Hosting the annual Ralph Miller Classic, the Chanute Blue Comets boys beat Augusta, 53-44, on Thursday before falling to Basehor-Linwood, 42-39, on Friday.
Saturday’s games were postponed due to the winter storm. No makeup date has officially been announced, but Feb. 7 is the date being explored.
Against Augusta, Chanute head coach Devon Crabtree felt the Blue Comets’ defense excelled.
“I thought we were really good defensively and made a bunch of plays,” Crabtree said. “I was proud of how well we guarded. It was a big win for us. Augusta was preseason ranked.”
Warrick Olson led Chanute with 25 points in the win.
“Every team knows to try and take him out of the game, so he had a big game and took really good shots,” Crabtree said. “He was huge.”
Friday’s tilt was a tightly contested affair, with neither team leading by more than five points at any point.
“It was a couple of breakdowns in our zone that made the difference,” Crabtree said. “I thought we rebounded pretty well, for the most part. We wanted to slow the game down and grind it out. We were pretty good defensively, we just had a few plays go a different direction. We had a chance to beat a pretty darn good 5A school.”
Daniel Stanley paced the Blue Comets with 15 points.
“We’re getting him the ball at the right times at the right spots,” Crabtree said. “He can finish through contact. No doubt, we’re at our best when he’s playing well. Our guys took advantage of that.”
Chanute has won two of its last three games, getting rid of the stink of a three-game losing streak suffered after winter break.
“We’re playing better basketball right now,” Crabtree said. “The important thing is the emphasis we put on what we wanted to improve on. We’re still building. But we’re in a good spot.”
If the Ralph Miller Classic is continued at a later date, Chanute would play Life Prep.
“I have no idea what we’re going to do,” Crabtree said. “If we don’t finish, I’d like to think we’ll try to find a game. Our schedule is tight, so finding the right spot is important. Every game is important with seeding. We want a home game in the first round of sub-state. So we’ll see how it plays out.”
Up next
Chanute hosts Trinity Academy on Tuesday.
“We played them last year and they return some of their better players,” Crabtree said. “They’ve won some quality games against quality teams.”
