Picture courtesy of Becky Rowley

BOYS: #3 ELL-SALINE 69, #7 BENNINGTON 68

The Ell-Saline Cardinals and the Bennington Bulldogs would meet for the fourth time this season on Friday night in Moundridge. This time with a trip to the 2A State tournament in Manhattan and a sub-state championship on the line. Ell-Saline won the first two matchups with Bennington getting the Cardinals in the third matchup of the season. The Cardinals would use a big 4th quarter and a 23-6 run to finish the game to squeak out a 69-68 win to advance to the 2A State tournament for the first time since 2013 and the 5th time in school history.

It was back and forth for most of the 1st quarter as both teams were able knock down some good looks. Bennington would lead after the 1st quarter 19-15.

Bennington would catch fire in the 2nd quarter as they would knock down 4 triples in the quarter and outscore the Cardinals 18-13 in the frame. The Bulldogs would take a 37-28 lead into the locker room.

Both teams would trade buckets for the 3rd quarter and Bennington would outscore the Cardinals 15-14 in the quarter and the Bulldogs led 52-42 going into the final stanza.

Bennington would start the quarter on a 10-4 run as they would reach their largest lead of the game 62-46. Ell-Saline would not give though as they would use a 23-6 run to finish out the game.

Senior Garrison Zerger would steal an inbounds with under 10 seconds left and lay it up and in to tie the game at 68. Ell-Saline would turn Bennington over again with 3.5 seconds left. After a timeout and on the inbounds Reese Krone would be fouled with 0.4 left and he would knock down the first one and miss the 2nd and Ell-Saline would pull out a nail biter 69-68 victory and a sub-state championship.

Ell-Saline was led in scoring on the evening by Garrison Zerger who finished the night with 21 points. Junior Reese Krone (20) and senior Brogan Rowley (15) would also reach double figures for the Cardinals. Brogan Rowley would also eclipse 1k career points in the win.

Junior Isaiah Garrett would lead Bennington in scoring as he would knock down 22 points in the loss.  Senior Thayne Trout (16) and sophomore Aiden Levendofskey (11) would finish in double digits as well for the Bulldogs.

Ell-Saline moves to 20-3 on the season and will advance to the 2A State tournament next week in Manhattan. Bennington finishes the season 15-8.

CITY PLUMBING HEATING AND COOLING PLAYER OF THE GAME: Garrison Zerger (21 Points) and Reese Krone (20 Points)

H & R BLOCK OF THE GAME: Brogan Rowley

BOX SCORE

ELL-SALINE (20-3) – 15 – 13 – 14 – 27 / 69

BENNINGTON (15-8) – 19 – 18 – 15 – 16 / 68

Individual Scoring

Ell-Saline – Garrison Zerger 21, Reese Krone 20, Brogan Rowley 15, , Kas Kramer 9, Trey Williams 3, Tayton Williams 1.

Hutch Trinity – Isaiah Garrett 22, Thayne Trout 16, Aiden Levendofsky 11, Kian Wilson 9, Brayden Palenske 7, Payge Rodenbeek 3.

Game rebroadcast