McPHERSON, Kan. – A Friday night semifinal classic is stamped into the minds of those in attendance at the Roundhouse as the Bullpups pushed themselves into the 61st Annual McPherson Invitational Championship but fell to Blue Valley West Saturday to give them a second place finish.
The Bullpups played all three of their games against 6A opponents after having a 9-day gap since their last game. The tournament began with an offensive masterpiece against Manhattan as four Bullpups finished in double-figures and the team shot 58%. This gave McPherson a date with the Shawnee Mission East Lancers, who had defeated McPherson in their last two meets and were coming off of an exciting win against Lawrence Free State.
McPherson led by eight points with 3:30 to go in the 3rd quarter, but timely perimeter shooting brough the Lancers back, giving them a 56-52 lead with 30 seconds left in the 4th quarter. Two missed SM East free throws with 20 seconds left kept McPherson in the game. Cade Strathman, who had a strong tournament averaging 10 points/game, made a crucial and-one with a layup and free throw with 13 seconds left. Two more missed free throws kept the deficit the same. After Strathman missed a potential go-ahead three, Bishop Brown skied in for the offensive rebound, getting fouled in the process with the Bullpups in the two-shot bonus. Brown missed the first free throw, but made the second to tie the game and send it to overtime.
A strong start to the extra period gave McPherson a six-point lead with 1:12 to go, but back-to-back threes and missed free throws sparked an incredible sequence to end the game. East’s Walt Jones made his third three-pointer in the game to tie it with 15 seconds left. Jett Pyle controlled the ball up the floor, drove left with a crossover, found his cousin, Gabe, crossing along the baseline, threw up a lob, and Gabe caught the pass cleanly and threw down a two-handed dunk with six seconds remaining. Will Beck missed a contested potential game-winning shot to end the game with a 66-64 McPherson win.
However, they had to face a tough Blue Valley West team who entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed, but pushed past No. 2 Hutchinson and No. 3 St. James Academy to make their second ever MIT championship in their 14th appearance. The BV West Jaguars took advantage of having a taller lineup as they outrebounded the Bullpups 35 to 23, including their 6’7″ forward Tyler Peterson finishing with a game-high 11 boards. McPherson’s shots had trouble going into the hoop for the first three quarters and faced a 13-point deficit, their largest deficit of the past two seasons. Gabe Pyle would end up hitting back to back threes to make it a seven-point deficit going into the 4th quarter. McPherson battled back and took the lead 47-46 with 2:55 left, but the Bullpups would end up being outscored 8-0 for the rest of the contest, giving them their second loss of the year.
Despite the outcome, the Bullpups had a strong tournament against tough, athletic teams outside of the AVCTL and outside of 4A. Senior guard Gabe Pyle earned his second straight tournament MVP award after leading the tournament in scoring with 61 total points (20.3 per game). He also finished with the second most steals (9) and tied for the second most blocks (4). Junior guard Jett Pyle was also named into the All-Tournament team after averaging 13.3 points per game and leading the tournament in assists with 16 total (5.3 per game).
The Bullpups will look to turn things around Tuesday, Jan. 28 at El Dorado. After that, they will return home Tuesday, Feb. 4 against Wichita-Collegiate, who as of Jan. 27 are ranked by the KBCA as the #1 team in 3A. All McPherson High School basketball games can be heard on 98.9/1540 KMCP and can be seen via video stream synced with the radio call.
