Sports
Comets sixth place at Ralph Miller after loss to Joplin
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The Chanute Blue Comets were the sixth place team at the this year’s Ralph Miller Classic, after a razor thin loss in a tense and physical face-off against a Joplin Eagles squad helmed by former Chanute coach Jeff Williams. Joplin secured fifth place in the tournament with a 60-56 comeback victory. The Eagles had an early lead in the game, but the Comets dominated its middle portions to come out ahead. However, Jo...
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Chanute girls win Tonganoxie tourney
TONGANOXIE — A lockdown second half defense helped the Chanute girls basketball team win the Tonganoxie tournament. The championship was obtained through a Saturday evening victory 39-32 over DeSoto. Not only did Chanute win the tournament’s trophy, but senior Brenna Olson was named the tournament MVP. Three members of the team were named to the Tonganoxie all-tournament squad — Olson, sophomore Macy Flowers and Shelby Trout, who hit the g...
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Gilmore among All-Tournament honorees
Chanute senior Brock Gilmore was among the honorees for the 2013 Ralph Miller Classic all-tournament team. Here is the complete list of selectees for the all-tournament team. Garin Vandiver-Emporia, Jackson Perez-Emporia, Zach Winter-Andover Central, Cameron Wiggins- Leavenworth, Charlie Brown-Joplin, Jovan Barksdale-Shawnee Heights, Braeson Sester-Shawnee Heights, Collin Nevil-Goddard, Brock Gilmore-Chanute.
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Lady Panthers fall to Labette in overtime
The NCCC Panthers women’s basketball team fought tooth and nail to force its Saturday night match-up with Labette County into overtime. However, the Cardinals’ defense shut down Neosho County scorers in this overtime period and won the game 56-53 on the free throw line. The loss brings the Lady Panthers’ season record to 7-10. Sophomore Alexis Hafenstein started the scoring for the Lady Panthers in this match-up, with Katie Gorman adding a b...
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Andover Central tops T-birds for chance to be repeat tourney champ
The Andover Central Jaguars, the winner of last year’s Ralph Miller Classic, earned the right to compete in the championship game of this year’s event with a 63-49 victory over the Shawnee Heights Thunderbirds Friday night. Andover Central senior Zach Winter, who scored 30 points in Andover’s victory over Olathe North on Thursday, jumpstarted the Jaguars offense early. Jovan Barksdale scored points early for the T-Birds, and a three-pointer b...
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Twenty-point win over Goddard now pits Comets against Williams’ Eagles
Brian McDowell Sports Editor After trailing at the end of the first quarter of its Friday afternoon Ralph Miller Classic match-up against Goddard, the Chanute Blue Comets boys basketball team amped up its defensive intensity and improved its communication on defense. “Some of the things that gave us trouble in the first quarter, I thought our guys did a little bit better job of shoring up,” Chanute Coach Max Ruark said. “I thought they came o...
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Trout three-pointer helps Comet girls topple Tonganoxie
There were 7.5 seconds to go in the Chanute girls basketball team’s Friday night semifinal match-up with the host school of the Tonganoxie Tournament, and the Comets were trailing by two points. This was when senior Shelby Trout launched a game-winning three-pointer that vaulted the Chanute girls basketball team to tonight’s championship game of the tournament. Trout’s three was half of the Blue Comets’ six points during the final quarter. ...
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Perez and Vandiver drive Emporia over Leavenworth
The second day of the Ralph Miller Classic concluded with a match-up between Emporia and Leavenworth, which was close-knit early on. The contest was tied at halftime. However, the highly-ranked Emporia squad eventually ran away with the game, riding amazing offensive displays by both Jackson Perez and Garin Vandiver, and putting together a resounding 84-68 victory. With the big victory, Emporia will face Andover Central in tonight’s tournamen...
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Joplin picks up win in tourney’s ‘Battle of the Eagles’
Joplin scored a 53-46 victory over Olathe North in the afternoon meeting between two teams named the Eagles that started Friday’s Ralph Miller’s second day tournament action. Neither Eagles squad was able to score for the game’s first minute and a half, until Olathe North senior Jack Todd scored a lay-up. The first quarter developed into an offensive battle between Todd and Joplin junior Charlie Brown. Todd scored eight points in this quarter...
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View from the Sports Desk: That WAS me in the movie Legally Blonde (and other important readers’ questions answered)
Covering 12 Ralph Miller Classic games in three days and getting them into the paper has sapped all of the creative energy that it takes to write a quality newspaper editorial. So, today, I will lazily just use this column space to answer questions that I am often asked¬†by readers of the Tribune sports section.¬† QUESTION: Why don’t you cover my kids’ team? ANSWER: This is the question I am asked far more often than any other. Contrary to wh...
