taking a 15-13 lead into the second quarter following a basket by Quinn Coffey and two free throws by Coleman.

Means scored to open the second quarter giving Stockton a 17-13 advantage, but at the intermission, the Tigers were only up 19-18.

Hunter Morgan sank a three-pointer for La Crosse a couple minutes into the third period, giving the Leopards a 21-19 advantage, but just seconds later Coffey hit a shot for Stockton to tie the game at 21-all. With 1:29 left in the third, the Tigers would own their largest lead, 29-24, following baskets by Means and Coleman.

Stockton would maintain a four-point lead until Kaden Depperschmidt hit a shot as the third quarter came to an end, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 29-27.

The teams continued to battle in the fourth period with Stockton enjoying a narrow lead for much of it. With 3:46 to go the Tigers were up 36-32, but with just under two minutes to go, Morgan hit a trey giving La Crosse a 38-37 lead. Coleman then hit a basket to regain a 39-38 advantage for Stockton, but a trey by Blake Herrman with 55 seconds left put the Leopards back up 41-39. Means was able to tie the game at 41-41 on two free throws with 43 seconds left on the clock, but the ball was in the hands of La Crosse.

The Leopards elected to run the clock down, with the Tigers playing tough defense. With just seven seconds to go in the game, La Crosse’s Herrman drained his fifth threepointer in the game to put the Leopards on top 44-41. Although Stockton had time to get the ball up the court and get a shot off, it was unsuccessful and the Tigers fell 44-41.

Josh Coleman led Stockton in scoring with 15 points, with Ethan Means adding 11.

The Leopards were led by Blake Herrman who scored a game-high 17 points. Hunter Morgan added 12.

Lady Tigers vs. TMP

The Stockton Lady Tigers played with TMP for three of the four quarters of Friday night’s game. They trailed just 11-8 after the first quarter, but the second period, in which they were outscored 24-6, ended up being their nemesis as they went in at halftime down 35-14.

Although Stockton was able to outscore the Lady Monarchs by a point in both the third and fourth quarters, it wasn’t enough and the Lady Tigers went on to fall 64-45. With the loss, Stockton finishes the regular season with a record of 8-12.

Stockton was led in scoring by Chloe Plumer and Shae Griffin with 14 and 13 points respectively.

TMP had three players in double figures: Kyleigh Allen 13, Jaci VonLintel 12, and Emilee Lane 11.

Note: Lady Tiger JV vs. TMP JV results not made available.

Tiger Boys vs. TMP

The Stockton Tigers fell behind early in their game with TMP, but trailing 11-2 at the 4:41 mark of the opening quarter, the Tigers went on a 6-0 run to finish out the quarter only down 11-8. Scoring during that run were Kameran Hamel and Quinn Coffey.

The game was tied at 15-all with 5:16 to go in the second period following a trey by Trevor Miller, but despite nine points by Ethan Means in the final three minutes of the half, the Tigers were facing a 31-25 deficit at the intermission.

In the third quarter the Monarchs were able to slowly pull away, owning their first double-digit lead of the game, 43-32, at the midway point of the third. At its end Stockton was down 54-39, and the Tigers went on to fall 74-51 to finish the regular season with a record of 9-11.

Ethan Means scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Tigers, with Kameran Hamel adding 12.

TMP was led by Carson Jacobs with 20 points. Lucas Lane and Mason Robbins added 16 and 12 points respectively.