Salina South boys basketball regroups down the stretch to hold off Concordia, 56-44
Devin Myers could have taken the easy way out and settled for a corner 3-pointer, but that was exactly what led to Salina South's predicament in the first place.
With a defender in his face, Myers instead drove the left baseline, went hard to the basket and scored through contact. His basket and free throw stopped an 11-point Concordia run and pushed the Cougars' lead back to double digits.
"I felt that gave us all the momentum to close it out," Myers said of the play, which put the Cougars back on track for a 56-44 Salina Invitational Tournament victory Friday night at the South gym. "We hit a lot of 3-pointers in the first half and got too comfortable."
By knocking off Concordia, South improved to 5-6 and advanced to Saturday's 3:30 p.m. fifth-place game against Abilene at the South gym. Abilene beat Liberal, 75-48, in the other consolation semifinal.
The Cougars never trailed against Concordia, bolting to a 13-3 lead and extending it to 21 points in the second quarter before settling for a 37-19 cushion at halftime. They still led by 18 midway through the third quarter when the Panthers came charging back.
Concordia scored the last nine points of the period, cutting the South lead to 43-34, and Cav Carlgren's rebound basket to start the fourth made it a seven-point game.
That's when Myers' three-point play, with 7:13 left, abruptly swung the momentum back to South.
"We needed to get more aggressive and get to the rim, and Devin did a nice job on that iso to get the and-one," South coach Jason Hooper said. "And Te'Jon (McDaniel) got a couple to give us a (bigger) lead.
"We were just settling too much. We hit all those threes in the first half and fell in love with it."
Indeed, South made 7 of 15 3-point attempts in the first half and were 1 of 4 in the second. But that one, from Myers with 3:15 left, was a dagger that stretched the Cougar lead back to 15.
"I felt it was over after that," Myers said with a smile.
It also eased the sting of a 22-point first-round loss to Buhler, which had halted a three-game South winning streak.
"We definitely needed to bounce back and get our heads right after losing to Buhler again," said Myers, who finished with 19 points, including four 3-pointers.
South, which shot 50% from the field, also got 21 points from McDaniel.
Concordia (7-5) was led by Carlgren with 14 points and Payton Brees with 10. The Panthers outrebounded South, 33-20, with Jonathan Turner coning off the bench to grab a game-high nine.
After suffering its second straight tournament loss, Concordia will try to salvage a victory against Liberal in the 12:30 p.m. seventh-place game.
This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina South boys basketball beats Concordia in Salina Invitational