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Lady Panthers outshoot Allen County in heated rivalry game
Brian McDowell Sports Editor “When the ball goes through the net, this team looks totally different.” That was NCCC women’s basketball coach Kelley Newton’s reaction as improved shooting helped his squad score a 67-57 victory over its Allen County rivals, to bring the Lady Panthers’ conference record to 2-2. The Lady Panthers made 48 percent of their field goals in the match-up, while Allen County only shot 27 percent. “Now it looks like we...
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Emporia wins big over Goddard
The Emporia Spartans flexed their offensive muscle in a 74-43 rout of the Goddard Lions in Thursday evening Ralph Miller Classic action. Offensively steered by seniors Jurrel Murrow and J.L. Savage, Emporia took control of the match-up early, The Spartans opened with an uninterrupted 11-0 run, and had a 14-point lead at the end of the first quarter. Emporia continued its attack in the second, going on a 9-0 run. The Spartans went into the l...
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Shawnee Heights starts Miller Classic with win over Joplin
Benefitting from dominating performances by brothers Tony and Javon Barksdale, the Shawnee Heights T-Birds opened this year’s Ralph Miller Classic with a 51-39 victory over the Joplin Eagles. Shawnee Heights was the last place team at last year’s tournament, and used this game to show off improvements that the team has made since then. Joplin, helmed by former Chanute coach Jeff Williams, established a small lead early in the match-up, but S...
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Andover Central tops Olathe North
The Andover Central Jaguars won the Ralph Miller Classic last year. With the team’s performance in its first game of the Ralph Miller Classic on Thursday afternoon, the Jaguars proved that they may also be the team to beat at this year’s tournament. Powered by 30 points from senior Zach Winter in this contest, the Andover squad beat Olathe North 57-39. The meeting between these teams was close-knit early on. Due largely to eight first quart...
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NCCC men beat Allen County for first conference win
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The NCCC Panthers men’s basketball team picked up its first conference win of the season on Wednesday night, beating its Allen County rivals 69-64. The scoring was slow to get started in this contest. Jamie Batish, the scoring leader for the Panthers (8-8) so far this season, is in Australia dealing with some citizenship issues, so he will be back in Chanute on Sunday. “That was a little bit of what had to do with...
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Missed last minute shots cost Comets in loss to Leavenworth
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The Chanute Blue Comets boys basketball team kicked off its annual basketball tournament with a down-to-the-wire Thursday night nail-biter. The first day of the Ralph Miller Classic ended with a confrontation between the fourth-seeded Comets and the fifth-seeded Leavenworth Pioneers, and the evenly matched teams tangled. The Comets kept pace with Leavenworth throughout the tense match-up. The Pioneers are a current...
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Erie boys barely beaten by Neodesha
The Erie Red Devils boys basketball team lost a one-point heartbreaker to Neodesha, on its second game of the Wilson County Tournament on Tuesday night. Erie fell 48-47. The Red Devils saw dominating double digit performances by three players in the down-to-the-wire loss. Kody Tredway had 16 points in the loss, while Garek Peters scored 12 and Christian Murphy ended up with 10.
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St. Paul girls fall to Columbus
The St. Paul girls basketball team fell to Columbus 32-26 in the second night of the Southeast Basketball Tourney on Tuesday night. Over half of the Lady Indians’ points in this match-up were scored by Jordyn Tuck, who had 15 points on the night. Columbus 6 11 9 6 -32 St. Paul 3 7 2 14 -26 Columbus: Froebe 4, 0-0, 8 Murdock 1, 0-0, 2 Spear 0, 2-6, 2 Anderson 7, 0-5, 15 1, 0-1, 3 Robinson 1, 0-0, 2 Three-Pointers: Anderson, Thompson St...
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Ralph Miller storied athlete, coach
Ralph “Cappy” Miller, the namesake of the 41st annual high school basketball tournament this week, had a hugely heralded career as athlete and coach. Miller, born March 9, 1919 in Chanute, earned four letters each in football and track, three in basketball, and one each in golf and tennis at CHS.¬† While in junior high, Bob Allen (University of Kansas Coach Phog Allen’s son) informed his father that he had just scrimmaged against the finest ...
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Erie’s Oliphant signs to play volleyball for Coffeyville
Erie senior Chelsea Oliphant is going from the Red Devils to the Red Ravens. A stand-out player on both the Red Devils volleyball and girls basketball squads, Oliphant signed a letter of intent on Tuesday morning to play volleyball at Coffeyville Community College. Oliphant visited several colleges around southeast Kansas before making the decision to commit to play for Coffeyville. “I felt more at home there,” Oliphant said, “and the coach...
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