From the Capital Journal:
Silver Lake 66, Rossville 48
After pulling
out a pair of single-digit victories over archrival Rossville during the
regular season, the last thing Silver Lake coach Linndy Frieden expected in
Saturday night’s Class 3A sub-state championship game rematch was a blowout.
So
when the Bulldawgs came out with a spirited first five minutes and led Silver
Lake 10-8, it wasn’t much of a shock.
The
rest of the game, however, was a pleasant surprise for Frieden and the Eagles.
After the early deficit, Silver Lake took control and ran away for a 66-48 victory
to punch its ticket to next week’s state tournament in Hutchinson.
“I
think you have to give the Rossville kids a lot of credit because they went
through some adversity last weekend and played well this week,” Frieden said.
“It helped us because we knew them beating St. Marys was a wake-up call and we
gave them plenty of respect. … I didn’t think we’d be subbing with two minutes
to go up 20.”
Frieden
and the Eagles found themselves in that position in large part because of how
they started the second half. After seeing Rossville shave a 14-point
second-quarter lead to eight by halftime, 29-21, Silver Lake came out in the
third quarter firing on all cylinders.
In
particular, Mason Griffin was unstoppable. After getting hit with a technical
late in the first half to help key Rossville’s closing run, the sophomore more
than atoned, scoring six straight points to start the period and had 20 of his
game-high 25 points in the second half.
His
early burst helped Silver Lake push the lead back to double digits and after
Rossville closed back within six, Cale Adams scored seven points in an 11-1 run
that put Silver Lake up 16.
Adams
finished with 19 points.
“Cale
is probably the most under-appreciated guy on our team,” Frieden said. “He does
all the dirty work and is a great leaper, great athlete and usually guards
their best player. Cale gave us great energy tonight.”
Minus
three starters removed from the team at the start of the week, Rossville simply
couldn’t maintain its emotional run to get to the championship game. Trey
Anderson scored 14 to lead the Bulldawgs (12-11) and Sheldon Hulbert added 11.