Demons season ends in Wichita
By John Zetmeir
For the first three quarters of Wednesday night’s first round sub-state match up between the Dodge City High School boys basketball team and Wichita North, the Red Demons looked poised to advance to the second round.
Dodge City did not trail in the game until the final 2 minutes and had four free throw attempts in the final second to try to tie the game but Wichita North stole the 59-57 win by outscoring the Red Demons 20-9 in the fourth quarter.
“We played exceptionally hard again, the group has done it all year,” Dodge City head coach Dennis Hamilton said during a post game radio interview. “You can look at our games and there is possibly two or three where we were just outmanned. Our kids just show a lot of guts and grit and continue to get after it and they did again tonight.”
The Red Demons got off to a fast start by taking an 11-4 lead but whenever Dodge City was able to build a sizable lead, Wichita North chipped away at it.
The Redskins ended the first half on a 9-0 run after trailing 31-20 with 2:11 to play in the first half.
With 7:23 to play in the game, junior Kaden Riekenberg drilled a 3-pointer that put Dodge City up 51-41 but it was over the final 7 minutes that Wichita North became the aggressor.
Wichita North grabbed their first lead of the game just under 2 minutes to play before a steal and layup by junior Luke Gleason gave the Demons the lead with 57 seconds left. A 3-point play by North’s Jonah Carrasco gave the Redskins the two-point advantage with 46 seconds left in the game.
Junior Hunter Heath led Dodge City with 16 points while Riekenberg added nine and senior Thomas Sanchez scored eight. The Red Demons finished 19-of-32 from the field and 13-21 from the free throw line.
