COLONY – The Altoona-Midway High School basketball teams – both undefeated since the calendar turned to January – saw their respective two-game winning streaks come to an abrupt halt here Tuesday night.
The Crest Lancers made quick work of the AMHS squads, sweeping a Three Rivers League doubleheader in impressive fashion on their home floor. Crest rolled to a 52-20 victory in the boys’ contest and rolled past the Lady Jets 74-11 in the girls’ matchup.
AMHS varsity squads fell to identical records of 3-8 overall and 2-3 in TRL play.
Altoona-Midway now prepares for a five-game home stand. The lengthy stretch begins Friday, Jan. 16, when Jayhawk-Linn High School comes calling.
The following week, Milo Peterson Gymnasium will be the site for a trio of home dates with the fourth annual Captain Milburn Apt Memorial Tournament, and AMHS will complete the five-game home stint when they host Northeast-Arma on Jan. 27.
AMHS BOYS
Crest drained eight three-point shots – all in the first half – as they raced past Altoona-Midway 52-20 in boys’ action.
The Lancers’ barrage of treys helped build leads of 23-6 after one period and 48-10 at halftime. Crest substituted liberally in the second half and coasted to the final margin.
“Crest came out on fire from long range and we could just not deal with it,” said AMHS head coach Dave Vance. “We played hard, but we were simply outmatched by a very talented team.
“I do want to express my appreciation to the Crest coach for not playing his starters in the second half,” Vance added. “That was an impressive display of sportsmanship.”
Chance Carter was the bright spot for Jet offense, netting seven points in each half for a team-high total of 14. Chance Mustain added four points and Taj Chism netted two.
Fuller canned four treys for Crest and finished with 14 points while Prasko garnered a dozen. Yokam and Walter chipped in eight apiece for the Lancers. All of those point totals were accumulated in the first half.
“We were plagued with turnovers (17) once again, and I believe this is the first game we did not have a three-point shot made (0-for-12),” Vance noted. “We also left a lot of points at the free-throw line (4-of-21), but our two-point shots were decent (42 percent).”
The Lancers (8-1) have not lost since dropping their season opener to Southeast.
AMHS GIRLS
The talented Lady Lancers also improved to 8-1 on the year with a 74-11 thrashing of Altoona-Midway in the girls’ contest.
The loss brought a hasty stop to the Lady Jets’ twogame win streak, built last week with wins over Chetopa and Southern Coffey County.
Crest jumped to a 29-1 first-quarter lead and it was 55-3 at halftime.
“It was brutal,” said AMHS coach Jessica Porter. “We did not play well and had a lot of turnovers.”
Jasa Pankaskie connected on a pair of three-point baskets and led the Lady Jets offense with six points. Keyleigh Clines and Ava Tindle rounded out the scoring with three and two points, respectively, all coming on free throws.
“We did at least have more energy and effort the second half and played until the end,” Porter noted. “I’m hopeful that we’ll play better on Friday.”
Apt Memorial Tournament
Altoona-Midway High School will host the fourth annual Captain Milburn G. Apt Memorial Basketball Tournament next week. The tournament will be held Jan. 20, 22 and 23 in Milo Peterson Gymnasium.
Four games will be played each date, with the first game beginning at 4 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 20 Chetopa vs. Southern Coffey County (girls) Chetopa vs. SCC (boys) Liberty Homeschool Alliance vs. AMHS (girls) LHA vs. AMHS (boys) Thursday, Jan. 22 Chetopa vs. LHA (girls) Chetopa vs. LHA (boys) SCC vs. AMHS (girls) SCC vs. AMHS (boys) Friday, Jan. 23 LHA vs. SCC (girls) LHA vs. SCC (boys) Chetopa vs. AMHS (girls) Chetopa vs. AMHS (boys)
