The Lake Today

Lake Area high school basketball was back underway last week with the 17th Annual Stover Tournament.

Osage girls

On the girls side, No. 4 seed Osage faced No. 5 Stover in the opening round on Jan. 2 and advanced with a 44-34 victory over the Bulldogs.

The Indians were up by two points at the end of the first quarter, but Stover ran a successful full-court press through the first have and was clinging to a 19-17 lead at halftime. Osage coach Scott Rowland wasn’t worried.

“We can break a press like that,” he said. “We just have to hang on and finish it after that.”

The Lady Indians took control when they returned from the break, outscoring Stover and taking a six point lead into the final quarter. Summer Dean led the second half charge putting up three 3-pointers and finishing the game with a team high 12 points.

Tiffany Urwiler followed with 11 points, Shelynna Luttrell with 10, Tara Allman had 9 and Kelsey Abbot added 2.

The win put the ladies up against No. 1 seed Eldon in the semifinal round, but the results were not the same. Eldon, which had advanced with a 44-29 win against Iberia on Monday, controlled the court all night and took sent the Indians to the consolation round with a 47-34 defeat.

Scoring for the Indians in this matchup was Summer Dean with 13, Allman with 11, Luttrell and Urwiler with 4 each and Abbott adding 2.

The Indians fell to Holden in the third place game on Friday, 43-38. The Eldon ladies won the tournament with a 51-47 win over the No. 2 Laquey Hornets.

Osage boys

The Stover Tournament on the boys side saw six teams in pool play with the finals on Jan. 7.

The Indians faced Stover in the first round and took home a 63-53 victory.

Senior Dylan McNerney led the team with 15 points, four assists and two steals while snagging eight rebounds during the battle. Dylan Jeffries and Mac Murray each scored 14 and Jared Edwards added 12. Adam Hill put up four points. Zach Edwards added two points and stole three before fouling out. Tristan Hensley and Freddy Wackenhut each added a free-throw point.

Murray and Jeffries each had 8 rebounds and Edwards added 3 rebounds along with 5 steals and 6 assists.

The Indians faced Cole Camp on Thursday for the second game of pool play and brought home another victory and advanced to the championship round on a 69-64 overtime win.

McNerney once again led the Indians with 24 points including four 3-pointers. Jared Edwards followed with 17 points and Murray and Jeffries each scored 10. Hill rounded out the scoring with 4, Zach Edwards and Tristan Hensley each added 2 points.

Murray and Hill led with 6 rebounds each and Jared Edwards had 6 assists.

On Saturday, the Indians faced the Marshall Owls for the tournament championship game.

Osage took an early lead, ending the first quarter with a 16-11 lead. Marshall came together in the second quarter and held the Indians scoreless until the four minute mark, taking a 24-22 lead into the half on a buzzer shot by Marshall’s lone senior player.

A fast- paced third quarter ended with a 34-34 tie as Osage struggled against the zone defense of the Owls.

The Indians got within three points in the final minute of the game, but Marshall added another two to take home the victory and the trophy with a 50-46 final score.

McNerney led the Indians with 14 points with J. Edwards, Murray and Hill adding 8 points each. Zach Edwards and Jeffries each added 4.

The 4-6 Indians faced Blair Oaks at home on Monday and traveled to Buffalo on Tuesday. Scores were not available at press time.

Tournament honors

The Stover All-Tournament teams were named following the championship game. Osage’s Zach Edwards, Mack Murray and Dylan McNerney were all named with McNerney being named as Tournament MVP.

Connor Cooley and Alex Maupin also made the list, as did Tipton’s Ethan Koechner and Collin Nolting. Austin Van Mete of Holden and Tanner Oelrichs of Cole Camp rounded out the honors.

For the ladies, Eldon’s Sara Rhine was Tournament MVP. The rest of the honorees were Megan Humphrey (Eldon), Summer Dean (Osage), Shelby Rice (Cole Camp), Kristin Wilson (Stover), Selena Gochenour (Holden), Akrista Greer (Versailles), Kaylee Kephart (Holden), and Britnie Miller and Maura Skidmore (Laquey).

Click here to see more photos of the 17th Annual Stover Tournament.