Kingman Tournament Championship

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — It is Dec. 14 and the Wellington boys are 3-0 and have a Kingman Tournament first place trophy in their possession.

The Crusader boys basketball team won 62-54. It was Wellington’s second tournament championship in as many years against a feisty Kingman team. It was also the first time the Wellington boys won the Kingman tournament championship since 2007.

In other action, the Wellington girls lost to Haven 52-44 in the third place game Saturday afternoon.

“Yeah, it’s been a little too long,” joked Brian Buchanan, Wellington head boys basketball coach about winning the championship. “To win three in a row on back-to-back-to-back nights especially when it is your first three games is tough to do… Those 10 guys with their uniforms represented Wellington well.” 

Wellington’s Trevor Nance and Kingman’s Tyler Garrison were in a scoring slugfest – both scoring 27 points for their teams.

After leading 26-25 at the half, Wellington secured this win in the third quarter by outscoring Kingman18-8 in the third quarter and led 41-33 going into the fourth.

The fourth quarter was a wild one — with both teams mixing brilliant play-making with typical early-season sloppiness. The Crusaders opened up a 12-point lead at the 5-minute mark.

Yet Kingman would not go away, hitting three treys down the stretch. The Eagles had seven for the game.

“If we didn’t defend the three, Kingman would make us pay for it,” Buchanan said.

Wellington junior Connor Phelps helped the team stave off a Kingman surge down the stretch hitting 7 of 8 free throws. Overall, Wellington shot 26 free throws, making 15. In the final minute, though, Wellington missed five in a row, keeping the Crusaders fans squirming in their seats. But Kingman misses and turnovers down the stretch kept the Eagles from making any kind of comeback.

The Crusaders don’t have much time to celebrate this tournament win. They travel to seventh ranked Andale Tuesday.

Girls: Haven 52 Wellington 44

The Wellington girls were beat by Haven to finish 1-2 in the tournament on Saturday afternoon in the third place game.

The Crusaders led 17-16 at the end of the first quarter but was outscored 17-7 in the second quarter to trail 33-24 at the half.

Wellington would stay close and pulled within four, 40-36 with 5:37 to play in the fourth quarter. But the Crusaders went four consecutive trips without scoring and could not cut into the lead.

Lauryn Snipes scored 14 for Wellington while Avery Rusk had 11 and Tayland French 10. Taylor Zimmerman led the team in rebounds for the second night in a row, grabbing seven boards against Haven. Snipes had 6.

Wellington received horrendous news when Catie Williams was diagnosed with an ACL tear in an injury she incurred in the first game against Sterling. This marked her second tear and she is out for the season.

Wellington will be traveling to Andale on Tuesday.

 

Follow us on Twitter.