By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

BURRTON – The Little River boys hung on in the final quarter Thursday and defeated Goessel, 51-40, at their Class 1A Division I sub-state game in Burrton putting them one game from the opportunity to go to the state tournament.

The win ups the season record for the Redskins to 16-6 as they now prep to battle sub-state #1 seed, Macksville, on Saturday for a spot at the state tournament in Dodge City next week. Macksville will bring a 19-2 mark into the game after beating St. John, 70-47, on Thursday.

In the first quarter, Little River played out to a four-point, 13-9 lead before stretching it out to a commanding 12-point, 27-15 advantage at the halftime break. Coming out of the intermission, the Redskins added four more points to their lead, 38-22, by the end of the third quarter before holding off a Goessel rally in the final eight minutes to gain the final 11-point victory.

While Little River shot well, 45% from the field, and pulled down a whopping 33 rebounds, they were hampered late by turnovers and foul troubles as two of their starters finished playing the game with four fouls.

Braxton Lafferty had a huge game for the Redskins, leading the team in three stats, scoring with 20 points, assists with four and steals with six while also grabbing seven rebounds. No other Redskin reached double digits though Dalton Mantz came close with nine. Allen Burrola did much of the work on the boards by pulling down a game leading 13 rebounds.

SCORING:     1          2          3          4          FINAL

Goessel          9          6          7          18       40

REDSKINS     13       14       11       13       51

Goessel Team Stats: None Available.

LITTLE RIVER REDSKIN TEAM STATS: FG 18/40; 3-PTR 3/13; FT 12/24; AST 8; REBS 33; TO 13; STLS 9; BLK 2; PF 14.

LITTLE RIVER REDSKINS INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: Scoring (51 total points): Braxton Lafferty – 20; Dalton Mantz – 9; Logan Renken – 7; Allen Burrola – 6; Rylan Konen – 5; Kyle Bruce – 4. 3-Pointers Made (3): Mantz, Lafferty, Renken – 1. Assists: Lafferty – 4; Mantz – 3. Rebounds: Burrola – 13; Lafferty – 7; Mantz, Renken – 4. Steals: Lafferty – 6; Mantz – 2. Blocked Shots: Burrola, Bruce – 1.