MHS - Men's Basketball / January 22, 2020 By Kasey McDowell
Homecoming was in the air all last week as the Wildcats celebrated Homecoming week and hosted the Rose Hill Rockets on Friday, January 17th, 2020. It was an evening of close games as the evenly matched Wildcats and Rockets faced off but the Wildcats found themselves on the wrong side of each game. The varsity boys lost a close one 48-51, the JV lost in double overtime 55-60, and the C-Team fell 55-59.
During halftime of the men's game, the 2019-20 Winter Homecoming ceremony commenced with seniors Chase Milledge and Carson White being crowned the King and Queen. The rest of the homecoming court were Gabriele Goluboviciute, Kylie Runquist, Emily Woods, Gaige Russell, Clement Heck, and Jaxen Young.
The varsity boys started off hot, outscoring the Rockets 14-9 in the first quarter but the Rockets came back with an 18-10 second quarter, going into halftime with the Cats down 24-27. The second half was very even as the Rockets won the third quarter 12-11 and the Cats won the 4th quarter 13-12. They just couldn’t quite make up the 3 point difference and fell 48-51.
Junior Trey Abasolo led the team with 26 points and also had 4 steals and 4 rebounds. Senior Michael Manis led the team in rebounds with 10 and also scored 7 points. Senior Gage Gerlach finished with 7 points as well and also had 3 rebounds. Sophomore Mason Ellis finished with 6 points, 2 steals, and 2 assists. Senior Kiser Jansen finished with 2 points.
VAR 1 2 3 4 Final
MHS: 14 10 11 13 48
RHS: 9 18 12 12 51
Click here for game highlights
The JV team started strong, leading the game for the first 3 quarters 41-32, but the Rockets had a strong 19-10 4th quarter to tie the game and force overtime. The game went into double overtime and the Wildcats fell 55-60. Junior Aaron Ballinger led the Wildcats with 21 points, including 4 3-pointers. Junior Canon Smith had a strong game with 11 points, sophomore Ian Comer finished with 9 points, Trent Billingslea finished with 4 points, and sophomores Mason Ellis, Tyson Lazier, and Sam Westfall all finished with 3 points each.
JV 1 2 3 4 OT Final
MHS: 11 11 19 10 4 55
RHS: 7 12 13 19 9 60
The C-team also had a close game and were leading 43-37 after 3 quarters, but the Rockets had a strong 22-12 4th quarter to win the game 59-55. Freshman Ethan Kasparek had a great game and lead the Cats with 17 points followed by Westfall with 10 points, freshman Christian Duranleau and Julien Myers both with 7 points, sophomore Jacob Duncan with 6 points, freshman Logan Harness with 3 points, freshman Easton Groth and sophomore Tyson Lazier with 2 points each, and freshman Chase Dieker with 1 point.
C 1 2 3 4 Final
MHS: 13 18 12 12 55
RHS: 12 11 14 22 59
The Wildcats will travel to Chaparral this evening for the opening round of the Roadrunner Classic and will face Ark City at 7:00 PM.
