Hesston’s Ty Unruh was grateful Saturday for Gatorade and athletic trainer Nate Bartell.
 
Hindered by cramping during the Swathers’ marathon championship game against Moundridge in the Hillsboro Trojan Classic, Unruh credited both for helping him get through it. Unruh finished with a season-high 30 points, helping Hesston outlast Moundridge 71-65 in triple overtime on Saturday.
 
“I haven’t played that much in a long time, maybe ever,” said Unruh, one of six players who logged at least 37 minutes in the contest. “Playing that much, I think my legs gave out on me a little bit.”
 
After ending a long hiatus from playing each other during last year’s Trojan Classic, the two programs separated by just 7 miles of Old U.S. 81Highway met on the same court again and staged a suspense-filled classic. Hesston, which lost 35-31 to Moundridge last season in a battle of then-unbeatens, evened the score Saturday in a rescheduled title game after battling through 17 lead changes and 12 ties.
 
The Swathers missed an opportunity to close out the game on two missed free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining in the second overtime. But they took the lead for good at 67-65 in the third extra period when Unruh scored on a drive and converted it into a three-point play with 1:34 to play.
 
“We haven’t really shown the ability to make free throws in big moments,” Hesston coach Garrett Roth said. “We’re still a work in progress there. But I thought we did a great job of getting stops when we needed. The kids bought into our defensive gameplan.
 
“That’s a really explosive team and they’ve won by large margins in a majority of their games so far. We just fought for stops, and then offensively I was really proud of our guys fighting through adversity and a physical defensive scheme to be able to put points on the board.”
 
Hesston, No. 2 in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association’s Class 3A rankings, led 22-21 at halftime. The Swathers made the game’s first big surge early in the third quarter as 6-foot-6 junior Drew Bartell, who was plagued by first-half foul trouble, hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions. Unruh followed with a driving basket to give the Swathers their biggest lead at 33-24.

 
“I think Drew came out pretty angry at his first-half performance,” Roth said. “He’s always the one who wants to take big shots for our team in big moments.”
 
But Moundridge, No. 2 in 2A, chipped away. Senior Jesse Lutz beat the third-quarter buzzer with a 30-footer to cut Hesston’s lead to 39-36. While the Wildcats didn’t lead in the fourth quarter, they ended regulation with an 8-1 run send the game to overtime tied at 47.
 
The Wildcats came up clutch again at the end of the first overtime, as senior Easton Shahan scored with 1.3 seconds remaining to tie the score at 53.
 
Attrition became an issue for both teams in the extra periods. Bartell committed his fifth foul with 1:05 left in the second overtime, finishing with 20 points. Moundridge finished without senior Layton Schmidt, who led the Wildcats with 17 points, Shahan (14 points) and Kaizer Kanitz (8).
 
“Drew’s our best player by far, so losing him we all knew we had to step up in a big way,” Unruh said. “We’ve been playing great all year with Drew, so when he’s out we all know all right, my role’s a little bit bigger now. That’s what we all have in our minds.”
 
Hesston improved to 15-1, defeating Remington and Hillsboro to reach the final. The Swathers topped Moundridge one night after defeating Buhler 55-32 in a non-league contest.
 
Hesston and Moundridge will meet again Feb. 16 in a non-league battle at Hesston.
 
“I think they’re going to be there at the end of the year in 2A,” Roth said. “They’re one of the top teams in the state. I’m excited to revamp our rivalry with them. It’s awesome to play a team like that because they play the right way, they’re extremely well-coached and they have a lot of talent across the board.”
 
For Unruh, a Hillsboro Classic title against anybody held significance.
 
“We’ve lost two years in a row in the championship game,” he said. “We wanted to get that off our back.”
 
 

STIGER’S SECOND CHANCE SENDS DERBY TO MCPHERSON INVITATIONAL TITLE
 
Another year, another overtime title game and another midseason tournament championship for the Derby Panthers.
 
After winning Dodge City’s Tournament of Champions last winter in a double-overtime thriller over Piper, Derby used 17 3-pointers to outlast Bishop Carroll 77-74 in overtime Saturday to win the McPherson Invitational.
 
Sophomore Greg Stiger’s 3 from the top of the key with four seconds remaining provided the winning margin for the Panthers, who improved to 11-5 with their ninth victory in the last 10 games.
 
“That was truly a championship-worthy game in the final,” said Derby coach Brett Flory, who saw his team build a 13-point lead after one quarter but rallied from eight down with just under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to force the extra period. “Hats off to Bishop Carroll, because there was absolutely no quit in either team.”
 
Playing a week after the championship game was originally scheduled due to inclement weather, Derby got the job done less than 24 hours after defeating Junction City 83-60 in a non-league contest. Stiger, one of three Derby all-tournament team selections, finished with a game-high 29 points, while junior Avant Riley added 26.
 
The Panthers needed that type of production as Carroll, which entered the final on a four-game winning streak, shot 55% from the field and had four players in double figures. Senior Brody Kreutzer led the Golden Eagles with 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting, hitting six 3-pointers.
 
But Derby’s long-range assault was the deciding factor. Stiger led the way with eight 3-pointers, while Riley made five and Cale Clingan hit four on his way to 18 points.
 
On Derby’s final possession, Stiger missed a 3-pointer but teammate Tobin Snider rebounded the miss and got it back to Stiger, who hit his eighth 3-pointer in 15 attempts.
 
Carroll’s desperation shot at the buzzer hit the backboard and missed.
 
“What I liked best about that game was how difficult it was,” said Flory, whose team entered the holiday break at 2-4. “Our team would not have had the toughness or belief to win a game like that a month ago. We really have grown and found our identity.”
 
Derby, the tournament’s fourth seed, opened with a 70-58 victory over Free State. The Panthers defeated Hutchinson 69-46 in the semifinals on Jan. 23, then topped Hutch 76-47 in an Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail I contest four days later prior to the tournament final against Carroll.
 
Riley and Clingan joined Stiger on the all-tournament team for Derby. Kreutzer and Nathan Goertz earned all-tourney honors for Carroll.
 
OTHER BOYS BASKETBALL STANDOUTS

• Wichita Heights senior Jalihn Timmons tied a program record with 43 points Friday in the Falcons’ 82-63 victory at Andover Central. Timmons, a guard, tallied 36 points in the second half to help Heights rally from an early deficit. He matched the Heights record set by C.J. Martin against Wichita South in 1998. Timmons’ performance raised his season average to 20.9 points for the Falcons, who are 13-2.
• Garden Plain sophomore Cooper Eck surpassed Alex Mannebach’s program record for 3-pointers in a season. Eck had 54 entering Tuesday’s game at Cheney. Mannebach made 50 during the 2015-16 season.