The best boys’ basketball season finish in seven years for the Kingston Redskins ran into an old nemesis as they bowed out in the Class 3A state semifinals last week in Oklahoma City.
Kingston rode a balanced effort and solid three-point shooting to a 60-53 opening round victory but ran into the proverbial buzz saw in perennial power Millwood in the 93-42 semifinal defeat. The Falcons finished off the most dominant run to a state title in history on Saturday by blasting Roland for an average margin of victory of an unfathomable 49 points in three games.
In their most previous state appearance in 2022, the Redskins also dropped out at the hands of Millwood but also beat the Falcons for their 2019 state title.
Kingston cashed in early runs to a 14-10 lead through one period and 29-20 at halftime against Wyandotte before the Bears came storming back to narrow the gap to 41-39 at the end of three stanzas.
Brock Rumer and Hayden Seeney each canned pivotal three pointers to help keep the Bears at bay and Kingston converted 13 of 20 free throw tries in the last frame as well to help ice their 24th victory of the season.
Rumer finished with three treys and a total of 15 points to spur the offensive charge, which included double-double performances by Jack Hinsley and Seeney.
Hinsley ended with 14 points and 10 rebounds as Seeney contributed 10 points and 10 boards. Parks Ratzlaff added huge buckets around the paint in the first half and also contributed 14 points. Blane Henry scored the only other points with seven.
Relentless pressure was the main focal point for Millwood, much like every otherstatetournamentgame in which they played as they forced 20-plus Redskin turnovers in the semifinals and cashed in most for easy buckets.
The Falcons were up 2411 through one period as Lander Burkhalter was the only Redskin scoring more than a bucket with a conventional three-point play. A 23-3 Millwood burst over the second stanza really put it out of reach as Kingston was held without a field goal.
They finally found the range a bit in the third stanza with 10 points, but Millwood poured in 29 more to pull away.
Rumer led the scoring attack with 10 points. Henry and Hudson Everhart tallied six apiece, Burkhalter and Ratzlaff each pumped in five, Hinsley and Reid Patterson both added three and the Redskins also got two points apiecefromBowenMcAdams and Luke Bellettini