SALINA — A strong start to the second quarter had the Circle boys leading 22-18 with 1:16 left in the first half of their Class 4A state quarterfinal game against Pratt Thursday night, but the top-seeded Greenbacks scored the last five points of the half and went on to win 64-56.
Pratt led 12-10 after one quarter, but Circle got a putback by Alex Gardinier and a bucket by Nick Warren to take a 14-12 lead early in the second.
After Luke Southard scored on a putback for Pratt, the Thunderbirds scored four straight to grab the 22-18 lead. Eric Shepard scored with 3:36 left, and Gardinier hit a pair of free throws with 1:16 remaining in the half.
But Pratt’s Skylar Angood drew a foul with just under a minute to play, and hit both ends of the one-and-one. He then helped force a turnover with 41.7 seconds left, and that led to a three-point attempt by Pratt’s Micah Swank.
The Greenback point guard was fouled on the shot, and hit all three free throws to send his team into the half leading 23-22.
Circle was efficient offensively in the opening half, hitting 53 percent of their shots to just 24.1 percent for Pratt. The T-Birds also had an 18-13 rebounding advantage, but Pratt scored eight points off Circle’s 14 turnovers and the Greenbacks hit all eight of their free throws.
Late in the third quarter, Swank put on a scoring exhibition as he poured in 11 straight points for Pratt as part of a 14-2 run to end the frame.
That run broke the game open from a 31-29 score and gave Pratt a 45-31 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Circle went inside frequently in the fourth quarter, and Jordan Phillips scored eight of his 12 points in the final eight minutes, but the T-Birds couldn’t get enough defensive stops to make much of a run at Pratt (22-2).
Gardinier led Circle with 12 points, three assists and two steals, but he was held scoreless in the second half. Phillips carried the load after halftime, finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Shepard scored seven points to go with nine rebounds, while Kanyon Kinder, Brett Tunnell and Warren each had seven points on the night.
Circle (14-10) shot 51.2 percent from the floor and out-rebounded Pratt 31-28, but the T-Birds hit just 64.3 percent of their free throws and turned the ball over 21 times, leading to 20 Pratt points.
Pratt, got 26 points, four assists and four steals from Swank. Angood added 14 points and Matt Swank finished with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists.
CIRCLE (56): Alex Gardinier 12, Jordan Phillips 12, Kanyon Kinder 7, Eric Shepard 7, Brett Tunnell 7, Nick Warren 7, Logan Breault 2, Jacob Engels 2. Totals 22 9-14 56.
PRATT (64) — Micah Swank 26, Skylar Angood 14, Matt Swank 11, Luke Southard 7, Brad Richardson 4, Rhett Hostetler 2. Totals 20 16-17 64.
Circle 10 12 9 25 – 56
Pratt 12 11 22 19 – 64
Three-point goals – Circle 3 (Kinder, Tunnell, Warren), Pratt 8 (Ma. Swank 3, Mi. Swank 3, Angood 2). Records — Circle 14-10, Pratt 22-2
El Dorado, Kan. —
