By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.newsclass
Hayden's boys basketball team continued its late-season turnaround with is biggest win of the season Saturday afternoon, with the No. 12-seeded Wildcats punching their ticket to next week's Class 4A state tournament in Salina with a 52-37 road win at No. 4 seed Wamego.in a sub-state final.
"Wamego's a very talented team,'' Hayden first-year coach Dwayne Paul said. "They shoot the ball at a high rate and it was going to be extremely important for us to guard the bounce.
"We guarded very well today and we rebounded very well and that kind of kept us in it until our offense kind of picked up towards the end of the first (half) going into the second. We kind of made a run there and did some good things.''
Hayden junior Joe Otting led the way with 18 points as the Wildcats earned a berth in the Class 4A state tournament with a 52-37 win at Wamego Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
Saturday's win came on the heels of a 53-43 overtime sub-state semifinal victory at No. 5 Holton.
Hayden was 3-12 in mid-February, but has won six of its last seven games, including five straight.
The Wildcats' only loss over its hot streak was a 51-48 overtime loss at Topeka West, which is headed to its second straight 5A state tournament.
Hayden trailed Wamego 8-7 at the end of the first quarter in Saturday's sub-state final, but rallied to take a 22-16 halftime advantage and took a 35-26 lead at the start of the fourth quarter before outscoring the Red Raiders 17-11 over the final eight minutes.
Junior Joe Otting led four Hayden players in double figures with 18 points while junior Jake Muller and senior Peyton Bartlett added 12 points apiece and senior Trent Duffey had 10 points.
Bartlett scored his 12 points on four first-half 3-pointers.
Hayden's four double-figure scorers accounted for all 52 of the Wildcats' points.
The Wildcats will play their first-round state tournament game on Thursday at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina.
State pairings will be released after all sub-state tournaments are completed.
DODGE CITY BOYS 56, WASHBURN RURAL 49 -- No. 11 Class 6A West seed Washburn Rural gave No. 3 Dodge City a battle throughout Saturday's sub-state final before the host Red Demons outscored the Junior Blues 18-13 in the fourth quarter to hold on for the win.
Washburn Rural held a 16-10 lead at the end of the first quarter and the game was tied 26-26 at the half.
Dodge City (19-3) held a slim 38-36 lead at the start of the fourth.
Senior Quincey Kidd, junior Jack Bachelor and sophomore Griffin Durst all scored 11 points for the Junior Blues, who finished their season 9-13, while junior Wyatt Conklin added nine.
Washburn Rural stayed in the hunt with nine 3-pointers, including three treys apiece from Bachelor and Durst and two from Kidd.
Dodge City advances to the the 6A state tournament at Koch Arena in Wichita and will play a first-round game on Thursday.
TROY 58 BOYS, CAIR PARAVEL LATIN 57 -- Cair Paravel''s season came to heartbreaking end in Saturday's Class 1A Division I sub-state championship game at Frankfort, with Troy edging the Lions 58-57 to advance to the state tournament in Dodge City.
Cair Paravel, which was bidding for its first KSHSAA state tournament berth in basketball, finished its season 15-5 while Troy improved to 15-7.
