MELVERN – The Altoona-Midway High School boys and girls each came away with one win and one loss over their final two rounds of the 2023 Valley Tip-Off Classic, flip-flopping their respective wins and losses in tournament action Friday and Saturday.
The AMHS boys squad fell in the semifinal round 67-23 on Friday to Northeast Kansas Homeschool out of Topeka, but the Jets bounced back in fine fashion Saturday, throttling Lawrence Veritas Christian School 47-39 to finish in third place in the Valley Classic.
Meanwhile, the Lady Jets scored an impressive 34-21 victory over Peabody-Burns in the consolation bracket Friday at Quenemo. On Saturday, the AMHS girls lost 41-24 to Southern Coffey County, leaving the Lady Jets with six-place in the tournament.
Bishop Seabury Academy of Lawrence captured the championship of the boys’ bracket, defeating NEK Homeschool in the finals. Altoona-Midway and Veritas Christian finished third and fourth, respectively.
On the girls’ side, NEK Homeschool topped Hartford for the Valley Classic title, while host Marais des Cygnes took third over Veritas Christian.
Both AMHS teams are back in action Tuesday and Friday of this week, but will stay on the road for both contests. On Tuesday, Altoona-Midway travels to Rosalia to square off against Flinthills High School. On Friday, Dec. 16, the Jet squads are slated to play at Chetopa.
AMHS Boys vs. Veritas
Altoona-Midway brushed off their lopsided loss Friday in the semifinals, bouncing back with an impressive 47-39 triumph over Veritas Christian School of Lawrence in the third-place game of the classic.
It was a nip-and-tuck struggle most of the way. The teams were tied 7-7 after one quarter, and AMHS held a slim 21-20 lead at intermission. The Jets increased their advantage to 32-28 entering the final stanza, and then went up by as much as nine before Veritas rallied.
Veritas closed the gap to 43-39 with about a minute remaining, but the Jets got free throws from Kage Beck and Jacob Meigs, sandwiched around a basket by Lane Poeverlein, to close out the contest.
“This was a pretty evenly matched game playing for third place in the tournament,” said AMHS head coach Dave Vance. “You never know how a team is going to react to a consolation game, so I was pleased the guys stepped up to task and came away with third place medals.
“Normally, we are out scored at the foul line, however, tonight was a different story,” Vance noted. “As a team, we made 14 free throws, and Jacob Meigs made 12 of those on his way to his high scoring output. He also added 13 rebounds, and three steals for good measure.
“We did a little bit better and taking care of the basketball although we did have 14 turnovers. Better than last game, but still room for improvement,” Vance added. “We have to get our cases of ‘happy feet’ out of our system. We like to take a couple of quick steps before we put the ball on the floor … but we will work on it.”
Meigs poured in 21 points, including 13 after intermission, to lead all scorers. William Stackhouse fired in 14 points, grabbed five steals and was a monster on the boards, garnering 16 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Beck had a nice floor game and finished with seven points. Blaine Collins chipped in three points and Poeverlein had two.
Abel Ney tallied 15 and Gavin Oberzan had 11 for Veritas.
Meigs, a senior at AMHS, was selected to the five-member Valley Tip-Off Classic’s All-Tournament team as well as to the All-Academic squad.
AMHS Boys vs. NEK
Altoona-Midway enjoyed a 41-35 first-round win Tuesday over Marais des Cygnes, but Friday’s semifinal was not as friendly. The Jets ran into a buzzsaw with NEK Homeschool as the Eagles rolled to a 67-23 win.
NEK led 13-2 at the quarter, 24-5 at the half, and 52-17 after three periods, closing out the game with a running clock.
“The score from (Friday’s) game showed us with a huge loss. But if you look at the individual and team effort from the guys on the team, we actually played more like a winning team tonight than we were in our victorious game from Tuesday,” noted Vance.
“Our shots didn’t fall, and we could not get enough rebounds – but the effort was there,” he added. “We played a very talented and tall team, and they executed their game plan very well.
But everybody on our team contributed and despite the numbers on the scoreboard, our improvement in this game made it a success in my mind.”
Stackhouse led the Jets with seven points. Meigs and Beck each finished with five points while Poeverlein, Kieran Foster and Joey Lamendola collected two points apiece.
Caden Meier rifled in 23 points for NEK Homeschool, while Blaine Hunninghake tallied 14 and Asher Lawson netted 13.
Lady Jets vs. Peabody-Burns
The Altoona-Midway girls picked up their first victory of the season Friday night, thumping Peabody-Burns 34-21 in a consolation round contest. The win gave the Lady Jets a 1-2 record on the year and moved them into the consolation bracket finals on Saturday.
“We played really well,” said AMHS girls’ head coach Jessica Porter. “The girls were very excited about picking up the victory.”
AMHS jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the opening period, and expanded that advantage to 15-7 at halftime. The Lady Jets poured in 15 points in the third period to grow the lead to 30-15, and then cruised to the final score of 34-21.
“I’m proud of the way the girls played tonight,” Porter said. “We were aggressive defensively and offensively. We read the passing lanes and got some steals, and worked the ball around to find the open shot.
“We were able to get a comfortable lead, so the JV girls (except Megan Smith who is sick) got to play the entire last quarter. It was a great time to learn, and it gave our freshman time to play.
Summer Raymond led the attack with 14 points, while Emmalynn Pupanek tossing in eight and Chantal Morales six. Ava Hufford and Jasa Pankaskie rounded out the scoring with four and two points, respectively.
Pupanek pulled down 13 rebounds while Raymond and Ava Tindle grabbed nine apiece. Hufford dished out five assists and collected six steals.
Peabody-Burns was led by Brooklynn Whiteside, who poured in 14 points.
Porter added: “There is still plenty to work on, but for tonight we will celebrate the win.”
Lady Jets vs. SCCHS
The AMHS girls were unable to make it back-to-back victories to close out the tournament, as they fell 41-24 to Southern Coffey County in the fifth-place game played Saturday at the MDCV elementary gymnasium in Quenemo.
SCC jumped to an 11-0 lead after one quarter and were up 21-6 at halftime. The Lady Jets showed some life after intermission to make it interesting, but it wasn’t enough. Foul trouble plagued AMHS as the Titans pulled away in the final period and captured the 41-24 triumph.
“The first half was definitely rough for us,” Porter noted. “We came out with no energy, and all of our shots were flat. After the half, we went out in a full-court press and it was a game-changer. We came back, and were even tied. But foul trouble and lack of experience caught up with us, and we couldn’t pull off the win. We did a lot of things right in the second half, we just need to learn how to move our feet more and not foul as much.”
Pupanek fired in 10 points for the Lady Jets, while Raymond and Mike Parsons added four each and Morales chipped in two.
Karley Ohl had 15 points for SCC.
Raymond was named to the 2023 Valley Tip-Off Classic All-Academic team.