Cougars race past Panthers 67-40 in SIT opener
SALINA — The odds were already stacked against the Concordia Panthers, playing for the first time in 16 days against a Salina South team that is ranked in the top 10 in Class 5A on its home floor — and then Devon Junghans got hot.
Junghans, a 5-9 junior guard, connected on 7 of 12 three-point attempts in pouring in 33 points to spark second-seeded Salina South to a 67-40 victory over seventh-seeded Concordia in the opening round of the 41st Annual Salina Invitational Tournament Friday night.
Junghans, who was averaging 12 points going into the game, connected on four threes and scored 14 points in the first quarter as the Cougars got out to a 20-7 lead.
Concordia, playing for the first time since a win over Clay Center back on January 7, was unable to mount a challenge over the final three quarters.
“Defensively, I really don't feel like we played that bad of a game. It was just a matter of they got a kid hot and we couldn't do anything to stop him,” Concordia coach Michael Roe said, “That is kind of the challenge against a really good team. As soon as he gets hot, if you miss somebody else they are going to score it. So you have to be able to shut everybody down, and we couldn't get that done.”
Concordia (2-5) was scheduled to play third-seeded Buhler in the consolation bracket tonight at Salina Central High School.
Buhler lost 53-51 to sixth-seeded Wichita South in the first round.
Top-seeded Andover downed eighth-seeded Salina Central 67-46 and fourth-seeded Abilene thumped fifth-seeded Liberal, 75-55.
Concordia had three games since its win over Clay Center postponed because of inclement weather, and also had a limited number of practices because of school being cancelled, including on Wednesday.
The Panthers had an early 3-2 lead in the game.
AJ Johnson made one of two free throws and Junghans buried a three to put Salina South on top to stay, 6-3.
Wyatt Trost scored on a drive, and Concordia trailed just 6-5.
Trost was 7 of 11 from the field and six of nine from the free throw line in scoring 20 points. He also had five rebounds.
“Wyatt played well. I thought we some guys knock down some good shots. We took some good looks, and just getting back in the flow of things is good for us,” Roe said.
Taking advantage of Panther turnovers, the Cougars tossed in nine straight points, six by Junghans, to stretch the lead to 15-5.
Concordia turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter and 22 times in the game.
“That is something (pressure) we were going to work on Wednesday, right before the game. But no practice, you are kind of limited on what you can prep for,” Roe said, “We had a feeling they might press us a little bit and try to speed us up, and we got caught with our head down sometimes and made a couple of bad passes.”
A basket by Trost cut the deficit to eight points, 15-7.
Junghans scored five points in the final 40 seconds of the first quarter to put South up 20-7.
The two teams traded baskets, and the Cougars went on a 10-4 spurt to open up a 32-13 advantage.
Concordia, with Trost scoring six points, would cut the deficit to 14 points at halftime, 34-20.
A three-point play by Junghans, who was 9 of 14 from the field and six of six from the free throw line, put South up 37-20 early in the second half.
Chas Carlgren scored off an offensive rebound, and the Panthers were down 37-22.
Carlgren was the second leading scorer for Concordia with six points.
Knocking down four threes, two each by Junghans and Josh Jordan, the Cougars put together a 28-5 sizzle to open up a 55-27 lead.
South led 58-29 going into the fourth quarter.
With a running clock over the final 6:30 of the game, the Panthers got 11 points in the final period to nine for the Cougars.
Jacob Rosenbaum finished with five points and five rebounds for Concordia.
The Panthers shot 33 percent (13 of 40) from the field and 71 percent (12 of 17) from the line.
Johnson tossed in 11 points for South and Jordan added 10.
The Cougars were 23 of 55 from the floor for 43 percent and 12 of 19 from the line for 63 percent.
CONCORDIA (40)
Vigneyr 1-0-1 3, Trost 7-6-0 20, Cav Carlgren 09-3-3 3, Williams 0-0-2 0, Owens 0-0-2 0, Rosenbaum 2-0-1 5, Hobrock 1-1-0 3, Chas Carlgren 2-2-4 6, Parker 0-0-1 0. Totals: 13-12-14 40.
SALINA SOUTH (67)
Schreiber 2-2-2 6, Jordan 4-0-3 10, Johnson 5-1-1 11, Hannert 1-1-3 3, Evans 1-0-1 2, Junghans 10-6-1 22, Barber 0-1-0 1, Ratcliff 0-1-2 1, Davidson 0-0-1 0. Totals: 23-12-14 67.