The Eureka High School boys went 2-1 at the Yates Center Wildcat basketball tournament last week, concluding with a second place finish.
They opened the Yates Center Tournament with a 47-27 victory over the Bluestem Lions Monday, Dec. 9. The Tornadoes opened the game with consistent shooting and stout defense. Shaking off some early struggles at the line, Eureka managed a 9-point lead at the half. They opened the third quarter with some inconsistent defense but quickly locked down the Lions to increase the lead by 4 points at the end of the third quarter. The defense really shined in the final frame as the Tornadoes held the Lions scoreless. Overall, it was a great team victory that allowed the Tornadoes to open the season with two wins and no losses.
Freshman Tyson Coon led the Tornadoes with 15 points. Junior TJ Mills had 14, Junior Peyton Hare dropped 8 and freshman Easton Mead had six. Juniors J.P. Guillaume and Cole Ptacek added 2 each to round out the scoring.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final EHS 11 16 13 7 47 BHS 8 10 9 0 27
The Tornadoes won their second game of the Yates Center Tournament with a 49-38 victory over the host Wildcats. This game went differently than the Tornadoes first two games of the season as Yates Center opened with some hot shooting from the threepoint line and the Tornadoes struggled to find the basket. At the end of the period, the Tornadoes found themselves in a 15-9 hole. They managed to right themselves in the second, scoring 15 points and clamping down on the Wildcats defensively to take a 23-22 lead into the half. The Tornadoes gradually began pulling away in the second half, playing solid defense and feeding the ball to Coon, who scored seemingly at will.
Once more, Coon led the scoring with 24 points. Ptacek had 10, Mead had 5, Tanner Biering had 4, and Hare and Mills added 3 each.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final EHS 9 14 18 8 49 YCHS 15 7 10 6 38
The Tornadoes ran into a buzzsaw in the championship game of the tournament, falling to the Olpe Eagles 23-62. The pressure from Olpe’s half-court trap forced the Tornadoes to run their offense from too far out, which limited any good looks at the basket. At the same time, Olpe’s shooters were hitting from all over the court, in spite of some decent defense by the Tornadoes. Ultimately, they couldn’t claw their way back from a 39-12 halftime deficit.
Ptacek led the Tornadoes with 7 points, followed by Coon with 5, Hare had 4 and Brody Mitchell, Nate Clark and Mills added two each. Biering hit on a free throw to close the scoring.
Eureka ended the tournament as runners-up, taking home second place medals.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final EHS 6 6 9 2 23 OHS 19 20 13 10 62
Up Next
Eureka was slated to face Humboldt on Monday, Dec. 16 before traveling to Rosalia to take on the Flinthills Mustangs on Friday, Dec, 20.
