Lions outlast Demons

Dodge City falls to No. 1 Lawrence in state tourney

By John Zetmeir

Dodge City Daily Globe

The Dodge City High School boys did not go down without a fight on Thursday in the 6A state quarterfinals against the top-seeded Lawrence Lions. The No. 8 Red Demons led the No. 1 Lions early on but a second quarter run was enough to keep Dodge City at arm’s length for the rest of the contest as Lawrence escaped with a 55-46 win.

After Dodge City held a 17-13 lead early in the second quarter, the Lions used a 14-2 run to take a seven-point lead into the halftime break. Back to back scores by the Red Demons to start the second half made it a two-point game but that was as close as it would get.

Dodge City (12-11) struggled to shoot the ball from both the free throw line and 3-point range on Thursday. After making nearly 65 percent of their foul shots and 33 percent of their 3-pointers this season, the Red Demons made just 7-of-14 shots from the free throw line and connected on 3-of-18 attempts from behind the arc.

In their final game as Red Demons, Dodge City’s six seniors combined for 43 of their 46 points. Dayton McGroarty led Dodge City with 18 points.

■ Lawrence – 11 18 10 16 – 55

■ Dodge City – 11 11 13 11 – 46

■ Dodge City: McGroarty 8-11 2-5 18, Unruh 4-10 2-5 10, Reid 1-8 1-2 4, Walters 0-3 0-0 0, N. Williams 3-6 0-0 6, Rodriguez 0-1 0-0 0, Heath 0-0 0-0 0, Hatfield 0-0 0-0 0, Baker 1-3 0-0 3, D. Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Sanchez 0-0 0-0 0, Karns 1-3 2-2 5. Totals 18-45 7-14 46.

■ Lawrence: Roberts 6-14 4-6 18, Morgan 8-9 6-7 22, Harvey Jr. 0-4 0-0 0, Brou 1-4 2-4 4, Mallory 2-5 2-2 7, Solko 1-1 0-0 2, Butler 0-0 0-0 0, Buffalomeat 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 19-40 14-19 55.

■ Three-point shooting — Dodge City 3-18 (Unruh 0-4, Reid 1-7, Walters 0-1, Baker 1-3, Karns 1-3), Lawrence 3-15 (Roberts 2-8, Harvery Jr. 0-3, Brou 0-1, Mallory 1-3). Rebounds — Dodge City 29 (N. Williams 6), Lawrence 27 (Mallory 8). Fouls – Dodge City 16, Lawrence 13.

Lady Demons fall to Falcons

Dodge City girls’ season ends in state tourney quarterfinals

By John Zetmeir

Dodge City Daily Globe

The Dodge City High School girls struggled to find a rhythm offensively on Wednesday in the first round of the 6A state tournament.

The Red Demons’ offensive struggles ultimately cost Dodge City as their season came to an end with a 50-32 loss to Olathe South.

Dodge City made just 10-of-32 shots from the field against the Falcons.

Olathe South outscored the Red Demons 13-4 in the second quarter to take a 22-10 lead into the halftime break. Dodge City fought back to cut the Falcons’ lead down to 27-20 late in the third quarter but that was as close the Western Athletic Conference champions would make it.

After holding Olathe South to just seven points in the third quarter, the Falcons scored a gamehigh 21 points in the fourth quarter to secure a spot in the 6A state tournament semifinals.

The Red Demons finished the season with a 17-6 record and a second consecutive 8-0 season in WAC play.

Olathe South 9 13 7 21 – 50 Dodge City 6 4 10 12 – 32 SOUTH: Gooch 1-2 3-4 5, Holder 3-5 2-4, Matje 0-6 0-0 0, Kennett 3-8 9-11 15, Roebuck 5-8 4-7 14, Butaud 1-1 0-0 2, Harshberger 0-0 0-0 0, Griswold 0-0 0-0 0, Bartels 2-2 2-2 6, Alexander 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-32 20-28 50.

DODGE: B. Bradshaw 1-2 0-1 2, T. Bradshaw 2-9 2-4 7, Harshberger 2-12 4-4 8, Shelor 2-3 3-4 8, Nichols 0-1 0-0 0, Price 0-0 0-0 0, Sowers 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 1-21-23,Morales0-00-00, E. Okoro 0-0 0-0 0, Maple 2-30-04,C.Okoro0-00-0 0. Totals 10-32 10-15 32.

Season sweep

Demons win third over Garden City to advance to state tournament

By John Zetmeir

Dodge City Daily Globe

While the Dodge City High School boys basketball team may not have had the toughest sub-statebracketin6A,to earn a trip to the state tournament, they had to face an opponent that they were all too familiar with.

On Saturday, Dodge City and the Garden City Buffaloes met for the third time this season.The Red Demons capped off the season sweep oftheBuffswitha55-42win. Saturday’s victory earned Dodge City their first trip to the 6A state tournament since 2011.

“We could be undefeated and (Garden City) could lose every single game and it would still be a competitive game, that’s just how the rivalry is,” Dodge City senior Eric Reid said following the win. “It’s fun going out there and competing with them. We have respect for them but we always want to beat them.”

