By Dustin Armbruster
Hays finished out the regular season playing Great Bend on Friday night. The game marked just the fourth home game for the Indians since the calendar turned to 2017. The evening also featured all the seniors as they wore a jersey on the home floor for a final time.
It was a busy night at Hays High School. Along with honoring all the seniors, Shane Berens was presented his Shrine Bowl nomination and golf coach Mark Watts was recognized as the 2016 Midwest Sectional Boys Golf Coach of the year by the National Federation of State High School Association after his team won the 2016 4A State Boys Golf Championship.
Girls
Hays 45 – Great Bend 51
Hays built a five point lead at 9-4 with a 9-2 run over the first four minutes of the game. Great Bend answered with a 7-2 to tie the game at 11 with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter. Hays ended the first quarter and began the second quarter on a 8-0 run to build their lead to a first half high at 19-11. Great Bend though had answer once again as they later outscore Hays 8-1 to tie the game at 27. Maddie Keller knocked down one of two free throws with ten second left in the half to give Hays a 28-27 lead at halftime.
Highlights
Great Bend took just their second lead of the game ninety seconds into the second half and used a 12-5 run to build up their lead up to 39-33. Hays closed the third quarter and began the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run that included two Brooke Denning three pointers and a Savannah Schneider steal and layup that put Hays up 41-39. The lead for Hays came with 6:00 remaining in the game. The Indian’s offense went cold, scoring just one free throw and missing twelve shots over the next 5:58 before Denning nailed her fourth three of the game. By that time Great had outscored Hays 12-1 to build a nine point lead. Great Bend ran out the final seconds of the game for the 51-45 win.
Coach Kirk Maska
Carly Dreiling scored a career high 27 points for Great Bend which included making 12 of 13 free throws. Great Bend as a team made 23 of 31 free throws. Brooke Denning hit four three pointers and a traditional three point play to lead Hays with a career high 15.
Both teams end the regular season at 11-9. Great Bend finishes conference play in second at 6-2. Hays ends the year in third at 4-4. Liberal took the girls title at 7-1.
The Hays girls will play in the Buhler sub-state next Friday as they will play Ulysses.
Boys
Hays 61 – Great Bend 66
Hays missed all eleven of their three pointers in the first half as they trailed 26-15 at half time against Great Bend. The two teams swapped the lead six times in the first quarter with Hays never leading by more than a single point. Great Bend took the final lead change of the first half scoring six straight points, going up 13-8 with thirty seconds left in the quarter. Hays got three of those points back on a Xander Swayne three point play in the final seconds of the quarter to pull Hays back with in two at 13-11.
Hays scored only four points in the second quarter. Those four points tied the game at 15 with six minutes left before half time. Hays missed their next eleven shots and only free throw attempt over as Great Bend score 11 straight, taking a 26-15 lead at half.
Highlights
Great Bend continued to control the game through the first five minutes of the third quarter, building a game high 16 point lead at 40-24. The Hays offense started to find a rhythm at that point scoring the final ten points of the third quarter to pull within six at 40-34.
Great Bend built the lead back to ten with three and a half minutes remaining. Hays went on a 8-1 run over the next fifty seconds to tighten the game to one possession at 57-54. Hays would miss two three pointers to tie but eventually get within two points at 61-59 with under thirty seconds remaining. The Panthers made five of their final six free throws to hold on for a 66-61 win.
Coach Rick Keltner
Kody Crosby led all scoring with 31 which included 16 of 20 free throw shooting. As a team Great Bend out shot Hays 39-9 at the free throw stripe. Hays was 7-9. Great Bend was 26 of 39. The Panthers also got a season high 16 from Jacob Murray. Hays put four in double figures with Tradgon McCrae and Claiborne Kyles each scoring 11. Collyn Kreutzer and Tyrese Hill added ten a piece.
Hays falls to 13-7 for the season and finishes in a tie with Garden City for second in the WAC at 5-3. Great Bend improves to 6-14 and 2-6. Hays will be in Buhler for sub-state where they will face the hometown Crusaders.