TOC: Red Demons place 7th with win over Leavenworth

January 23, 2018 By DCHS Sports

TOC: Red Demons place 7th with win over Leavenworth

By: Shelton Burch

Dodge Globe Sports Editor

The Dodge City Red Demons boys basketball team opened day three of the 2018 Tournament of Champions apparently intent on shooting the roof off the place.

The Red Demons finished the tournament in seventh place with an 80-69 win over the Leavenworth Pioneers Saturday. They made 12 3-pointers in the victory, matching a single-game tournament-high set by Hays in the day-one opener.

Dodge City hit 12 of 30 in their performance, while Hays hit 12 of 38 their effort Thursday.

Available statistics are unclear on how many shots it took Hays to make their 12th 3-pointer compared to how many it took Dodge City to make theirs, but based on the numbers that are available, Dodge City hit 40 percent of their 3′s, while Hays hit 31.6 percent of theirs.

“That’s kind of how we play mostly,” Red Demons assistant coach Micah Womacks said. “We know we’re gonna shoot a lot of ’em, we hope that we can make a lot of ’em too.”

Red Demon junior Noah Sowers had game-highs in both points and assists, with 30 and eight respectively. His eight assists, which Manhattan senior Nate Awbrey also had, were tied for the most by a player the last day of the tournament.

Sowers’ 30 points were the most by any player on any team the last two days of it, bested in the entire tournament by only Maize junior Caleb Grill, who had 38 against Dodge City on day one. Grill also won the tournament’s free-throw contest on Saturday.

Red Demon senior Hunter Heath also had a great game, recording a double-double with 20 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Those rebounds helped the Demons dominate the glass. They pulled down 41 rebounds compared to 27 by the Pioneers.

That was particularly true offensively. The Red Demons had 21 offensive rebounds to the Pioneers’ six. Strong offensive rebounding also allowed the Red Demons to get 16 second-chance points to just four by the Pioneers.

Saturday’s win was the first time the Red Demons have won a Tournament of Champions game since Jan. 22, 2016, when the team also beat Leavenworth, that time on day two of the tournament. They went 0-3 in last year’s.

The win also moves the Red Demons to 6-5 overall. They are 1-0 in conference play, and are next in action on the road Friday, when the team takes on conference-foe Great Bend in Great Bend, Kansas.

Nine games remain on the Red Demons regular-season schedule. This year’s TOC gave Dodge City the chance to face some really good competition, Womacks said.

“There wasn’t a team in this tournament, I’d like to throw us into that mix too, that wasn’t very good,” Womacks said. “I think all eight teams were very good teams, and for us to compete and then get a win here was really big for us moving forward.”

Last year’s team was a different group of players led by a different coach, but Saturday’s effort, Womacks said, was a strong ending to the tournament for the Red Demons.

“I think that these kids, (in) this game today actually came out and played with some fire, where they did not have that the first two games Thursday and Friday,” Womacks said.

Friday’s game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Great Bend.

TOC: Wichita East trounces Red Demons on day 2

January 23, 2018 By DCHS Sports

The Dodge City Red Demons fell 0-2 in the 2018 Tournament of Champions, losing to the Wichita East Blue Aces by a final score of 76-58 Friday night.

They’ll next be in action at noon Saturday. Wichita East, which moved to 1-1, will face Manhattan in the fifth-place game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Red Demons came out slow, trailing 6-3 and 8-3 early before cutting the deficit to two at 8-6. Still, the Blue Aces kept coming, and eventually took an 18-11 lead into the second.

That’s when things got particularly tough for the Red Demons, who got outscored 27-14 in the second quarter.

One of the biggest hurdles for the Red Demons came from the Blue Aces’ bench. Red Demon starters accounted for 20 of 25 points in the first half for Dodge city. Blue Ace Starters accounted for only 10, non-starters having scored 32 of 45 first half points for Wichita East.

In the end, Wichita East’s bench outscored Dodge City’s 49-17.

For the Blue Aces, Friday’s win was a statistical team-effort. No player had double-digit points, but four had nine points each, two had eight. Of

13 athletes on the stat sheet, only three didn’t score.

Dodge City senior Hunter Heath led all scorers with 14 points. Junior Noah Sowers had 10 points and a tied Wichita East’s Jaylen Randle for a game-high four assists. Senior Dawson Williams tied Wichita East’s Pierre Johnson with for a game high six rebounds.

Dodge City was out rebounded 44-34. Wichita East shot 58.8 percent from the field compared to Dodge City’s 32.8 percent. Dodge City had nine second-chance points to Wichita East’s six.

By: Shelton Burch, Dodge Globe Sports Editor

Rebounding dooms Red Demons in round 1 of TOC

January 23, 2018 By DCHS Sports

The Dodge City Red Demons fell to the Maize Eagles Thursday by a score of 98-71.

It was a tough night for the Red Demons from the start. Maize came out and took a 2-0 lead. Then a 4-0 lead. Then a 6-0 lead.

