BUFFALO – Altoona-Midway and Yates Center squared off in a basketball doubleheader Friday night at Milo Peterson Gymnasium. Both games were marred by ragged play, mistakes and poor shooting – exactly what you might expect since the squads were returning to action after a two-week break from both school and the hardwoods.
In the end it was a split decision, with each school squeezing out a narrow victory to open Three Rivers League play in 2025.
Turning around what had been a poor shooting performance from the free throw line, the Altoona-Midway boys went 6-for-6 from the stripe in the final minute of overtime to defeat Yates Center 48-40.
Earlier, the Lady Wildcats managed to hit a critical free throw in the final seconds of regulation to edge past the AMHS girls, 20-19.
The AMHS boys (3-3 overall and 1-0 in TRL) and the girls (0-6 and 0-1) will remain at home for a pair of games this week. The Jet squads will host Southern Coffey County on Tuesday, Jan. 7, and will then wind up a four-game home stand when Chetopa comes calling on Friday, Jan. 10.
AMHS BOYS
Kage Beck scored from the lane with 1:40 left in overtime to snap a 40-40 tie. The Jets, 4-for-14 from the line up to that point, proceeded to connect on all six of their charity tosses in the final minute of the extra period to win 48-40.
Kieran Foster calmly canned four free throws and Taj Chism two – all in the final 14 seconds of action.
“It was really an odd game, coming after being off for a week and a half, and the boys not even back in school yet,” said AMHS head coach Dave Vance. “The game was pretty disjointed as a whole.
But despite missing seven layups, only making 20 percent of our three-point shots, and 50 percent from the free-throw line, we managed to pull one out,” he sighed.
“When it came to the overtime, we finally hit our free throws to help put the game away. Kieran hit his final four free throws, and Taj hit his final two. When the pressure was on, they came through in the clutch.”
Altoona-Midway almost won the game in regulation. With AMHS leading 37-35, Yates Center missed a long three-pointer with just seconds remaining. But the Jets failed to secure the rebound and McVey of the Wildcats scored a put-back at the buzzer to force overtime.
Trailing 11-10, Altoona-Midway rattled off 13 unanswered points to take a commanding 23-11 lead into halftime. But the Wildcats cut the deficit to 30-26 entering the final period.
“When we did get it in gear in the second quarter, our pressure defense caused a lot of turnovers, and we managed to capitalize on some of them,” Vance said. “There were way too many missed layups throughout the game, however.”
Foster and William Stackhouse led the Jets with 17 and 15 points, respectively. Beck tallied six, Joey Lamendola netted five, Aaryn Maple chipped in three and Chism finished with two.
Stackhouse pulled down a dozen rebounds, had eight steals and six assists. Chism grabbed five boards and Beck nabbed four.
Cook led Yates Center with 17 points and Bustead added 10.
Yates Center won the junior varsity game 35-19. Chance Mustain, Chance Carter and Maple scored four points apiece for the Jet JV, while Chism added three and Kenny Smith scored two.
AMHS GIRLS
The Altoona-Midway girls likely will be wishing they had this contest back for a long time. The Lady Jets were seemingly well in command, leading 12-5 at halftime. But Yates Center rallied all the way back in the third quarter to knot things up, setting up a closely-contested final period in which the Lady Wildcats managed a one-point advantage to pull out the 20-19 triumph.
With the game deadlocked at 19-19, Yates Center had the ball and the game also seemed destined for overtime. But Buncholder of Yates Center was fouled on a three-point attempt, and hit the deciding free throw to give YCHS the victory.
Altoona-Midway was able to get off a desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer, but to no avail.
“I had been telling the girls that it was going to be a dog fight, and it was going to come down to which team wanted to win more,” said Altoona-Midway head coach Jessica Porter. “Our team did go out there and play hard, but at the end of the game we lost control of our emotions and let the game get away from us.”
Early on, it appeared AMHS was primed to notch its first win of the season. After falling behind 3-0, the Lady Jets controlled the rest of the first half and led 12-5 at intermission.
From there, however, the offense sputtered. Cummings of Yates Center scored 10 points in the third period as the Lady Cats rallied back into the game. Cummings finished with 17 points of the YCHS total, with Buncholder netting the other three on free throws.
Sandra Morales led the Lady Jets with nine points, while Emmalynn Pupanek finished with six. AMHS also got two points from Brooklyn Collins and one point a piece from Mika Parsons and Chantal Morales.
Sandra Morales was also the rebounding leader with eight, while Pupanek notched six caroms and Autumn Raymond and Ava Tindle grabbed four apiece.
“I told the girls that we are going to learn from our mistakes, and it’s going to make us better, in the long run,” Porter said. “This is the first time they’ve been in a game situation like this, so they just have to learn to drown out the noise, focus, and stay calm.
“It’s really hard to practice this type of thing,” the coach added. “They have to learn in actual game situations. I am confident that it’ll all come together, and we’ll get a win soon.”
Altoona-Midway did pick up an 11-2 victory in the girls’ junior varsity contest. Keyleigh Clines led the way with four points, Chantal Morales tallied three, and Jasa Pankaskie and Sandra Morales each chipped in two for the Lady Jets.