Top Stories from Tournament Week

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A fun interlude to every basketball season is the week of January tournaments, which pit teams across opponents they wouldn't necessarily see under any other occasion. Buses crisscross the state and even venture outside the border to challenge themselves at the mid-way point of the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here are a few highlights from the week of tournaments:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Ell-Saline Reigns Supreme:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Perhaps the most significant story of the week was the Ell-Saline boys romp through the Canton Galva Tournament. A team that has been downtrodden for years, the Cardinals are suddenly a small school power. After going 13-9 a year ago, they improved to 8-1 by sweeping the tournament. They collected wins against highly-ranked Wichita Classical and defending 2A champs Moundridge to emerge as champs. <strong>Marshall Johnson</strong> led the Cardinals in scoring in the final game. He and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2393781' first='Brogan' last='Rowley']</strong> were named to the all-tournament team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Broxterman Comes Up Big:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was a battle of the #4 team in 1A Div. II against the #5 team in 1A Div. II. [player_tooltip player_id='2393807' first='Eli' last='Broxterman'] drilled a long-range three-pointer at the buzzer to lift Axtell over Clifton-Clyde. The shot sent Axtell to the championship of the Twin Valley League tournament. In the title game, Broxterman led the Eagles with 14 points to beat Hanover, which was ranked #3 in 1A Div. II.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>6A Wichita Northwest Hands 5A Highland Park First Loss:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One of the top-ranked teams in 5A faced its first significant test of the season and came up short. The Scots, ranked third in 5A, were knocked off 64-61 by Wichita Northwest 64-61 Saturday at the Topeka Invitational Tournament. [player_tooltip player_id='2169828' first='Eli' last='Benning'], typically known more for his distribution than his scoring, went off for 30 points to lead the Grizzlies. Highland Park had been blowing out every opponent, but the tough loss to a 6A foe may help the Scots prepare for tougher challenges to come.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Streit Goes Off:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bonner Springs wasn't able to get the win against Metro Academy at the Tonganoxie Tournament. But what [player_tooltip player_id='1390595' first='Kalen' last='Streit'] did deserves notice. He scored in every way possible, netting 41 points in the contest.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Hamel Comes Through for Osborne:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>High scoring [player_tooltip player_id='1461343' first='Jonathan' last='Hamel'] came through with 30 points to lift 1A Div I Osborne over 1A Div II Beloit-St. Johns in triple overtime. Osborne recently topped the 1,000 point mark and has the Bulldogs among the top 1A teams in the state.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->