Pulling away from a feisty Parsons squad in the fourth quarter, the Labette County Grizzlies boys beat the Vikings, 71-43, on Friday night in SEK League play.
Labette County led, 45-37, going into the final period before pouring it on late.
“Give credit to the amount of shots Labette County knocked down,” Parsons head coach Anthony Houk said. “They answered a barrage of our turnovers with 3-pointers. But I’m so proud of our young group for battling and fighting and not quitting. We were down 23 and cut it to six and held it for quite some time. I was super proud of the fight from our kids. At the end of the day, Labette County knocked down shots and put us away.”
Parsons trailed, 41-18, in the second quarter before trimming the deficit down to single digits.
“The only message after some Xs and Os stuff was to not look at the scoreboard and keep moving forward,” Houk said. “I’m so thankful that my group is doing that right now. I’ve seen a lot of teams roll over and we didn’t.”
Labette County’s press overwhelmed the Vikings in the final period as a tsunami of turnovers led to transition buckets.
“We had some fresh legs and motivation there late,” Labette County head coach Bradley Argabright said. “I challenged our starters by putting them on the bench in the third quarter. I urged them to finish the game the right way. They went back in, flipped the script and got after it defensively.”
Nolan Nash led all scorers with 28 points for the Grizzlies, with 24 coming on eight 3-pointers.
“Nolan, when he hits a couple, he’s usually a pretty good shooter all night,” Argabright said. “Nolan is a great competitor and a great athlete for us. He really shot it well. He’s been doing different things on the court. He defended well.”
Jason Shaw led Parsons with 13 points while fellow senior Connor Largent added 11.
“Him and Connor have seen a lot of wins. I hate this for them right now — not getting to win as seniors. But I couldn’t ask for better leaders. Those two guys just get out, go and play hard. There’s no selfishness amongst them. They’re encouraging everybody,” Houk said.
Friday’s win snapped a twogame losing streak for the Grizzlies, who lost to Collegiate last week then to Independence on Tuesday.
“It’s a huge deal for us,” Argabright said. “Last year, whenever we’d lose one or two, we started stringing losses together. We wanted to get the taste out of our mouth, so going into break 4-2 is great for us. Now we get some rest. Our goals are in front of us and we’re in a great spot.”
Up next
Parsons hosts Pittsburg on Jan. 6 in the Vikings’ first game out of break. The Vikings are currently 0-6 overall and 0-2 in SEK League play.
“We’re not hunting a win. We’re hunting winning habits,” Houk said. “Playing hard is our first winning habit. Soon we’ll make more and more winning plays. Then we’ll win. We’re finding our winning habits and eliminating our losing habits.”
As for Labette County, it faces Chanute at home on Jan. 6.
“We want to finish games and finish quarters,” Argabright said. “We want to carry this momentum into next year. We can’t be content with where we’re at. Last year, we were in close games and couldn’t finish. We have to find ways to finish them this year.”
The Grizzlies, who had an extended football season roll straight into basketball, the break provides the first true opportunity for rest.
“It’s good for us emotionally and physically,” Argabright said. “So many of these kids have been battling since August. We wanted to finish this week the right way. All that we’ve done is great. I’m proud of these kids. The break is much needed, for myself and them. Now we want to push for the SEK title. To do that, we have to use this time off wisely. I told them to not do anything for nine days.”
