ST. PAUL – It was still a Cinderella season, but for Altoona-Midway High School, the clock struck midnight one game before they were able to attend the prestigious Big Dance.
The Jets, whose energetic play and nail-biting finishes captured the hearts and imaginations of the school and the entire community this season, came up just short in their bid to punch Altoona-Midway’s ticket to the Kansas State Basketball Tournament for the first time in 32 years.
Playing the role of the wicked stepsisters were the Marmaton Valley Wildcats, who defeated the Jets 62-57 here Saturday night to capture the Class 1A-Division II sub-state championship.
“I guess all good things have to come to an end. And this season was a good thing,” said AMHS head coach Dave Vance. We really had our sights set on going to state, but we were denied by a good Marmaton Valley team.
“One of the mottos for this year’s team has been ‘Believe,’ and this group of young men truly believed they could go to state,” Vance added. “We fell a little short tonight, but that doesn’t take away from the pride the coaching staff has in these kids. They still had a tremendous season.”
Marmaton Valley now advances to the Class 1A-II State Tournament, March 6-9 at Barton County Community College in Great Bend.
The Wildcats (11-11) are the eighth-seed. Their first-round opponent will be top-seeded Dighton (22-1), who claimed a berth at state by virtue of a 56-42 win over Wallace County. The two teams will tipoff the Class 1A-II state tourney at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Altoona-Midway closes out its stellar season with a record of 15-7, the most wins by a Jet team since 2007.
Prior to Saturday’s loss in the sub-state finale, the Jets had won seven games in a row and 10 of their previous 12.
“We have had a very good year, and we are all so proud of this group. We have improved greatly as basketball players, and as young men,” Vance said. “I want to congratulate these gentlemen on a very special season.
For a little over a half, it appeared as though the glass slipper might just fit the Jets in their quest for the school’s first trip to state since 1992.
Altoona-Midway led 32-28 at halftime and still held a slim 40-39 advantage when things started going sour for the top seed. Marmaton Valley finished the period on a 7-2 run to take a 46-42 margin heading into the final period. The Wildcats then opened the stanza with another 9-2 surge to build the lead to 55-44. But the Jets, as had been their forte all season, refused to quit.
Back-to-back treys by Blaine Collins and Kieran Foster cut the deficit to 55-50. Baskets by William Stackhouse and Joey Lamendola kept AMHS within striking distance in the waning moments, and when Foster went 3-for-3 at the line with 33 seconds left, the Jets trailed just 60-57.
Marmaton Valley inexplicably shot and missed with about 15 seconds left in the contest, but Altoona-Midway’s chance to attempt a potential game-tying trey to force overtime was foiled when the Wildcats grabbed the offensive rebound and kept possession.
“That was a big one, but we were hurt on the boards all night,” Vance noted. “We were less than stellar on our usual rebounding totals, with only 18 (unofficially) for the game.”
Two free throws by Garrett Morrison closed out the scoring at 62-57, sending Marmaton Valley to the state tournament.
Providing a big one-two scoring punch for the Wildcats were Tyler Lord and Jaedon Granere, as the guard tandem poured in 25 and 23 points respectively. Granere drained six shots from behind the arc, including four in the pivotal third quarter. Lord added two treys (MVHS hit nine as a team) but did most of his damage at the free throw line, where he went 9-of-13.
“We just couldn’t find a solution to stop those two,” Vance said.
The Jets were an impressive 9-for-11 from the charity stripe, but the Wildcats were awarded 27 attempts from the line, connecting on 17 of them.
“We played a zone defense for most of the game, at least until the fourth quarter, to try to stay out of foul trouble, but we still ended up with 22 fouls – which is quite a lot,” Vance sighed. “At the other end, we tried to drive the ball inside and use our quickness to get to the basket, and possibly draw more fouls on (Marmaton Valley), but it was to no avail. We only managed to get the opposition whistled 12 times for the whole game.”
Altoona-Midway placed three players in double figures. Jacob Meigs led the Jets with 13 points, despite fouling out midway in the final quarter, while Stackhouse and Foster netted 12 points apiece.
Kage Beck finished with nine points for the Jets, Lamendola scored five, and Collins and Lane Poeverlein added three points each.
The loss marked the career finale for three AMHS seniors: Jacob Meigs, Lane Poeverlein and Blaine Collins.
“We stressed to them to have a ‘next play, next game’ mentality. Well now, it is going to be ‘next season,’” the coach added. “We are totally looking forward to it, and we will improve a lot before that time gets here. We’ll definitely miss our three seniors, but I am expecting even greater things from these guys returning next year.”