By Dustin Armbruster
It was a rematch from the 2015 sub-state championship as Hays and McPherson battled for a 4A-1 state tournament berth on Saturday night. Twelve months ago the game was in Hays and the McPherson Bullpups won on their way to an undefeated state championship. In 2016 both teams traveled three plus hours to Ulysses.
Hays scored the first five points of the game then went cold as McPherson used a 11-2 run over the next five minutes. The Indian’s Isaiah Nunnery buried a three at the end of the first quarter to get back within a single point 11-10.
Highlights
McPherson pushed their advantage as high as six in the second quarter following a 8-3 run to start the quarter. The Indians responded back with three consecutive threes to grab the lead back at 22-19 with 4:30 left before half. The two teams swapped the lead twice more with McPherson building a five point lead until Nunnery scored the final points of the half making the score 32-29 in favor of McPherson.
Hays took the lead twice in the third quarter following back to back three pointers from Nunnery to go up 39-36 and then a Laken Jacobs basket gave the Indians a 41-40 lead inside of two minutes left in the quarter. McPherson though reclaimed the lead at 42-41 heading to the fourth quarter.
Hays took the lead four more times in the fourth quarter. The final coming on a steal and lay up by Drew Young at 53-51 with 3:35 remaining. Hays would only score two more points the remainder of the way. McPherson took the final three plus minutes to out score Hays 14-2 and take the win 65-55.
Coach Rick Keltner
The game featured 17 lead changes. Hays shot 50% from the field and McPherson 60%. Hays was led by Isaiah Nunnery with 22 points. Drew Young scored 15. Nunnery finishes 9th all-time in scoring, 3rd in assists and 2nd in steals over the course of 91 games. McPherson was led by Ben Pyle with 25. Drew Pyle scored 12 and Jacob Loeker added 10.
Hays ends the year at 17-5. McPherson will defend their state title next week in Salina with a 21-1 record.