Hot-shooting Pilot Grove took advantage of a fast start Wednesday, Jan. 29 to grab an early lead against host-school Slater and then hold the upper hand throughout, enabling the Tigers to beat the Wildcats, 70-57. That came during boys’ first-round play in the 45th annual Slater Wildcat Classic and served as the only instance where a higher-seeded team failed to come out on top during the first two sessions of the week.
Pilot Grove owned a 22-16 lead after one quarter and then widened that margin to 39-26 at intermission. Down the stretch, Slater was never able to make much of a run at the Tigers who stayed on top by double-digits the rest of the way. Fifth-seeded Pilot Grove’s advantage increased to as much as 19 before the clock wound down on their 70-57 win.
Now 12-6 on the season, the Tigers were paced by 24 points from Lyle Christy with Tyson Martin and Ryland Skaggs tossing in 16 points apiece for the winners. Pilot Grove enjoyed a good night from long distance, connecting on eight three-pointers along the way. Dropping to 10-9 overall, fourth-seeded Slater did fire home 10 threes in a losing cause. The Wildcats had four people in double figures with Nixon Sanders tallying 16 points for his side. Tacking on an additional 14, 11 and 10 points respectively for the home team were Ben Gochenour, Maddox Tyler and Peyton Zdybel.
In other boys’ first-round scores from Wednesday, top-seeded Brunswick rolled past Sweet Springs, 78-27. Clay Hayward had 18 points for the Wildcats while Tae Brown and Balston Brown both added 16 of their own. Second-seeded Glasgow had little trouble with Jamestown, beating the Eagles, 62-32. Jackson Meyer paced the Yellowjackets with 23 points with Bronson Foster draining four three-pointers as he enjoyed a 16-point effort. Then wrapping up the evening, third-seeded Carrollton easily disposed of Santa Fe, stopping the Chiefs, 69-31. Maddux O’Doniel led the Trojans with 17 points while Jackson Davis scored 13. Meanwhile, Liam Potter tossed in 12 points with Casson Kipping adding 11 of his own.
The semifinals for the girls bracket take place Thursday in Slater. A consolation contest between Pilot Grove and Santa Fe begins play at 4:30 p.m., which we’ll air on KMMO AM 1300. The championship semifinal between top-seeded Glasgow and Brunswick will follow at 6 p.m. on KMMO-FM 102.9, with the other semifinal at 7:30 p.m. between Jamestown and Carrollton. The other consolation semifinal between Slater and Sweet Springs will tip off around 9 p.m. All the games will also have video coverage on our website, kmmo.com.