Bottom-seeded Collegiate pulls double-overtime road win in first round of sub-state
Collegiate is playing opponents it hasn’t in three years.
The Spartans played their first Class 3A team since the 2016-17 season on Tuesday and didn’t disappoint with a 65-62 double overtime upset of No. 1 Cheney in the first round of their sub-state basketball tournament.
Coach Mitch Fiegel said his group is battle-tested.
“We never felt like we were the eight seed,” he said. “Seeds are based solely on record, not schedule. That’s been our challenge as a coaching staff for the last month. We have been telling our kids and parents that our progress will not be determined by our win-loss record. We were more focused on making strides, even if they had to be very slow at times.”
Collegiate entered Tuesday 10-9 but played some of the best teams in Classes 5A and 4A, including Andale, McPherson and Augusta. Fiegel said that wasn’t by design; the AVCTL IV the tournaments they played in worked out that way.
Out of Collegiate’s nine losses, six have come against ranked 4A or 5A teams, Fiegel said.
Tuesday, they saw the benefit.
Collegiate was at the free throw line with a one-and-one and two seconds left with a chance to win it. The Spartans missed, but at the end of the first overtime, freshman Grady Dick delivered.
“He came down and basically hit a shot with three guys hanging on him,” Fiegel said. “It was a shot that most of the time doesn’t go in, but tonight, it did.”
Dick played both overtimes with four fouls, and Gabe Fisher, one of Collegiate’s two seniors, fouled out before the end of regulation. The Spartans had to rely on its youth once again, and Fiegel said they grew up.
Dick finished with 19 points. Junior Cole Thornton added 14, and Fisher had 10. Defensively, Collegiate held Cheney, who entered 16-4, to 38 percent from two-point range and 20 percent from three.
“I told our guys, ‘ We’ve won a lot of games like this over the years,’ “ Fiegel said. “They’re the kind of games that can put you in position to do something significant. ... We took a big step tonight, and if we can put our toughness on display like we did tonight, then we’re a tough out.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2019 at 12:01 AM.