Bishop Miege is headed to state basketball tournament after shutting down Eudora 60-47

Eudora scored the first four points and then Bishop Miege unleashed a lockdown defense that held the Cardinals to just 10 points the rest of the first half.

Eudora never recovered. Miege went into halftime ahead by 14 points and rode that advantage to a 60-47 victory Saturday evening in a Kansas 4A, Division I substate championship game at Miege.

The win puts Bishop Miege, 18-4, into the 4A, Division I state tournament in Salina, Kan.

“This is crazy. I am just real happy,” Miege senior Alston Jones said. “I can’t explain in words how happy I am. This is the first time I’ve been to state since I have been here at Miege. We had some down years. But this year I think is ours.”

For a quarter it appeared the Stags were going to be in for a battle. But after trailing 4-0, Miege scored the next nine points. Sparking the run was junior guard Semaj Ray.

Ray’s first field goal gave the Stags the lead at 6-4. Ray followed with a three-point play. The Stags never came close to trailing again. They ended the first quarter with a 15-7 lead.

Bishop Miege scored the first six points in the second quarter, four coming from senior Jones. The Stags nearly matched what they did in the first quarter, outscoring Eudora 14-7 in the second quarter for a 29-14 halftime lead.

“Our defense was really big,” said Bishop Miege senior center Jacob Meurer. “They have two really good drivers. All their players are good at getting dishes. Our defense was good at shutting them down.”

Throughout the first half, the Stags did a great job of pestering Eudora sophomore Mitchell Ballock, who has already caught the eye of Kansas basketball coach Bill Self. Self was at Bishop Miege on Thursday night to watch Ballock.

“We knew they had a lot of hype with their players,” Jones said. “We had a point to prove, and I think we proved that point.”

Ballock worked extremely hard just to score five points in the first two quarters. Eudora junior Austin Downing had four points in the first half. Meanwhile, Jones, Ray and Meurer combined for 19 points.

“They just hounded Ballock and Downing,” Eudora coach Kyle Deterding said. “They (Ballock and Downing) could hardly catch their breath. They had enough athletes to run at them and make it tough on us. They have a really nice squad.”

Eudora finally found some offensive rhythm in the third quarter, outscoring Miege 12-10, but it wasn’t nearly enough to make the Stags sweat in the final quarter.

“It feels good, but you are also telling everyone to calm down,” Meurer said of the big halftime lead. “You want to contain them because you know a team like this is going to make a drive on you.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Eudora closed to 41-31, but a three-pointer by Ray halted the momentum.

In the end, the guard play of Jones and Ray, coupled with the inside play of Meurer was too much for Eudora. Jones scored a game-high 16 and Meurer added 13.

Downing led Eudora with 13, and Ballock added 12.

“We came out with a triangle and two,” Miege coach Rick Zych said. “They have two really good players. We have great kids. They listen to us and let us coach them.”

This story was originally published March 7, 2015 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Bishop Miege is headed to state basketball tournament after shutting down Eudora 60-47."