A full house was on hand Saturday when the St. Agnes JV basketball team tangled with the seventh grade AMS squad. The Crusaders held a third period lead, but the Bulldogs rallied in the fourth and took home a 23 to 21 win over the Academy. It was standing room only at the Holy Rosary Parish Center to watch the exciting game that came down to the final seconds. Due to the weather, the contest was a single game contest as Bayard was a no show in the round robin format. Leading the offense for SA was Enzo Kappius who had a game high 12 points while Dixon Bair topped the scoring for AMS with 7 points all coming in the fourth period rally. The teams then played a 2 quarter B game with the Academy coming out on top 21 to 6.
Both team’s defenses stood out in the opening stages of the battle. AMS would get a three pointer by Aschen Fries while netting the only score for the Crusaders came from Kappius. After one period of action, the Bulldogs led 3 to 2. Offenses then picked it up in the period #2. A pair of treys by Bulldog Travis Kaiser-Pfannensteil plus a two pointer by Zach Dubray and a free throw by Mikey Valdovinos paced the AMS offense. St. Agnes countered with 4 Kappius points, a hoop by Tee Johnson, and 2 good shots from the charity stripe by Tatum Devlin to keep the hosts close. After 2 quarters of play, the Dogs led 12 to 10.
St. Agnes was solid on both sides in the third. The Crusades shut out the Bulldogs while tallying 7 points to surge ahead. Four more points by Kappius helped St. Agnes take a lead. Crusader Braden Myers also contributed with a three pointer and the game went to the fourth with the Academy out in front 17 to 12. Momentum then went to the guests in final 6 minutes. Bair was clutch for AMS with a pair of 2 pointers and a big three as the Bulldogs grabbed the lead. The Dogs also got tallies in the fourth from Dubray and Valdovinos. Hoops by Kappius and Myers accounted for the Crusaders points in the fourth. St. Agnes had a couple of looks in the final seconds but their attempts were no good. Final AMS 23 SA 21
AMS 3 9 0 11 23
SA 2 8 7 4 21
Scoring for AMS Bair 7 Kasier-Pfannensteil 6 Dubray 4 Fries 3 Valdovinos 3
Scoring for SA Kappius 12 Myers 5 Devlin 2 Johnson 2
In the last game of the afternoon, the AMS B seventh grade squad faced off with the St. Agnes JV team. The Crusaders put 11 in the scoring column in the first half and 10 more in the second and downed the Bulldogs 21 to 6. Eight Crusaders scored with Jaden Estevane-Acosta and Ashton Weingart leading the Academy in scoring with 4 tallies apiece. Top scorer for the Dogs was Mason Rebillet who netted 4 points as well.
In the opening half, St. Agnes jumped to an 11 to 2 advantage thanks to baskets by Liam Pena, Tee Johnson, Estevane-Acosta, and Luke Jelinek. Pena added a free throw while Estevane-Acosta had 2 hoops to help SA take control of the game. A Rebillet goal accounted for the lone AMS tally.
Half #2 saw the Academy increase their margin. St. Agnes netted 10 points in the half with Weingart scoring 4 while also getting into the scorebook with 2 points each were Gage Finkey, Emerson Trumble, and Tristin Hansen. Leading the Bulldog offense in the second were Rebillet and Zander Carlson who scored 2 points apiece. Final SA 21 AMS 6
AMS 2 4 6
SA 11 10 21
Scoring for AMS Rebillet 4 Carlson 2
Scoring for SA Weingart 4 Estevane-Acosta 4 Pena 3 Johnson 2 Finkey 2 Jelinek 2 Hansen 2 Trumble 2
AMS played Chadron on Tuesday with 7th away 8th at home SA will play at Chadron on Thursday.
(Photos by Shaun Friedrichsen)
