Jacob Padilla was back at Ralston Arena on Tuesday to check out the quarterfinal action at the boys Metro Holiday Tournament where “upset” was the theme of the day.
Here’s a round-up of the day’s games.
No. 8 Papillion-La Vista 71, No. 1 Omaha Central 65
The Monarchs opened the quarterfinals with a big upset, taking down the top-seeded Eagles and handing them their first loss of the season.
Central led by four after one, Papio pulled ahead by two at halftime and the Eagles jumped in front by one at the end of three. The teams went back and forth in the final period with the final tie coming at 53-all.
Sophomore Kyle Ingwerson buried a corner three to put the Monarchs ahead for good as junior guard Joey Hylok tacked on four more to make it a 7-0 run and put Papillion-La Vista up 60-53 with less than two-and-a-half to play.
That lead was all the Monarchs needed as they salted the game away from the free-throw line. Papio shot 13-of-14 form the line in the fourth quarter while the Eagles were just 2-for-11 from 3.
Ingwerson finished with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-11 from the field, 2-of-4 from deep and 5-of-6 from the line and added six rebounds, five assists and a block to his stat line. Preston Kellogg was big inside with 13 points and nine rebounds while Hylok added 13 points and three assists.
Latrell Wrightsell Jr., who dealt with some foul trouble in the fourth quarter, finished with a team-high 17 points for Central, though he misfired on all five of his 3-point attempts. He also had five steals and three assists. Max Polk scored all 15 of his points in the second half and dished out four assists while Fai Germany added 11 points and four boards. As a team, the Eagles shot 5-of-24 from 3.
BOX SCORE
Omaha Central: 18- 9-21-17 — 65
Papillion-La Vista: 14-15-18-24 — 71
OC: Latrell Wrightsell Jr. 17, Max Polk 15, Fai Germany 11, Deng Diew 5, PJ Davis 5, Jay Dawson 5, Teth Tut 4, Abe Hoskins III 3
PLV: Kyle Ingwerson 19, Joey Hylok 13, Preston Kellogg 13, Owen McLaughlin 8, Luke Lindenmeyer 8, Matt Adamek 6, Chase Lett 4
No. 5 Omaha Creighton Prep 69, No. 4 Bellevue West 50
The upsets continued into game two as the Junior Jays built up an eight-point lead at halftime then shot 5-of-7 from 3 in the third quarter to blow the game wide open. Prep had six players score between eight and 14 points in a balanced attack while Bellevue West was mostly a one-man show.
AJ Rollins, a 2021 Nebraska football target, put Prep on his back in the first quarter with eight points and four offensive rebounds, but he spent most of the rest of the game on the bench in foul trouble. Prep found a different way to win, however, shooting 10-of-22 from 3 (including 7-of-11 in the second half) and 52.1% overall.
Sophomore forward Luke Jungers led the way with a career-high 14 points on 5-of-7 from the field (2-of-3 from 3) and 2-of-2 from the line. Junior Mai’Jhe Wiley added 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and three asists while Justin Sitti chipped in 10 points and five rebounds and spent most of the game guarding Hepburn.
Wisconsin commit Chucky Hepburn had 20 points on 8-of-16 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line with five assists, four rebounds and three steals. David Nuor scored 10 points off the bench and no one else scored more than five.
The Junior Jays move on to face No. 8 Papillion-La Vista in the semifinals on Thursday a 7 p.m.
BOX SCORE
Bellevue West: 8-13- 9-20 — 50
Omaha Creighton Prep: 20- 9-20-20 — 69
BW: Chucky Hepburn 20, David Nuor 10, John Shanklin 5, Jaden Jimenez 5, Louis Fidler 4, Frankie Fidler 4, Owen Woodard 2
OCP: Luke Jungers 14, Mai’Jhe Wiley 12, Justin Sitti 10, John Trainer 9, Spencer Schomers 8, AJ Rollins 8, Brendan Buckley 6, Adam Szwanek 2
No. 11 Papillion-La Vista South 71, No. 3 Omaha South 68
Omaha South senior Ty Griggs was the best player on the floor, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a team effort from the Titans as Papio South shot the lights out to keep the streak of upsets going.
