Ritzler pours in 30 points, Senecas squeak by Raiders

KANSAS — Down by 10 points to Calvert at the end of the third quarter, Lakota fought its way back into the ballgame Friday night.With six seconds left, the Raiders inbounded the ball and quickly got it to Nick Elchert. Elchert—who had 22 points on the night to lead Lakota—came up just short on a buzzer-beater from the top of the key, leaving the Senecas with a 52-50 SBC River victory."The last shot ... I had one timeout left, and we had a baseline out-of-bounds play drawn up," Lakota coach Adam Gnepper said. "They fouled us a couple times. We weren't in the bonus yet. Smart play by them. Then, it pushed the ball to the sideline out-of-bounds, and I didn't have a play drawn up for a sideline. Still, the guys took care of the ball, and we got a really good shot.""We were thinking that they're going to go inside, and we're going to try to take that away," Calvert coach Jon Otterbacher said about the final shot. "Elchert had a good, clean look. It was contested late but hats off that we got the miss, and we walk away with a two-point win—especially in the league."The rally began for the Raiders (6-5, 4-3 SBC River) with Elchert scoring inside then Ruger Kelbley found Avery Shilling in the left corner for a three on their next possession.Calvert (7-4, 4-2) answered right back when Grady Otterbacher fed Vincenzo Lyons for two in the paint. Then, the Senecas' Max Herbert stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a right-hand layup to be up halfway through the fourth quarter, 48-39.Lakota's Kelbley nailed a trey from the left wing to make it a two-score contest. On the ensuing possession, Elchert stole the ball and was fouled while converting a fast break layup. Elchert's free throw swished to make get within three points of Calvert, 48-45, with 2:19 remaining.That's when the Raiders began to full-court press the Senecas. Calvert's Logan Ritzler—who led all scorers with 30 points—got to the line and converted one of two foul shots.Lakota responded instantly when Kelbley dished it inside to King Beard, who finished at the basket to get within a couple of Calvert, 49-47.The Raiders came out of a timeout with 49.2 second to go, and Beard kicked it to Shilling on the left wing. Shilling proceeded to knock down the three-pointer to give Lakota its' first lead of the game since early in the second quarter, 50-49.That's when Ritzler dribbled to the basket, drew contact and converted from short range to get the and-one opportunity from the charity stripe with 15.7 second remaining. Ritzler made the free throw, which led to the Raiders' final possession.Aside from Ritzler's 30 points for Calvert and Elchert's 22 points, Lakota's Beard also finished in double-digit scoring with 10 points.The Senecas scored the opening basket of the game when Herbert converted in the lane. From there, the Raiders went on an 8-0 run that started with a three-pointer from the right wing from Kelbley. Beard then made a baseline jumper followed by another three from the right wing—this time from Elchert.Later in the first quarter, Ritzler dribble penetrated for a right-hand layup. The Raiders answered right away with a couple of made foul shots from Elchert. Not to be deterred, Calvert then scored on back-to-back possessions. First, Lyons nailed a couple free throws followed up by a Ritzler steal and fast break layup to get within two of Lakota, 10-8.The Raiders' then rotated the ball quickly from Shilling to Elchert and finally to Jack Widman in the left corner for the trifecta.A score off of dribble penetration by Ritzler and a fast break bucket by Logan DeMoss saw the Senecas down by one after a quarter, 13-12.Calvert came out in the second period on a 12-2 run. On the first possession, Otterbacher crossed over his defender and spotted up for a three from the left wing to give the Senecas' their first lead since going up 2-0 early in the first.From there, the run was 'The Ritzler Show' as he put back an offensive board for two for Calvert.That's when Lakota's Elchert cashed-in a midrange jumper for the only Lakota points during the run.Ritzler then made two foul shots then a three from the right corner on consecutive offenses for the Senecas before hitting a short jumper to push their lead to 24-15 at the end of the run.The Raiders got a couple free throws from Elchert, but Calvert's Otterbacher found Ritzler in the right corner for another three to thwart any comeback at that time. A steal by DeMoss turned into a layup at the other end for the Senecas.After a put back score by Lakota's Beard, Calvert showed some nice ball rotation when Lyons tossed to DeMoss, who then tossed to Tucker Coleman inside for the easy bucket.A Ritzler floater across the lane was met with a short baseline jumper from the Raiders' Elchert. The Senecas led at the half, 33-21.Lakota came away with points on three straight possessions to start the half. A putback dunk by Beard sent Raider Nation into a frenzy. The next time on offense, Elchert drove baseline and dunked the ball himself to not be outdone by his teammate—giving Lakota a huge momentum boost. Shilling converted a free throw to get the Raiders within seven points of Calvert.A minute-and-a-half later, Otterbacher hit a trey from the left corner. A DeMoss steal and layup at the other end quickly pushed the Calvert lead to 12.Lakota was able to go on a 6-0 run over their next three offenses to get within a couple scores. An inside basket from Elchert was followed up by a bank shot from Beard and then Elchert scored at the bucket on a fast break for the Raiders to make the score 38-32.Calvert's Ritzler stepped up and scored on a fast break, but Elchert went right down and scored on a finger roll in the paint for LHS.Ritzler scored another fast break layup with under a minute to go then on a layup off the dribble with roughly three seconds to go in the third quarter.