The top two seeds on the boy’s side advanced to the sub-state Championship game with semifinal wins on Friday night. In the first game of the night the two seed, Ness City took on the three seed Hill City.

Hill City jumped out to a 5-3 lead after Matt Craig a three-pointer and they led 7-5 but that would be their only lead of the game. Ness City finished the first quarter on an 11-2 run behind four from Colin Foos and Drew Clarke and they led 16-10 after the first quarter. The second quarter was more of the same for the Eagles. Drew Clarke hit two three-points and Colin Foos added four more points as Ness City outscored Hill City 19-8 in the second quarter and led 35-18 at halftime.

Hill City came out swinging in the second half cutting the deficit to 10 at 44-34, hitting their first five field goal attempts in the quarter. But Ness City Dalton Gantz hit his second three of the night and Drew Clarke added seven more in the third quarter and Ness City led 51-34 after three.

Hill City began the fourth quarter on a 9-2 led by three-pointers from Matt Craig and Solomon Wilson and they cut the Eagle lead to 53-45. But in the end the Ness City attack was just too much as they earned the 65-53 victory.

Ness City’s Drew Clarke led all scorers with 22 points, Collin Foos added 13 and Koltyn Ratliff and Tucker VonLehe both chipped in nine. Hill City’s Matt Craig finished with 19 points, Adam Pfeifer had 11 and Solomon Wilson added nine before fouling out.

Hill City’s season comes to an end with a 17-6 record while the Ness City Eagles are 19-3 and they will take on the Plainville Cardinals in the sub-state Championship game Saturday night in Ellis.

In the second game of the night the Plainville Cardinals proved to be too much for the Ellis Railroaders. Plainville’s Andrew Casey scored five of the first seven points as the Cardinals jumped out to a 7-2 first quarter lead. Ellis close the gap to 13-7 on a Luke Lohrmeyer layup and free throw but that was a close as they would get the rest of the way. Plainville used a 24-8 run to end the first quarter and the entire second quarter to take a 35-15 lead at halftime. The second half was more of the same for Plainville in the second half as Plainville cruised to a 63-38 win.

Plainville’s Andrew Casey led all scorers with 19 points, Hadley Gillum added 11 points and Nolan Weiser had 10. Cole Pfeifer led the Railers with 13 points and Luke Lohrmeyer finished with six points.