The Sylvan-Lucas Mustangs overcame an eightpoint third quarter deficit and defeated Central Plains 42-35 Saturday night in the Class 1A regional championship game on the Oilers home court at Central Plains High School in Claflin.

Central Plains, the twotime defending state champions, were ahead much of the game. After several ties and back and fourth point advantages, Sylvan-Lucas went ahead for good in the third quarter.

The Mustangs advance to the Trego substate at WaKeeney today (Thursday, March 5) while the Oilers finish the season with an overall record of 10-13.

Oilers vs. LaCrosse

LaCrosse had a banner year in the always-tough Central Prairie League. The Leopards won 16 games, including a pair of wins against Ellinwood, and lost just four games – all to ranked opponents. Yet LaCrosse managed a meager 39-33 win over Central Plains on Valentine’s night. In Thursday’s Class 1A regional rematch, the Oilers avenged that loss with a 41-34 come-from-behind win.

“I told my wife today – I’ve been coaching 44 years – I said, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m comfortable. I’m not upset, I don’t have jitters,’” said Oiler coach Ted Schmid. “That’s the first time in my life in a game like this where I didn’t have second thoughts.

“Before the game started, in the locker room, I told them I didn’t have anything to say to them. They have put in the work, they’re ready to go, they know what to do. At this time of the season, if you’re still trying to coach some things in, you’ve failed. Between Coach (Aaron) Gonzalez and myself — he’s a great assistant. Probably the best assistant I’ve had in 40-plus years of coaching.”

The Leopards still appeared to be better team when senior Kaden Depperschmidt connected on a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter. That basket gave LaCrosse a 32-24 lead with 6:50 remaining. Central Plains closed out the game on a 17-2 run to steal the win.

“It’s very emotional,” said senior Lawson Oeser, who made several key free throws down the stretch. “I’m very glad to give it to God. We knew we were going to be in a rough spot without all those great seniors from last year. We just had to pull through from that and bring up some new people. We’ve really come a long ways throughout the season.”

Jerred Bieberle opened the run with a layup with 6:05 remaining. He added a stickback a minute later, then scored again with 3:47 to play to bring the Oilers within two at 32-30. Tyler Holmes tied things up 30 seconds later with a baseline drive. In a complete team effort, Oeser made the go-ahead basket on a jumper.

“After we got down eight, that’s when we decided there’s no quit in us,” Schmid said. “We never quit. We haven’t quit when we played St. John, we haven’t quit when we played anybody. When we got to the fourth quarter, my only comment was it’s just like football. You have to own the fourth quarter. It’s not how you start the game, it’s how you finish the game.”

The Oilers forced a pair of turnovers just past the 60-second mark. Each time, Oeser made his way to the free throw line for the bonus. He connected on three of his first four attempts. He went 7 for 10 from the line in the fourth quarter.

“I just knew I had to relax because if I was stressed I was definitely going to miss,” Oeser said. “I just relaxed and did my best to put them in.”

LaCrosse scored its only two field goals of the fourth quarter in the first 70 seconds. Senior Blake Herrman was fouled on a wild 3-point attempt with 18 ticks left. He made two free throws for a 38-34 score, but Oeser answered on the other end with free throws.

The dominating fourth quarter was a far cry from the opening frame. Senior JJ Heredia scored five points in the first eight minutes but the Oilers had to overcome six early turnovers to lead 9-7 after one quarter.

“We made some errant passes early,” Schmid said. “We got out of synch because we were playing too fast. Basketball is a game of speeds. You can play at 7, 8, 9, 10 speed. Sometimes you have to slow it down to five. We were in eight and nine speed too quick, I thought.”

Holmes was a wrecking ball in the second quarter. One offensive board led to points from Bieberle. In his most demonstrative play, Holmes out-hustled the other nine players on the floor to grab his own 3-point miss. The subsequent free throw e sent the Oilers into the half trailing just 17-16.

Heredia led the Oilers through three quarters with 13 points.