They kept scoring, until the lead was 19-0. Dodge City junior Adrian Mendoza finally hit a 3-pointer with about four minutes left in the first quarter.

Red Demons head coach Tony Starnes said teams play in these tournaments because the competition is good.

“I told the guys I’m sick of playing teams that we’re gonna beat handily,” Starnes said. “You don’t get any better that way. We’ve got to play teams like this.

That includes Maize, and Maize junior Caleb Grill.

“(Grill’s) a mid-major (college-level) player,” Starnes said. “We’ve gotta get tougher, and I told our guys ‘If you’ve never been dunked on yet, you’re not playing in the right gym.’ If you’ve never played against a really good player you’re not playing in the right gym. You need to go to a different gym and play. That’s how you get better. We don’t get better playing people we’re going (to) beat by 30 or 40.”

The Red Demons struggled on the boards throughout the first half. Maize out-rebounded them 24-9 in the first half. When they got offensive rebounds, the Eagles capitalized far more often in the first half than the Demons, recording 11 second-chance points to 0 by the Red Demons in the first half.

“We got killed on the

backboard, we got pushed around,” Starnes said. “(When) you play against good people the margin of error is not as high, and that’s one way you can compete if nothing else, because if you control the backboard I mean you basically can control them, and we didn’t do that. We just got kicked around and pushed around.”

That’s not going to happen again Friday night when the Red Demons play again, against either Bishop Miege or Wichita East. He pointed at the basketball court where Bishop Miege and Wichita East were warming up for their game which was at the time about to start.

“Whoever loses this game, tomorrow night we’re going to be going after them,” Starnes said. “And I’m not saying we’re going to win, I’m not saying we’re going to do what, but I promise you we’re going to be tough tomorrow night.”

Grill led all scorers with 38points, also adding seven rebounds, five assists, and five steals. Maize junior Brandle Studevan was 11 of 11 from the field and one of three from the free-throw line for 23 points.

For the Red Demons, senior Hunter Heath had a team-high 17 points. Mendoza had 15, and senior Kaden Riekenberg had 12. Sophomore Beau Foster had a team-high six assists. Senior Dawson Williams had a team-high six rebounds.

The Red Demons did better in the third quarter, holding the Eagles without a second-chance point and picking up four of their own, but Maize expanded it’s lead by outscoring the Red Demons 27-21 in the third quarter.

Maize completed the win, out-rebounding Dodge City 45-26 and committing 18 turnovers to Dodge City’s 30.

Toughness is something Starnes said he’ll address first based on this game.

“I saw some tap-outs in us, and we can’t have any tap-out,” Starnes said. “There’s not one job in this world, not one I can think of, that you can put on your resume ‘When it gets tough I’m going to tap out.’ We ain’t teachin that. When it gets we’re gonna get tougher. Now whether that means we win the game or whatever the case is, no tap-outs here.”

The Red Demons will play again at 6 p.m. Friday.

By: Shelton Burch – Dodge Globe Sports Editor

Lady Demons prevail in Great Bend

January 23, 2018 By DCHS Sports

Red Demons prevail in Great Bend

By: Shelton Burch

Dodge Globe Sports Editor

The Dodge City Red Demons girls basketball team used a 21-6 fourth quarter to beat the Great Bend Lady Panthers Tuesday night.

Junior Ezinne Okoro led the way for the Red Demons with nine points and seven rebounds on a night full of strong performances by Red Demon juniors.

Caroline Williams, another Red Demon junior had a team high four assists to complement a new personal season-high of six rebounds on a night when she also saw a new season-high

with 13 minutes, 52 seconds of playing time.

Junior Madison Armstrong also had a strong night statistically, with seven points and three rebounds.

Payton Magouirk, making her fourth consecutive start,had eight points, but also five steals, more than any other Red Demon has had in a single game this season. The previous high was four, by Okoro against Guymon Dec. 19, 2017. Freshman Kisa Unruh had nine points and two steals of her own Tuesday night. Sophomore Chidera Okoro had five points, as did senior Brianna Buller who played22minutesand58seconds

Tuesday,a season-high for her by over eight minutes.

The Lady Demons now get a bit of a break. Their next game is Jan. 25 in Newton for the girls basketball Tournament of Champions. That event runs Jan. 25-27.

Red Demons bowlers split in Liberal

January 23, 2018 By DCHS Sports

Red Demons bowlers split in Liberal

By Shelton Burch

Sports Editor

The girls varsity won, but the boys varsity lost when the Red Demons bowlers took on the Redskins at Ayr Lanes in Liberal, Kansas Tuesday.

The girls varsity team won by a score of 2364-2198, while the boys fell 2983-2710.

On the boys side, Quintin Coghill had the high series

for the Red Demons, and Ryan Burton had the high game. On the girls side, Makayla Burton had both high series and high game for the Red Demons.

The Red Demons bowlers will be in action again next Tuesday at Spare Tyme Bowl when they host Garden City and Holcomb. The triangular is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. To contact the writer, email sburch@dodgeglobe.com