By Ernie W. Webb III
OLPE – The Burlingame boys knew the challenge ahead of them was going to be a daunting one. The Bearcats also knew they needed to play a close-to-perfect game and hope defending champion Olpe didn’t bring its “A” game.
Burlingame played the top-ranked Eagles about as well as anybody in Class 1A has this season, but Bearcats simply ran into a buzzsaw on its home court. Olpe blitzed the Bearcats with a 15-2 run spanning the first and second quarters and coasted to a 49-33 win in Saturday’s sub-state championship game.
“We knew this was going to be difficult, and we just couldn’t get into our offense at all,” said Burlingame coach Eric West, whose team finished 16-6. “Their speed on defense and their physicality was just too much for us.”
The Eagles (22-1) used their quickness and strength to neutralize Burlingame’s interior duo of Trever Quaney and Lance Noonan. The Bearcats’ senior center and forward couldn’t get into the lane, shutting off a critical component of the team’s offense.
On defense, Burlingame couldn’t contain senior Damon Redeker. The lightning-fast guard got around defenders and into open spaces early and often. He had nine points in the first quarter and six in the second on 7-of-11 shooting.
“I thought Damon Redeker controlled the game for them,” West said. “Coming in, we were really concerned about their ability to hit 3-pointers. I thought we did a pretty good job of containing that, but Redeker got whatever he wanted in the first half.”
Quaney scored the game’s first points 30 seconds in, but Burlingame didn’t score again until Matthew Heckman’s 10-footer four minutes later. The Bearcats were still in the game, trailing 10-6 late in the period, but Redeker hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the frame, igniting a run from which Burlingame couldn’t recover.
Olpe scored 11 straight points to lead by as many as 15 points in the second quarter and held a 26-12 edge at halftime.
After trailing by 17 early in the second half, the Bearcats pulled within 29-16 on back-to-back baskets by Noonan and had several opportunities to get closer. But the Eagles steadied themselves midway through the third period, going on an 8-0 run to lead 37-16 going into the final eight minutes.
“We had some chances there, but just couldn’t get anything going,” West said. “You have to give Olpe credit. That is a very good basketball team.”
Burlingame got as close as 15 midway through the fourth quarter before Olpe put the game away with four straight points from Derek Hoelting and two free throws from Darren Heins.
The game was the final one for the Bearcats’ Quaney, Noonan, Andrew Zeller and Kris Hovestadt.
“We had great seniors, and I’m going to miss them,” West said. “Quaney and Noonan worked extremely hard and brought something new to the table every year, and Zeller and Hovestadt played their roles well. We didn’t get as far as we wanted, but the kids had a good season.”
Quaney had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Heckman added eight points. Noonan finished with seven points and five rebounds.
Redeker paced Olpe with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Hoelting had 18 points.
OLPE 49, BURLINGAME 33
Burlingame 6 6 4 17 — 33
Olpe 15 13 11 12 — 49
Burlingame (16-6): Trever Quaney 4-11 2-3 11, Matthew Heckman 3-5 2-3 8, Lance Noonan 3-7 1-2 7, Colby Middleton 2-3 0-0 4, Dane Winters 1-4 0-0 3, Andrew Zeller 0-6 0-0 0, Kris Hovestadt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-36 5-8 33.
Olpe (22-1): Damon Redeker 9-16 0-0 19, Derek Hoelting 6-13 6-6 18, Truman Bailey 1-3 2-2 5, Blake Redeker 1-3 0-0 2, Garret Cole 1-2 0-0 2, Darren Heins 0-2 2-2 2, Ted Skalsky 0-1 1-4 1, Dexton Hoelting 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 18-40 11-16 49.
3-point goals: Burlingame 2-8 (Quaney 1-4, Winters 1-2, Heckman 0-1, Zeller 0-1); Olpe 2-8 (Redeker 1-2, Bailey 1-1, Der. Hoelting 0-5). Rebounds – Burlingame 20 (Quaney 8); Olpe 21 (Redeker 10). Turnovers – Burlingame 15, Olpe 9.
