By Becky Walz,
A seven-point halftime lead melted away for the South Winn boys’ basketball team Monday night in Class 1A District playoff action as the Warriors fell to Kee High, 72-67, in Lansing.
The Warriors end the year 11-12 overall. Kee (12-11) advances to the district semifinal against Edgewood-Colesburg (19-3) Thursday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m. in Edgewood.
South Winn jumped out to a 11-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to a lot of steals and pressure defense. At the end of the first, the Warriors led 19-10.
After scoring the opening bucket of the frame, the Warriors went ice cold for four minutes as the Kee offense went to work whittling away at the lead, pulling to within two at 23-21 with 3:37 to play in the half. A late 5-1 run kept the Red and White out front 33-28 at the break.
The Hawks continued to scorch the nets in the third. A pair of Trey Kriener free throws opened the second half; however, Kee rolled out a 13-0 run by the 5:25 mark to lead 41-35. The UIC squads went shot-for-shot for much of the remaining time, leaving the Hawks to lead 54-44 with eight minutes to play.
With eight minutes to erase the deficit, the Warriors went to work, getting to within four, 65-69, with 38 ticks on the clock, but ran out of time to seal the win.
“This is a hard way to end the season. We came out strong, played well early, but foul problems caught us late in the first half and they closed the gap to five,” said Coach Derek Taylor. “The team played hard, just like they did all year and I am super proud of our three seniors, they gave great effort all season. We had some young guys really step up and play big minutes in the game and gives me something to look forward to while I get ready for next year.”
Trey Kriener put up 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the South Winn effort, while Carson Wenthold provided 15 points and five boards.
South Winn 19 14 11 23 67
Kee High 10 18 26 18 72
Submit A Comment
Fill out the form to submit a comment. All comments require approval by our staff before it is displayed on the website.