Leopold falls in semifinal against Richland

DELTA, Mo. -- The Richland Rebels wasted little time in getting the ball down the court.

Just ask Leopold.

The Rebels ran wild and knocked off the Wildcats 77-65 in a Class 1 District 3 semifinal game Tuesday night.

Richland will face defending state champion Scott County Central in a 7:30 p.m. championship game Thursday.

The Wildcats were plagued by poor shooting as they hit on just 25 of 68 (37 percent) for the night.

"We wanted to come out and shut down and extend," Rebels coach John Walker said. "They can flat-out hit some 3s. We wanted to close out on the wings, and it worked well. On offense we wanted to get the ball in the middle and attack from the wings."

Richland pushed the ball down the court, which led to multiple easy baskets.

The Rebels opened the game with a 10-2 run and had Leopold playing from behind the rest of the night. The Wildcats cut the lead to 12-8 on a David Fluchel basket, but the Rebels later closed out the quarter on a basket by Ryan Kleffer for a 20-13 lead.

"We didn't shoot the ball well," Leopold coach Shawn Kinder said. "I think we came out a little too hyped, a little overexcited. Our shots weren't falling, and then we started rushing them."

Leopold matched the Rebels basket-for-basket in the second quarter.

After the Wildcats cut the lead to 20-16 to start the second, the Rebels used a 12-4 run to build a 32-20 advantage with 3:52 left before the half.

Leopold clawed to within 37-29 by halftime.

The third quarter doomed Leopold. The Wildcats pulled within 49-38 on a Lance Seiler free throw halfway through the period, but the Rebels pushed the lead to 55-39 two minutes later.

"Basketball is a game of runs," Kinder said. "We didn't weather the storm. The third quarter is the most important, and we came out flat. We settled for poor shots and didn't execute."

Richland's Andrew Thorton scored 11 of his game-high 21 points in the third quarter, which ended with the Rebels leading 57-43.

"I was feeling confident tonight all around," Thorton said. "We were ready to push it."

The Wildcats made one final push in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to 59-48 on two Kyle Stroder free throws a minute in.

Once again the Rebels responded as Richland went on a 13-5 run to end Leopold's hopes of a comeback.

"Richland tries to speed you up," Kinder said. "They did a good job tonight forcing us to take bad shots, and that led to a lot of easy transition buckets for them."

Seiler finished with 16 points and Fluchel had 13 for Leopold, which finished with a 21-6 record.

The Rebels' Michael Latham and McKinley Thorton each added 19 points, while Kleffer tallied 16.

Richland 20 17 20 20 -- 77

Leopold 13 16 14 22 -- 65

RICHLAND (77) -- Michael Latham 19, Parker Evans 2, Andrew Thorton 21, Ryan Kleffer 16, McKinley Thorton 19. FG 29, FT 17-26, F 14. (3-pointers: A. Thorton 2. Fouled out: none.)

LEOPOLD (65) -- Greg Davis 5, Kyle Stroder 7, David Fluchel 13, Ryan Davis 5, John Bohnsack 8, Lance Seiler 16, Anthony Seabaugh 9, Matt Brotherton 2. FG 25, FT 10-15, F 18. (3-pointers: G. Davis, Fluchel, R. Davis, Bohnsack, Seiler. Fouled out: none.)