HAYS – The TMP-Marian Monarchs opened the 2020 portion of their schedule with a split of a pair of Mid-Continent League games Tuesday at Al Billinger Fieldhouse.
Girls: Ellis 52, TMP 46
The Ellis Railroaders outscored TMP 18-9 in the fourth
quarter as they handed their first MCL regular season loss since 2015.
The Monarchs opened the game with a 2-0 lead but that was the only lead they would enjoy until the end of the third quarter. Down 2-0 Ellis outscored TMP 8-0.
Ellis built a six-point lead in the first half and extended it to 10 on different occasions in the third quarter. TMP was able to claw their way back into the game in the third quarter thanks to 10 points in the quarter from Adell Riedel.
A Riedel three pointer put TMP up 35-34 and led 39-34 early in the fourth quarter before Ellis rallied for the 52-46 win.
Riedel’s 17 lead all scorers. Ellis’ Grace Eck led three Railers in double-figures with 12 points.
Ellis improved the 5-2 and 2-1 in the MCL and TMP drops to 3-4 and 2-1 in the MCL.
The loss also ends TMP’s 37-game MCL regular season win streak.
Boys: TMP 55, Ellis 51
In the last two year the TMP and Ellis boys have delivered
several extremely competitive games and Tuesday’s game did not disappoint with the Monarchs earning a 55-51 win.
The first half was a back and forth affair that saw several lead changes and four ties with Ellis’ five-point lead in the first quarter the largest lead for either team in the first half. A Ryan Stoeklein three pointer for TMP tied the game at 26.
Ellis was able to build a six-point third quarter lead before TMP closed the quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 38-36 lead.
TMP led almost the entire way in the fourth quarter until a Daniel Eck hit a three pointer in the final minute to give Ellis a 51-50 lead. But down one TMP’s Jackson Schulte knocked down a deep jumper putting TMP up 52-51 and they made just enough free throws in the final seconds for the 55-51 win.
In that quarter tempers flared that resulted in a scrum at center court that resulted in Ellis’ Brady Frickey getting a technical foul. A second skirmish also resulted in a common foul called on TMP’s Carson Jacobs but cooler heads did prevail in the end as TMP earned the 55-51 win.
TMP’s Jackson Schulte scored a game-high 19 points and Zachary Eck led Ellis with 16.
TMP moves to 6-1 and have won six straight while Ellis drops to 5-2.