The Packers put together a 10-3 run spanning the first and second quarters to pull ahead 17-15, but the Titans hit three straight 3-pointers to re-take the lead and they held onto it until the final few minutes.
South trailed by eight after three but rallied to take a 60-58 lead with just over three minutes to play. Papio South answered with a 3-pointer from Josiah Beckenhauer. The sides traded scores until the Titans broke South’s full-court press and got a dunk from junior Danair Dempsey to go up 68-65. The Packers came up empty on their ensuing possession and Tyler Lee split a pair of bonus free throws to make it a four-point game.
Jay Saunders found Griggs in the corner for his fourth 3 of the game to make it a one-point game with 23.4 to play. Beckenhauer hit two free throws to put the Titans up three and Dempsey blocked South’s 3-point attempt to seal the win.
Papillion-La Vista South shot 63.4% from the field including 12-of-24 from 3 as seven Titans scored between seven and 13 points. Sophomore Daniel Brocaille led the way with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting (3-of-6 from 3), five assists and four rebounds. Senior Jared Mattley finished with 11 points, nine assists and three steals while shooting 3-of-6 from 3. Dempsey had 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, five blocks, four rebounds and three assists.
Griggs scored 29 of his 37 points in the second half including 16 of South’s 21 in the third. He shot 11-of-17 from the field, 4-of-7 from 3 and 11-of-12 from the free-throw line. He grabbed five offensive rebounds and converted three three-point plays (and missing the free throw on a fourth).
BOX SCORE
Omaha South: 12- 9-21-26 — 68
Papillion-La Vista South: 15-12-23-21 — 71
OS: Ty Griggs 37, Jay Saunders 14, Skyler Wilson 13, RaShawn McNeal-Lee 2, DonTryl Nunn-Love 2
PLVS: Daniel Rocaille 13, Jared Mattley 11, Danair Dempsey 11, Graham Cassoutt 9, Thaison Glenn 9, Josiah Beckenhauer 8, Tyler Lee 7, Jack McKittrick 3
No. 2 Millard North 74, No. 10 Millard West 63
Hunter Sallis made sure his Mustangs didn’t suffer the same far as the other three top four seeds. He scored Millard North’s first 11 points en route to a 28-point outing as Millard North overwhelmed Millard West to advance to the semifinals.
Millard North’s length made scoring in the paint difficult (10 blocks, 13-of-29 shooting inside the arc), but the Wildcats caught fire from deep (10-of-22, 45.4%) to keep the Mustangs from turning the game into a rout. Millard North led by eight after one, by 14 after two and by 19 after three before the Wildcats shot 5-of-5 from 3 in the fourth quarter to make the final score look a bit more respectable.
Six different players threw down dunks for the high-flying Mustangs as Millard North recored 21 assists on 32 field goals. Sallis, Nebraska’s top target in 2021, shot 12-of-19 from the field and hit all three of his free throws while also dishing out eight assists, corralling six rebounds and grabbing three steals.
Junior Saint Thomas flirted with a triple-double with 16 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. Jasen Green, a 2022 Nebraska target, finished with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting and two blocks. Stanford commit Max Murrell had eight points, seven blocks and six rebounds.
Senior forward Zach Olson, a Morningside commit, led Millard West with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting (3-of-5 from 3). Junior forward Evan Meyersick added 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and four rebounds.
The Mustangs will take on the Titans in the semifinals on Thursday at 8:45 p.m.
BOX SCORE
Millard North: 19-17-22-16 — 74
Millard West: 11-11-17-24 — 63
MN: Hunter Sallis 28, Saint Thomas 16, Jasen Green 10, Max Murrell 8, Noah Erickson 6, Tyler Sandoval 4, Elijah Mitchell 2
MW: Zach Olson 13, Evan Meyersick 11, Kaedynn Odermann 10, Chase Hultman 7, Dominic DeAngelo-Humm 6, Ryan Larsen 5, Dalys Beanum 4, Josh Wickstom 4, James Conway 2, Dustin Hatch 1
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