After a closely contested first half, the Red Demons’ lead steadily increased during the second half until time ultimately ran out for the Buffs.

After being fouled on a 3-point shot with 2.9 second to go in the third quarter, Dodge City senior Bryce Unruh made the Buffs pay for the foul by knocking down all three free throws.

The three made foul shots were part of a 10-3 second half run by Dodge City and gave the Red Demons a 38-30leadgoingintothefinal quarter.

“We challenged our kids to just outscore(Garden City)by one (point) in the third and fourth quarter,” Dodge City head coach Dennis Hamilton said.“That’s all we needed to do.We went in at halftime not thinking we played as well as we possibly could.”

Despite there being just two lead changes in the first half, the Red Demons struggled to pull away from their Western Athletic Conference rival before the halftime break.

After a 3-pointer from Garden City’s Garrett Doll gave the Buffs a 10-7 lead with 2:50 to play in the first quarter,Dodge City’s Hunter Heath tied the game with a 3-pointer of his own.

Theshotsparkeda14-3run for the Red Demons. Heath scored seven of his season high nine points in the first half. The sophomore guard averaged 1.3 points per game going into Saturday’s contest.

“(Heath) kept us in the game in the first half,” Hamilton said. “We didn’t use him a whole lot in the second half but if I was handing out a game ball it would go to him.”

Dollscoredagame-high19 points for the Buffs.

After being sidelined for the Red Demons’ first sub-state game, senior Noah Williams returned to the court for Dodge City on Saturday. The senior forward scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in 17 minutes.

“(Williams) is playing at about 65 (percent) but thinking it could possibly be his last high school game, he didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity,”Hamilton said. “Hopefully he can get a little better for next week because we definitely need him.”

Dodge City (12-10) heads to the state tournament with seven wins in its last eight games.

“I really feel good for our guys,” Hamilton said. “We haven’t been (to state) in a few years and to get to put this on top of their season, it’s a great feeling for me but I hope it feels better for the guys.”

The Red Demons will play Lawrence High School, the No.1 seed in the tournament, at3p.m. at the Koch Arena in Wichita on Thursday.

■ Dodge City – 14 9 15 17 – 55

■ Garden City – 13 7 10 12 – 42

■ DODGE – Walters 10, Heath 9, Unruh 9, McGroarty 8, Williams 8, Reid 6, Karns 5. 17-40 17-28 55.

■ GARDEN – Doll 19, Koster 15, Karlin 4, Davis 2, Elliot 2. 15-54 4-4 42.

Demons withstand Wichita West

Dodge City boys win sub-state opener, will host Garden City Saturday

By John Zetmeir

Dodge City Daily Globe

The Dodge City Red Demons outscored the Wichita West Pioneers 19-4 in the third quarter on their way to a 53-42 win on Thursday night to begin postseason play.

Senior Dayton McGroarty, who was forced to sit with foul trouble for most of the second quarter, scored seven of Dodge City’s first nine points to start the second half. McGroarty scored 15 points in the substate opener. “I was ready to start playing,” McGroarty said. “I was getting anxious on the bench.”

After a Wichita West basket cut Dodge City’s lead to 25-21, the Red Demons strung together a 12-0 run over the final six minutes of the third quarter.

“We played an excellent third quarter,” Dodge City head coach Dennis Hamilton said. “We rebounded a lot better which was big. We just went to the glass a lot more aggressively, I thought our rebounding improved and we wanted to push it.”

Dodge City (11-10) connected on 11-of-15 shots from the field in the second half after making just 7-of-20 field goals over the first 16 minutes of the game.

Bryce Unruh shouldered much of the scoring load for the Red Demons on Thursday. The Dodge City senior forward finished with 22 points. Unruh and McGroarty scored 17 of Dodge City’s 19 points in the third quarter.

“I thought Bryce had a good game,” Hamilton said. “He did a little inside, did a little outside and knocked down some free throws. We need a little bit more activity (rebounding) but he picked up some slack.”

Dodge City’s win on Thursday set the stage for a third meeting between the Red Demons and their Western Athletic Conference rivals, the Garden City Buffaloes (7-14).

The Red Demons won both meetings against the Buffs during the regular season which included a 79-45 win in Garden City back on February 16. The winner of Saturday’s game will go to the 6A state tournament in Wichita.

“We know each other so well,” Hamilton said. “As far as film work, there is very little to be done between now and when we play them. I just don’t want our kids to be overconfident. What happened at Garden was a fluke. That’s not going to happen, I would bet that it will be a five-point game.”

The Red Demons could be without senior Noah Williams on Saturday. Williams did suit up and participate in warmups on Thursday but did not play against Wichita West. The senior forward averaged 10.5 points and 13.5 rebounds against Garden City this season.

Hamilton did not rule out the possibility of having Williams on Saturday.

Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday at Dodge City High School.

■ Dodge City – 13 5 19 16 – 53

■ Wichita West – 6 11 4 21 – 42

■ DODGE – Unruh 22, McGroarty 15, Walters 8, Baker 3, Sanchez 2, Karns 2, Reid 1. 18-35 13-18 53.