Leigh ends state hopes of Flyers

NORFOLK - Two days ago Seth Wendt was MIA. On Thursday, the Leigh junior could have been considered the MVP.

Wendt missed Tuesday's Class D1-4 subdistrict semifinal against Newman Grove with an illness, but he scored a team-high 12 points, including three 3-pointers in the third quarter, to help the fourth-ranked Panthers defeat Humphrey St. Francis 54-48 Thursday.

Leigh will face No. 5 Scribner-Snyder Tuesday for a guaranteed a spot in the state tournament. If top-ranked and undefeated Wauneta-Palisade wins its district final, then the loser of the district final will still earn a wild-card.

No. 2 St. Francis took a 28-21 lead into halftime after limiting Leigh to one field goal in the second quarter. However, Wendt sparked run of seven straight points for the Panthers with his first 3-pointer to start the second half and tied the game at 28-all.

The Cornhusker Conference rivals battled back and forth until Leigh took the lead for good on Nick Hollatz's three-point play midway through the fourth period. Hollatz added two more free throws when the Flyers were called for a technical foul when they failed to replace Kendal Bender in the allotted 30 seconds after he picked up his fifth foul.

St. Francis rallied and cut the deficit to one again as Mitch Wieser, who finished with 12 points, made a free throw. However on the ensuing possession, Grant Wiemer slipped behind the Flyers' full-court press and converted the wide-open layup.

Wiemer finished with eight points as all six Leigh players that scored recorded at least six points. Hollatz finished with 10, while Jake McMullin and Jeremy Gall chipped in nine points each.

Shawn Preister paced the Flyers with 20 points, however St. Francis struggled in the second half without Bender, its leading scorer. The 6-foot-3 junior finished with just four points and played less than eight minutes in the second half.

With the win, Leigh improved to 20-0 on the season when scoring at least 50 points. The Panthers scored 48 points in its only losses of the year against St. Francis in the Cornhusker Conference championship game and versus Dodge.

Meanwhile, the setback was St. Francis coach Eric Kessler's first in subdistrict and district play since taking over at his alma mater four years ago. It also broke the Flyers' streak of three straight state tournament appearances.

St. Francis (17-5) 14 14 11 9 - 48

Leigh (20-2) 14 7 18 15 - 54

n St. Francis-Randy Foltz 3 0-0 0 6, Nathan Bender 1 2-5 2 4, Travis Wemhoff 0 0-0 4 0, Steve Wemhoff 1 0-0 1 2, Mitch Wieser 4 4-5 3 12, Shawn Preister 6 7-8 0 20, Kendal Bender 2 0-0 5 4. Totals 17 13-18 15 48.

n Leigh- Jake McMullin 2 5-6 4 9, Grant Wiemer 3 2-4 3 8, Nick Hollatz 3 3-3 2 10, Jeremy Gall 4 1-2 5 9, Seth Wendt 4 1-2 1 12, Marcus Urban 3 0-2 0 6, . Totals 19 12-19 15 54.

n 3-point goals-St. Francis 1 (Preister), Leigh 4 (Wendt 3, Hollatz).

St. Edward 55,

Wheeler Central 46

ALBION - St. Edward defeated Wheeler Central 55-46 Thursday night in Class D2-5 subdistrict finals.

The third-ranked Beavers led by seven at the end of the first half. In the third quarter, St. Edward added five more points to its cushion as the fourth quarter belonged to the Broncos. Wheeler Central rallied and outscored the Beavers 14-11, but it came up short.

The Beavers advance to play the seventh-ranked Ewing Tigers Tuesday in the district finals. St. Edward already has locked up its first trip to state since 1985 because it enters the game with the defending Class D-2 champion as No. 1 in wild-card points.

Jeremy Cruise and Shavontae Samuels led the Beavers, scoring 22 points each.

Klay Kasselder led the Broncos with 12 points.

