Bol Bol leads Bishop Miege past Eudora in Kansas 4A Division I quarterfinals

Bishop Miege trailed Eudora by five early in the second half when sophomore Bol Bol took over during the Kansas Class 4A DivisionI quarterfinals at the Bicentennial Center.

During Miege’s 7-0 run over the span of 1 minute, Bol not only converted a three-point play after scoring inside, but he dunked on a putback that gave Miege the two-point lead en route to a 55-49 victory.

Miege plays Paola in the 4A-I semifinals on Friday at 4:45 p.m.

“He hit some big shots,” Miege coach Rick Zych said. “.... They did a good job stopping our offense. We had no offensive flow in the first half. I thought they had more energy than we did. They really outplayed us.

“We came out (in the second half) with some set plays. We went on a run, got some confidence when we hit some shots.”

Eight minutes after Bol’s dunk, Miege led Eudora 41-34 and had control of the game — controlling the pace, controlling the lane. And when Eudora junior Mitchell Ballock picked up his fourth foul with 7:48 to go, Eudora wasn’t the same.

Ballock scored a game-high 18 points and had eight rebounds.

In the final 1:32, Eudora threatened. Eudora senior Austin Downing — who had been tasked with guarding the 6-foot-11 Bol who is a foot taller — drove inside twice. Downing converted a three-point play that got Eudora within 48-45 with 51.4 seconds to go. He finished with 10 points.

Over the next 30 seconds, though, Miege went on a 6-0 run by hitting 6 of 6 free throws.

Bol scored 14 points, hitting 3 of 4 three-pointers, while Jeremiah Robinson-Earl added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Francesco Badocchi had 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

Paola 78, Coffeyville 43

It was a dominating performance for the Paola Panthers in the quarterfinals.

Alex Wilson, Tanner Moala and Mason McDow helped Paola dominate in the paint, combining for 38 points and 21 rebounds. Wilson scored 15 points, Maola had 13 and McDow added 10, while Moala and McDow each had two blocked shots.

Paola also dominated at point guard with Justin Criddle, who could pull up for a deep three or get to the rim with a hesitation move or his speed. He finished with a team-high 21 points, hitting 10 of 10 free throws, and had six assists.

The Panthers finished 28 of 50 from the field, while Coffeyville made just 17 of 60 shots.

Paola also had 14 steals and scored 30 points off Coffeyville’s 24 turnovers.

“We’ve been playing pretty good lately,” Paola coach Dave Cash said. “Especially the last part of this year. The last month, four, five weeks, we’ve been pretty good defensively. Hopefully we’ll continue doing that.”

Paola led 7-4 with 4:48 to go in the first quarter, and the Panthers quickly built on that when Criddle made five free throws over the next 30 seconds. By the end of the quarter, Paola had a 14-point lead, and Coffeyville never pulled within single digits the rest of the way.

Seth Graham led Coffeyville with 24 points and seven rebounds.

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Bol Bol leads Bishop Miege past Eudora in Kansas 4A Division I quarterfinals."