MELVERN – Don’t look now, but the Cardiac Kids are back.
The Altoona-Midway Jets, continuing the team’s trademark reputation earned during last year’s successful season, once again used late-game heroics to pull a victory out of the fire during Monday’s opening round thriller here at the Valley Tip Off Classic.
Altoona-Midway needed a three-pointer by senior William Stackhouse in the closing seconds of regulation to force overtime Monday against the host Marais Des Cygnes Valley Trojans. Then in the waning moments of the extra period, junior Kage Beck hit two clutch free throws and the Jets escaped with a wild 51-49 victory.
Earlier in the evening, the Lady Jets were not nearly as fortunate, as the host MDCV girls rolled to an 81-20 triumph.
Both AMHS teams will return to Melvern for tournament action Thursday and Friday. The Jets will square off for doubleheaders against Hartford on Thursday and Southern Coffey County on Friday. Both evenings, the girls will play at 4 p.m. and the boys at 5:30 p.m.
AMHS BOYS
“The Cardiac Kids strike again,” laughed AMHS head coach Dave Vance. “But as long as we keep pulling off these dramatic comebacks, that’s fine with me.”
After erasing a 22-point deficit, the Jets found themselves trailing 43-40 in the closing seconds of regulation. But William Stackhouse, off an assist from Kieran Foster, swished a three-pointer with eight seconds remaining to force overtime.
During the extra period, the Jets got two free throws from Foster (who was 7-for-8 from the line for the night), and baskets from Kage Beck and Joey Lamendola, to keep the score tied 49-49. Beck then calmly drained a pair of charity tosses to give Altoona-Midway the thrilling victory.
“This is the kind of mindset we’ve been trying to develop in this program. We had to learn to persevere in tough times and keep battling. It’s never over till it’s over. There is always a next play and another game tomorrow,” Vance added.
The tough times came early Tuesday for the Jets. A ghastly start saw the Jets down 18-2 after one period, and the Trojans increased that advantage to 24-2 before AMHS got untracked.
“We got off to a horrendous start. We could not make a basket and Marais Des Cygnes came out on fire,” Vance said. “But the kids got their act together and by halftime, we had cut the deficit to 27 to 12.”
The Jets stormed out of the gate after intermission, outscoring the Trojans 18-3 to deadlock the score at 30 and set up the wild finish.
“In the third quarter, we actually started hitting our shots, moving the ball well, getting it inside, and rebounding,” Vance said. “In fact, a couple keys to the victory were our rebounding and clutch free throw shooting.
“William led us in rebounding (11) but Taj Chism (7) and Chance Carter (5) also played big inside and helped us a great deal on the boards. Kieran went 7-for-8 with clutch free throws (all in the second half and overtime) while Kage nailed the final two to give us the victory.”
Stackhouse, who also had six assists and six steals, led a well-balanced offense with 13 points, 10 coming in the second half. Foster was scoreless at halftime but finished with 12 points.
Lamendola tallied seven points in the second period when the Jets began their comeback and finished with nine points, while Beck added eight, Chism five and Carter had four important points in the fourth quarter.
“It was a total team effort,” Vance said. “Chance Mustain didn’t score, but came off the bench and gave the starters valuable rest, pulled down a rebound and dished out an assist.”
Dalton Lingenfelter led the Trojans with a game-high 21 points, but after halftime did not score from the field and added just two free throws. Griffin scored 13 for MDCV.
AMHS GIRLS
In the earlier contest, the Altoona-Midway girls ran into a complete buzz-saw as the Lady Trojans dominated from the outset and raced to an 81-20 victory.
“There’s not a lot to say after a game like that,” noted AMHS head coach Jessica Porter. “Marais Des Cygnes came out and pressed us, which caught us off guard, and the refs let them play, so it was a pretty physical game – and that is not our strong suit.
“They also had some height, and could also hit outside shots. In the end, they were just an overall good team,” Porter said.
Marais Des Cygnes Valley jumped out of the gates early and left no doubt about the outcome.
The Lady Trojans raced to a 34-11 advantage after one period and led 53-16 at halftime. It was 72-20 entering the final stanza, when MDCV tacked on the final nine points of the game.
“We didn’t play as hard as we played Friday night in the opener, and we need to have that effort every time out,” Porter noted. “But I did still see some good things tonight. It’s just about putting it all together and applying it in a game.”
Emmalynn Pupanek led the Lady Jet offense with a team-high 11 points. Mika Parsons tallied five points (hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the opening quarter), while AMHS got two points apiece from Chantal Morales and Brooklyn Collins.
Sandra Morales and Pupanek shared team-high rebounding honors with six each, while Ava Tindle hauled down four. Keyleigh Clines, Chantal Morales, Parsons and Collins all grabbed three boards.
On the down side, the Lady Jets were credited with 33 turnovers on the night.
Traver rattled the nets for 22 points to lead the Lady Trojans. Criqui and Cormode added 16 points apiece for MDCV.