Tough start dooms Bluffton against Margaretta

KANSAS --Bluffton would have needed to play nearly perfect basketball. The sixth-seeded Pirates got off to a slow start Friday and that essentially derailed their hopes. Second-seeded and No. 4-ranked Margaretta blitzed Bluffton early, topping the Pirates 55-30 in a Division V district final at Lakota High School. "We lost to a better team," Bluffton coach Todd Boblitt said. "They're just so hard when they're making shots and they made shots early. We couldn't get settled into the game. Realistically, we needed them to miss some shots early. "We needed to make a couple shots so we could get our legs under us and it just didn't happen." Bluffton finished the season with a record of 11-14. The Pirates were 0-4 out of the gate, but steadied the ship and played well the final six weeks of the season. "This group has stuck together," Boblitt said. "We dealt with a lot of adversity in a lot of different ways. This group has always come back and been prepared for practice and been prepared for games. I think the biggest takeaway with this group is when you stick together, you have a chance to do some pretty exciting things." Margaretta (22-3) was fast out of the gate. Kale Bailey opened the game with a 3 before Tyson Bailey scored off an assist from Judah Keller. Keiygan Morris made two free throws before Bluffton got on the board thanks to a hoop from Brody Donley. But the Polar Bears controlled the rest of the quarter. Morris knocked down a jumper and Kale Bailey scored off a Pirates turnover to make it 11-2. Keller then scored thanks to an assist from Julian Washington before Kale Bailey put Margaretta up 15-2 after one quarter. "We had to play a really clean game and we got down early," Boblitt said. "It kind of fed their fire and we just couldn't find our way back into the game." The end of the quarter break did little to slow the Polar Bears. Kale Bailey scored early in the second quarter and later, a three-point play from Washington extended the lead to 20-4. Tyson Bailey followed with a three-point play to balloon the lead to 23-4. Two buckets from Parker Lovell and one from Owen Scoles got Bluffton the next six points, but Margaretta regained control. Tyson Bailey and Washington each scored. Then, Tyson Bailey tallied the last three points of the half to put the Polar Bears ahead 30-10 at halftime. "We knew a lot about them," Margaretta coach Steve Keller said. "Todd Boblitt is a good friend of mine. We got into coaching at the same time and coached against each other in the JV rounds. We knew they wanted to slow it down and take the air out of the basketball. "Fortunately, our guys played with a lot of energy and didn't let that happen." Much like it did in the district semifinals Tuesday against Huron, Margaretta exploded out of the half. Tyson Bailey scored off an assist from Washington before a three-point play from Kale Bailey extended the advantage to 35-10. Morris and Keller followed with 3-pointers before a score from Keller made it 43-11. "We expected a lot of pressure," Boblitt said. "We felt like we handled their pressure, but in the half court, they swallowed us up. We weren't able to find a lot of driving lanes. We weren't able to get the ball inside and play inside-out. "They did a terrific job defensively against what we were trying to do offensively." On an out of bounds play, Washington flushed a dunk. He added a 3 with 2:02 to go in the third quarter and his three-point play made it 52-17, starting a running clock. Bluffton did outscore the Polar Bears 11-3 the rest of the way, but it was too little, too late. "We wanted to make sure we continued to compete the right way," Boblitt said. "We were focused on executing what we came in trying to execute. We wanted to take care of the ball and get it inside a little more. I don't know that I had anything right to say tonight. "I didn't have a lot of our answers for our guys, which I feel bad about." Washington led the Polar Bears with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Kale Bailey and Tyson Bailey (four steals) each scored 12 points. Bean Ginther scored nine points for Bluffton while Lovell had six points. Ginther and Robby Taylor are seniors for Bluffton, which was playing in its first district final since the 1999-2000 season. "From a senior standpoint, Robby has always come in ready to work," Boblitt said. "He's done a great job of preparing the right way. Bean has been our heart for the last several seasons. He's done so much for us in our program." BLUFFTON (11-14)Parker Lovell 3 0-0 6, Bean Ginther 4 1-3 9, Lane Ginther 0 3-4 3, Robby Taylor 1 0-0 2, Brady Donley 2 0-0 4, Owen Scoles 1 1-2 3, Braydon McClure 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 12-35 5-9 30 MARGARETTA (22-3)Kale Bailey 5 1-3 12, Keiygan Morris 2 2-2 7, Julian Washington 5 2-2 13, Judah Keller 3 1-2 8, Tyson Bailey 5 2-3 12, Jaxson Bohn 0 1-2 1, Rob Cox 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 21-39 9-14 55 Bluffton 2 8 9 11 — 30Margaretta 15 15 22 3 — 55 Three-point goals: Bluffton 1-11 (McClure); Margaretta 4-11 (K. Bailey, Morris, Washington, Keller)Rebounds: Bluffton 18 (Ginther 4); Margaretta 27 (Washington 7)Turnovers: Bluffton 14; Margaretta 8