Derby boys basketball wins McPherson title in OT on Stiger’s last-second 3
For two teams that stumbled through the first month of the season, Saturday night delivered a reminder of how dangerous both have become when everything starts to click.
In a midseason tournament final postponed from last weekend, Derby beat Bishop Carroll 77-74 in overtime on a last-second 3-pointer by sophomore Greg Stiger, breaking a tie to secure the McPherson Invitational Tournament championship.
“That was a championship-worthy game,” Derby coach Brett Flory said. “Just no quit in either team.”
The path to that finish was anything but straightforward.
Derby looked ready to run away with it early, overwhelming Carroll with defensive pressure and perimeter shot-making to build an 18-5 lead after the first quarter. The Panthers were sharp, confident and dictating tempo, turning stops into quick strikes while Carroll struggled to find rhythm.
But the Golden Eagles, ranked No. 8 in Class 5A after a four-game winning streak, didn’t arrive at the tournament championship by folding under pressure. Following a 4-5 start to the season, Carroll had beaten ranked opponents St. James and Blue Valley last week to advance to the final and showed the same resilience again Saturday.
Carroll went on to dominate Derby in the middle two quarters, outscoring the Panthers 48-27 to seize control of the game. What had been an early Derby showcase turned into a Carroll takeover.
A floater by Jonah Mull pushed Carroll ahead 59-50 with 3:37 left in regulation. Moments later, Nathan Goertz broke Derby’s press, dribbled down the lane, glided through the air and hammered home a one-handed dunk to extend the lead to 61-53 with 3:04 remaining. The Golden Eagles still possessed an eight-point lead with 2:37 left, but Derby never folded.
Avant Riley started the rally with a quick layup. Stiger followed with a pair of free throws. A steal by Gavin Chadwick created another chance, as Riley drove and kicked to Stiger for a 3 that cut the deficit to 63-62 with 1:08 left.
After Goertz answered inside to make it 65-62 with 38 seconds left, Riley delivered yet again — drilling a left-wing 3 with 23 seconds left to tie the game at 65 and erase the deficit entirely.
“The shot clock really has changed the game,” Flory said. “We talked to our guys there that there are still a lot of possessions left in this game with the shot clock. We just focused on one stop at a time, which we started to get. We just chipped away possession by possession.”
Carroll had a final chance in regulation after a stoppage with 4.3 seconds left, but was whistled for traveling. That opened the door for Derby, as Stiger launched from a couple feet beyond the arc at the buzzer, only to see this potential game-winning shot miss and send the game to overtime.
The extra period matched the tension of the final minutes in regulation.
Derby struck first on a 3-pointer by Cale Clingan, then executed a give-and-go between Clingan and Stiger that resulted in a layup and a foul. The three-point play pushed Derby ahead 71-66 with 2:28 left in overtime.
Carroll answered behind a spectacular individual performance from Brody Kreutzer, who kept the Golden Eagles alive all night with tough shot-making. Kreutzer buried a corner 3, then after Riley responded with a 3 of his own to make it 74-69 with 1:17 left, Kreutzer countered again with a slick crossover into a deep 3 to trim the margin to 74-72 with 1:01 remaining.
Seconds later, Kreutzer came up with a steal and was fouled. He calmly knocked down two free throws with 40 seconds left to tie the game at 74. Kreutzer finished with 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting with six 3s, leading a balanced Carroll effort that also included 15 points from Goertz, 13 from Judd Blasi and 11 from Luke Littlejohn.
Derby held for the final shot.
The Panthers drained the clock and ran a set for Stiger beyond the arc. His first attempt missed, but Chadwick tipped the rebound to keep the possession alive. The ball was kicked to Riley, who drew a double team and, instead of forcing a hero shot, stayed poised under pressure and swung the ball back to Stiger, wide open in nearly the same spot as his first look.
“Greg wasn’t going to miss twice in a row,” Flory said.
Stiger buried the go-ahead 3 with 5.6 seconds left. And because the clock doesn’t stop after made baskets in high school play, Carroll was left with a desperation 70-foot heave that fell short.
Stiger finished with 29 points and tied the program record with eight 3-pointers, capping one of the most memorable performances of his young career. Riley added 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting with four assists, while Clingan contributed 18 points to power Derby’s three-headed attack.
“What I loved about that game was that it wasn’t easy,” Flory said. “We had to hang in there and find a way. That’s something we weren’t doing earlier in the year. It didn’t look very good there for a while, but they pulled it off. That was great growth to see.”
Derby’s trajectory has sharply changed since a 2-4 start. The Panthers are now 9-1 in their last 10 games to improve to 11-5 and reinsert themselves back into the Class 6A contender conversation.
“We’ve said all along that this team might have a higher ceiling than last year, but it’s a brand-new team,” Flory said. “We started out playing some really good teams, then we had some really good practices over break, made some adjustments and things have started to click. I think we’ve found an identity and the kids are coming together. They’re fun to watch.”
This story was originally published February 1, 2026 at 6:09 AM.
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