Concordia picks up road win over Phillipsburg, 50-38

PHILLIPSBURG — Playing its final non-league game of the season, the Concordia High School boys' basketball team went wire-to-wire in defeating Phillipsburg 50-38 on the road on Tuesday night.
A three-point basket by Payton Breese in the opening minute gave Concordia a lead it would not relinquish.
Concordia led Phillipsburg by as many as 11 points in the first half and in the second.
Phillipsburg got as close as nine points in the fourth quarter before Concordia secured the win in the final minutes.
"We were in foul trouble. It was a hard game to get any rhythm going," Concordia coach Derek Holmes said. "We played okay. We didn't play great but we didn't play poorly. A solid win on the road."
Concordia, now 9-7, will begin a stretch of four consecutive North Central Kansas League games to finish the regular season by hosting Wamego on Friday night.
Wamego, 5-12, lost 50-38 to Clay Center on Friday night.
Concordia, at 4-2, is tied for second place in the league with Clay Center.
"Four games in seven days, and all league games," Holmes said. "These next four are very important for several reasons."
The Panthers have three games next week. They have a makeup game at Chapman on Monday, host Clay Center on Tuesday and then have a makeup game at Wamego on Thursday.
Concordia and Phillipsburg locked up in a tight battle throughout the first quarter.
The biggest lead was three points and the game was tied three times.
Peyton Retter hit a three-point shot to give Concordia a 14-11 lead with 3:37 remaining in the period. Neither team would score after that.
Retter led all scorers with 16 points.
A three by Breese, who finished with 10 points, and two free throws by Retter in the first 1:31 of the second quarter gave Concordia a 19-11 lead.
Phillipsburg got as close as seven points on three occasions.
A steal and a layup by Rad Rodriguez left Phillipsburg trailing 24-17.
Retter knocked down a three-point shot and was fouled with half a second on the clock. He made the free throw to give Concordia a 28-17 cushion at halftime.
Breese opened the second half scoring with a three to push the lead to 31-17.
Phillipsburg trimmed the deficit to 10 points, 33-23, midway through the third quarter.
A three by Retter and a free throw by Breese again gave Concordia a 14-point advantage, 37-23.
Concordia was leading 39-27 when Joey Henderson made two free throws with three seconds to play in the period to make it 41-27.
Henderson scored all nine of his points in the second half. He also had six assists.
Phillipsburg got a basket by Caden Seems, a free throw by Trey Carlson and a bucket by Rodriguez to pull within nine points, 41-32.
Henderson scored for Concordia, but Phillipsburg got a basket off an offensive rebound by Rhett Shelton.
Another bucket by Henderson made it 45-34.
Phillipsburg answered with a bucket by Zordyn Taylor to again make it a nine-point game, 45-36.
Henderson scored three straight points and Chane Parker made a layup to push Concordia's lead to 50-36 with under two minutes to play.
Seems made a layup for Phillipsburg to cap off the scoring.
Jonathan Turner finished with eight points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots for Concordia.
Parker had 13 rebounds to go with five points.
Concordia shot 40 percent (16 of 40) from the field and made 12 of 18 free throws for 67 percent.
Rodriguez led Phillipsburg with 15 points.

CONCORDIA (50)
Henderson 3-3-3 9, Lister 0-1-1 1, VanMeter 0-0-1 0, Parker 2-1-1 5, Retter 4-5-3 16, Loudermilk 0-1-0 1, Breese 3-1-1 10, Turner 4-0-5 8. Totals: 16-12-15 50.
PHILLIPSBURG (38)
Hanchett 0-0-2 0, Babcock 0-0-2 0, Rodriguez 6-1-4 15, Taylor 3-1-3 7, Carlson 2-4-3 8, Shelton 1-0-4 2, Seems 3-0-0 6. Totals: 15-6-18 38.