Pulling away late to secure a season sweep of their rivals, the Parsons Vikings boys bested the Labette County Grizzlies on Tuesday night, 70-62.
“It’s always good to get a win and it’s extra special for our seniors to say they beat our rival both times this season,” Parsons head coach Anthony Houk said. “After dropping three in a row, it’s nice to have answered those with three wins.”
The Vikings scored 26 points in the fourth quarter — they had 27 at halftime — to keep the Grizzlies at arm’s reach.
“I don’t feel like we executed down the stretch,” Labette County head coach Bradley Argabright said. “Our defense just didn’t step up. We fouled the wrong people and didn’t pay attention to personnel. And we couldn’t get stops.”
Despite the loss, Labette County guard Kegan Bates dazzled with 31 points on 13-of-22 shooting while adding four assists and as many boards.
“It’s his competitive will. He wants to win,” Argabright said. “He’s getting to the lane and not taking bad shots. They’re few and far between. He’s making his free throws and getting to the paint. He’s doing everything for this team. He’s an ultimate competitor.”
Dontae Sawyer led the Vikings with 27 points — a dozen coming on a perfect 12-of-12 night at the charity stripe.
“I’m glad that young man is on our side,” Houk said. “It’s fun to watch him play. I know when he goes to that free throw line, we’re glad they fouled Dontae. It was a good performance for him all around. I was proud that when he wasn’t hot from three, he started driving it.”
Parsons improved to 10-6 overall and 5-3 in SEK League play with the win. The Vikings are currently in seventh place in the Class 4A East Sub-State standings — the top eight are guaranteed a home playoff game.
“Our first goal is to try and get better as a team every night,” Houk said. “We want to put ourselves in the best position we can. We want to finish as high as we can in the league. We’re not complacent with where we’re at.”
Labette County dipped to 4-12 overall — the Grizzlies have won just once since Dec. 20. Five of their losses in that stretch are by single digits.
“We’ve got to be better at executing,” Argabright said. “There’s multiple games where it’s close in the fourth quarter and we can’t close games out. We’ve struggled with consistency in our lineup — we’ve had multiple guys down being hurt or sick. But our execution has to be better, especially in the fourth quarter.”
Houk bestowed praise to both squads’ performance on Tuesday night.
“If you were sitting in the stands, it was 50/50 on who you wanted to win. But both teams played hard and both squads just competed their tails off,” Houk said. “You had two guys that put up a bunch of points. There was great sportsmanship. It was great team ball and both teams battled it out.”
Up next
Parsons hosts Pittsburg on Friday night. The Vikings lost their first matchup against Pittsburg, 68-58, on Jan. 28.
“We’ve got to be more aggressive,” Houk said. “We’ve got to be more physical without getting in foul trouble. We have to match physicality and intensity.”
As for Labette County, it hosts SEK League frontrunner Chanute on Friday night.
“We’ll have to come out and play hard,” Argabright said. “It’s homecoming for us. Historically, we’ve always played Chanute well. Our effort can give them some problems. We’ve just got to get momentum going.”
