Printer-Friendly
Email A FriendBy HAROLD BECHARD
Salina Journal
The Salina South Cougars haven't exactly made it easy on themselves in their bid for a second straight championship in the Salina Invitational Tournament.
But two come-from-behind one-point victories have put the Cougars back in the title game of the 33rd annual tournament.
The latest Houdini-like escape came Thursday night at the expense of the Smoky Valley Vikings as South came from nine points down in the final four minutes to win a thrilling 47-46 decision at the Bicentennial Center.
"Our motto all week was to just win the next one and get to Saturday night," said South head coach Matt Renk. "After two gutty wins, we're there. That's all we wanted -- the opportunity to defend the crown."
That nearly didn't happen. Smoky Valley (4-6) led for all but the first 3 1/2 minutes and the last 1:44. The Vikings held a 40-31 advantage with 4:20 remaining, but watched South (4-7) hit three consecutive 3-pointers in a span of 96 seconds to cap a 12-0 run and grab a 43-40 lead with 1:44 remaining.
Junior guard Kaleb Renk hit the first trey and teammate Conner Ryan followed at the 2:19 mark to tie the game at 40-40. Renk then banked in a 3-pointer from the right wing 35 seconds later to give the Cougars the three-point lead.
"They stepped up and got it done when they had to," said Smoky Valley coach Doug Schneider. "You have to tip your hat to them. We had a scouting report on them, and Renk stepped up and hit some big shots. To our knowledge, he hadn't done much of that this season."
After taking the nine-point lead, the Vikings became more patient with their offense, but turned the ball over twice and missed two free throws during South's 12-0 run.
"We were still trying to run our offense and get a shot in the paint, just like we always had," Schneider said. "South's guards picked up the intensity, and we started exchanging three for two and three for one and sometimes, three for zero."
Smoky Valley got within two points at the 1:19 mark on a free throw by Taylor Base, but South sophomore Justin Stonebraker make two free throws at the 0:22 mark to make it a 45-41 game.
Smoky Valley junior Holden Hendricks, who scored 12 of his team-high 14 points in the second half, then converted a three-point play, and it was a one-point game again with 17 seconds remaining.
The Vikings put Stonebraker at the line again and the South guard made two more free throws, but Hendricks scored with 3.6 seconds remaining after a Smoky Valley 3-point attempt missed to make it a 47-46 game.
Stonebraker then missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but after grabbing the rebound and calling timeout, Smoky Valley was unable to go the length of the court for the game-winner. The Vikings had a player loose near the South basket at the buzzer, but the pass from near mid-court was too high.
"We knew coming in they were a very athletic team. They got to the rack and hit some outside shots," Coach Renk said. "You have to give them a lot of credit. They almost got it done in the last two seconds or so. But we showed a lot of resilience tonight. The guys never gave up and we hit some big 3's to give us confidence.
"Kaleb and Conner hit some big shots for us and Justin Stonebraker is one of those typical ice-water-in-your-veins type of player."
Ryan scored 14 points and Renk added 11 off the bench for the Cougars. Hendricks had 14 points and seven rebounds and guard Quinn Dippel scored 11 points for the Vikings.
The Cougars will now face unbeaten Abilene in Saturday night's 7:15 championship game, while Smoky Valley will face Salina Central in today's 8:15 p.m. third-place game at the Bicentennial Center.
