GARRISON, ROLFS, LAFFERTY LEAD LITTLE RIVER

By William

DODGE CITY – The hope for another state championship is gone as the Little River boys basketball team tumbled in the Class 1A Division I semifinals on Friday in Dodge City when they could not overcome a hot shooting team from Olpe and lost 75-66 to end their season and the hopes of adding a basketball championship to the one they earned in November for football.

Unlike most games this season when Little River would jump out early offensively on opponents, in this game they only managed eight first quarter points while Olpe, shooting lights out, put 18 on the scoreboard to take an early 10-point lead.

Olpe, who ended the night connecting on 67% of their shots from the field, pushed their advantage out to 15 points by the halftime break at 35-20.

While the Redskins trimmed five points off the deficit in the third quarter, Olpe played them point for point in the final eight minutes to gain the final nine-point victory over Little River and a shot at the state championship.

Little River ends the season with just two losses to go with 22 wins while Olpe is now 17-3 and will have to go through unbeaten Montezuma/South Gray at 24-0 to earn a state title.

The Redskins defense never had an answer to stopping Olpe as they made 30-of-48 from the field for the game, which helped over come the 16 turnovers the Redskins caused them to record.

Jayden Garrison closed out his Redskin career by putting 28 points in the scorebook while hitting three three-pointers, grabbing five rebounds, and making a pair of steals.

Trey Rolfs and Braxton Lafferty joined Garrison in double figures with 16 and 10 points each while Rolfs led the team in rebounds with seven and Lafferty topped the Redskins in steals with six while also making a pair of blocked shots.

The game was the final appearance for the Redskins by seniors Jayden Garrison, Trey Rolfs and Graham Stephens.

LITTLE RIVER REDSKINS vs. Olpe

SCORING:     Q1      Q2      Q3      Q4      FINAL

REDSKINS      8          12       22       24       66

Olpe               18       17       17       23       75

Olpe Team Stats: FG 30-45; 3PT 4-10; FT 11-16; AST 0; RBS 28; TO 16; STL 0; BLK 1; FLS 15.

LITTLE RIVER REDSKINS TEAM STATS: FG 23-59; 3PT 7-23; FT 13-21; AST 10; RBS 22; TO 5; STL 14; BLK 2; FLS 15.

LITTLE RIVER REDSKINS INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

Scoring (66): Jayden Garrison – 28; Trey Rolfs – 16; Braxton Lafferty – 10; Rylan Konen – 5; Graham Stephens – 4; Dalton Mantz – 3.

3-Pointers Made (7): Garrison – 3; Rolfs, Lafferty, Konen, Mantz – 1.

Assists (10): Stephens – 3; Lafferty, Mantz – 2; Garrison, Rolfs, Konen – 1.

Rebounds (22): Rolfs – 7; Garrison – 5; Konen, Stephens – 4; Mantz, Ty Herzog – 1.

Steals (14): Lafferty – 6; Garrison, Konen, Stephens – 2; Rolfs, Mantz – 1.

Blocked Shots (2): Lafferty – 2.

{Little River Redskin Postings are SPONSORED by CrossDove Creations}