Trio of top-seeds advance at GPAC tourney
By RONDA GRAFF
Gazette Writer
MADRID -- Three out of the top four seeds in the Golden Plains Activities Conference advanced to the semifinals with wins Tuesday night.
No. 4-seed Culbertson (7-8) lost a close game to No. 5-seed Lakeside Central, 49-47, in the second game of the night, played at Wheatland High School.
The Falcons (5-8) will face top-seeded Wheatland (12-2) on Friday at 6 p.m. CST on the Spartans homecourt. Wheatland beat Twin Valley, 69-38.
In the other half of the bracket, Wauneta-Palisade, seeded third, defeated Maywood (5-9), 98-57. Wallace (12-1) beat Hayes Center (6-10), 59-35. The Broncos (10-3) and the Wildcats will face off at 7:30 p.m. CST Friday.
The finals are scheduled for Saturday at Wheatland with the third-place game planned for 4:30 p.m. and the championship match at 7:30 p.m.
Team scoring and scoring by quarters for the following games were not available.
Wheatland 69,
Twin Valley 38
Mark Johnson had a game-high 18 points to lead Wheatland on Tuesday. Coy Gager added 13 points, followed by 12 from Shawn Tjaden. Greg Robertson and Tony Ross led at the boards with 7 rebounds each.
Twin Valley's Devon Crawford had a team-high 11 points, while Tyler Kennedy pulled down 6 rebounds.
Lakeside
Central 49,
Culbertson 47
Lakeside Central's John Johnson finished with 13 points to lead his team in scoring, along with 5 assists. Teammate Shane Hilker grabbed 8 rebounds and Cody Daniels finished with 6.
Along with his 13 rebounds, Culbertson's Joseph Frecks had a game-high 21 points to finish with a double-double. Teammate Curtis Olson also reached double digits with 12 points. Todd Bauer finished with 4 steals and 4 assists.
Wauneta-
Palisade 98,
Maywood 57
Joseph Humphrey and Andrew Isom combined for 43 of the Broncos points Tuesday. Humphrye finished with 22 points, closely followed by 21 from Isom.
Marshall Fischer led Maywood with 19 points. Craig Hazen nailed 16 points, with 9 of those from the charity stripe.
The Broncos shot 18-of-28 from the free-throw line, while the Tigers were 16-of-39.
Wallace 59,
Hayes Center 35
Nolan Brott led his team in scoring with 17 points and and steals with 3. Natha Brott finished with 4 rebounds, while Nathan Griffiths had 5 assists.
Wallace's Mark Christensen had a game-high 18 points with Andy Coppersmith chipping in 14 points. Braun Hubbard grabbed 7 rebounds in the opening-round loss.
RVL tourney
While Arapahoe cruised to a 76-29 win over Alma in their opening RVL game, Southern Valley and Dundy County played a defensive battle with the Eagles coming out on top.
Southern Valley (7-6) won 33-17 over Dundy County (8-4) in the first-round of the Republican Valley League tourney on Tuesday.
The Tigers were held to single digits in each quarter with no player on either team reaching double digits.
Republican Valley fought off Bertrand 66-62 Tuesday night.
RV improved to 8-5. Bertand dropped to 5-9.
Second-seed Arapahoe (14-2) and Southern Valley will face off at 7:45 p.m. Friday at Cambridge for the semifinals of the RVL tourney.
Top-seeded and state-ranked Cambridge (13-1), which had a bye in the first round, will play RV at 6 p.m. on the homecourt on Friday.
Arapahoe
boys 76,
Alma 29
ARAPAHOE -- Four Warriors reached double-digits in the opening RVL game, led by 15 from Justin Spaulding.
Brent Fanning followed with 12 points, while Tony Braithwait finished with 11 including 3 shots from beyond the arc.
Blake Maaske added 10 points.
No Alma players reached double digits.
Arapahoe | 21 | 11 | 26 | 18 | 71 |
Alma | 6 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 29 |
Arapahoe: Spaulding 15, Fanning 12, Braithwait 11, Maaske 10, Stagemeyer 8, DeVries 7, Cacy 6, Nott 4, Anderson 3
Alma: Ring 9, Schaffer 8, Becker 4, Babcock 2, Smith 3, Kindler 2, Ruskamp 1
Southern
Valley 33,
Dundy
County 17
Southern Valley's Austin Kucera finished with 4 field goals for a team-high 8 points, along with 8 from Mike Powell.
They were joined by Cody Quinn also with 8 points, 6 of those points from beyond the 3-point line.
Dustan Riley had a game-high 9 points to lead the Tigers. Austin Davis finished with 3 field goals for 6 points.
"They played good defense against us," said Dundy County boys basketball coach Jay Yarberry.
SVHS | 9 | 3 | 14 | 7 | 33 |
DCHS | 2 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 17 |
SVHS: Cody Quinn 8, Powell 8, Kucera 8, Chase Quinn 2, Tarkington 6, Simpson 1
DCHS: Riley 9, Davis 6, Castillo 2
Republican
Valley 66,
Bertrand 62
The Republican Valley boys used a 25-14 fourth quarter to wipe out a 48-41 deficit against the Vikings.
Jesse Randolph led the RV Mustangs with 19 points, including three 3-pointers. Travis Reitz added 17 points and Mason Nelms 16.
Keith Stritt contributed 9.
Marcus Schwarz led the Vikings with 18 points, including a pair of treys.
Ben Spiegel fired in three treys and finished with 11 points. Jordan Scwartz nailed a 3-pointer and finished with 11 points.
RVHS | 16 | 13 | 12 | 25 | 66 |
Bertrand | 15 | 12 | 21 | 14 | 62 |
RVHS: Stritt 9, Jesse Randolph 19, Mason Nelms 16, Travis Reitz 17, Lytle 3, Ruggles 2.
Bertrand: Marcus Schwarz 18, Steinbrink 8, Weeder 3, Chapin 7, Ben Spiegel 11, Jordan Schwarz 11, Ford 2, Lange 2.
Other games
Medicine Valley
girls 49,
Maxwell 42
CURTIS -- With three players in double-digit scoring, Medicine Valley defeated Maxwell, 49-42, Tuesday night.
Taylor Wolfe finished with a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds.
Lacy Bryant added 12 points and Kyle-Lynn Hughes 10.
MVHS | 10 | 16 | 7 | 16 | 49 |
Maxwell | 11 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 42 |
MVHS: Wolfe 17, Bryant 12, Hughes 10, Klein 6, Heinzle 2, Elson 2
Maxwell: Boeshart 12, Christensen 11, Falcon 10, Lydie 7, Bunke 2
Atwood
girls 49 OT,
Cheylin 46
ATWOOD -- The Atwood Buffaloes needed a 5-2 overtime, but held on for a 49-46 win over Cheylin on Tuesday.
Rachel Woody led Atwood with 12 points, including 6-of-8 shooting from the free-throw line.
Cheylin's Sara Moore had a game-high 14 points with 6-of-6 free-throw shooting. Aubrey Kehlbeck also had 12 points, 10 of those in the second half.
Atwood 14 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 49 |
Cheylin 10 | 9 | 14 | 13 | 2 | 46 |
Atwood: Woody 12, Dunker 9, Leitner 9, Wolters 8, Timm 5, Kramer 4, Green 2
Cheylin: Moore 14, Kehlbeck 12, Antholz 8, Banister 6, Young 6