Wheeler Cent. (16-7) 16 11 5 14 - 46

St. Edward (21-1) 17 17 10 11 - 55

n Wheeler Central -Matt Landgren 2 0-0 4 4, Klay Kasselder 5 2-2 4 12, Jay Palmer 3 3-5 2 11, Corby Chytka 3 0-2 4 6, Phillip Smith 1 0-0 2 2, Tyler Reiter 0 0-1 1 0, Cody Havel 3 2-2 1 8, Robert Suhr 1 0-2 3 3, Mike Brown 0 0-0 1 0. Totals 18 7-14 22 46.

n St. Edward-Jeremy Cruise 6 8-12 1 22, Shavontae Samuels 7 5-9 3 22, Isaac Micek 1 0-2 5 2, Donny Baker 1 1-7 4 3, James Spath 0 1-3 1 1, Evan Carlstrom 1 0-0 1 3, Zach Tharnish 1 0-0 0 2, Matt Hoffmeister 0 0-0 1 0. Totals 17 15-33 16 55.

n 3-point goals-Wheeler Central 3 (Palmer 2, Suhr), St. Edward 6 (Samuels 3, Cruise 2, Carlstrom).

Shelby 30,

Osceola 28

CENTRAL CITY - Shelby used a big fourth quarter to rally past Osceola 30-28 in Class D1-5 subdistrict finals.

Shelby will face Kenesaw on Tuesday in the D1-3 district final.

The Huskies trailed 20-16 at the end of the third quarter, but nearly doubled their scoring output for a 28-all tie with 20 seconds left in regulation. Matt Gillespie then hit the game-winning field goal with six seconds left.

Osceola was left with one more chance, but the Huskies intercept the pass under the Bulldogs' basket at the buzzer.

Gillespie led the Huskies scoring 11 points. Bryant Alt, Jarad Swanson and Jesse Hablitzel had five points each.

Landon Hayes led the Bulldogs with 10 points, while Landon Peterson recorded seven points.

Shelby (15-6) 7 7 2 14 - 30

Osceola (13-8) 7 9 4 8 - 28

n Shelby-Matt Gillespie 11, Bryant Alt 5, Jarad Swanson 5, Seth Houdersheldt 4, Jesse Hablitzel 5. Totals 9 11-13 8 30.

n Osceola-Landon Hayes 10, Elliot Watts 3, Bret Harrel 2, Brock Tonniges 4, Seth Peterson 2, Anthony Hanson, Landon Peterson 7. Totals 10 4-6 14 28.

n 3-point goals-Shelby 1 (Swanson), Osceola 4 (Hayes 2, Watts, L. Peterson).

Dodge 53,

Lindsay Holy Family 52

OSCEOLA - Dodge edged past Lindsay Holy Family Thursday night in Class D2-2 subdistrict final.

The Bulldogs led by three at the end of the first half, but started the second half a sluggishly and only scored eight points in the third period. Holy Family rallied in the fourth quarter, but came up one point short against the No. 4 Pirates.

Miles Korus led the Bulldogs scoring 19 points, while Jordan Bender recorded 16 points.

Derek Kampscheinder led Dodge with 16 points, and Jacob Kreikemeier added 11.

Dodge (16-6) 10 12 14 17 - 53

Holy Family (13-9) 10 15 8 19 - 52

n Dodge-Jacob Kreikemeier 4 0-0 3 11, Derek Kampscheinder 5 4-6 1 16,Brian Tomasek 2 2-2 4 6, Ben Franzluebber 2 1-2 1 5, Bryan Ruzek 2 4-6 3 8, Jerry Muller 2 2-4 3 7. Totals 17 13-20 15 53.

n Holy Family- Miles Korus 7 4-4 2 19, Jordan Bender 5 5-6 5 16, Clayton Korus 4 1-5 2 9, Bryant Pfeifer 0 0-0 1 0, Jeff Wegener 0 0-0 2 0, Kent Schumacher 1 0-0 1 2, John Jarecki 2 0-0 4 4, Lucas Weeder 1 0-0 1 2. Totals 20 10-15 18 52.

n 3-point goals-Dodge 6 (Kreikemeier 3, Kampschneider 2, Muller), Holy Family 2 (M. Korus, Bender).