Okarche outlasts Calumet in 1 vs. 1 showdown

A No. 1 vs. No. 1 matchup generally gets lots of hype, but often times falls short of it.

That wasn’t the case Tuesday night when Class A’s reigning champ and undefeated Okarche traveled to Calumet to take on the Chieftains, who sit atop Class B.

When the dust settled, there had been 47 3-pointers attempted, 118 total field goals shot, 54 free throws and Okarche headed home with its undefeated streak intact.

The Warriors held off Calumet’s late rally to earn a 90-85 win.

Okarche, which hasn’t lost in over a calendar year, is now 23-0 on the season.

“They’re a really good team and they’re always tough games when we play them,” said coach Aaron West of the Chieftains.

Calumet handed Okarche one of its four losses last season and has been a perennial state title contender for a decade.

The Chieftains were state runners-up a year ago.

But even they felt some of the early wrath of Okarche.

The Warriors blazed through the first quarter and were leading 34-22.

They pushed the lead to 45-23 about midway through the second quarter when West sat Hunter Mueggenborg to try to avoid getting him in early foul trouble.

“We were rolling pretty good, but got in some foul trouble,” West said. “When I pulled Hunter, we had multiple bad possessions and let them cut the lead back down.”

Calumet closed the half on a 19-8 run as Okarche led 53-42 at the break.

The Warriors maintained a double-digit lead through much of the second half (it was 76-66 after three quarters) as the teams continued to light up the scoreboard.

With about 4:00 to play, the Warriors tried to slow it down and chew up some clock.

Calumet kept it interesting and cut deep into Okarche’s lead.

The Warriors did just enough to close it out. They went 16 of 23 from the free throw line in the game.

Jett Mueggenborg was 5 of 7 as part of his gamehigh 28 points.

He was one of four Warriors in double figures.

Easton Roby added 23 and made 5 of 6 free throw attempts.

Hunter Mueggenborg added 18 points while Colin Hendrickson poured in 11 to go with eight assists.

The Chieftains got 23 points from Hunter Mayfield. The sophomore made 5 of 8 3-point attempts.

Four of his teammates reached double figures.

Kaleb Thiessen scored 16, Kingston Arnold 15, Mahdox Smith 12 and Kyler Thiessen 10.

Calumet made 24 of 31 free throws in the game as it dropped to 19-3 on the season.

[Continued From Page 7] Lady Warriors get win No. 15

Okarche bounced back from its disappointing loss to Amber-Pocasset by thumping Calumet 62-26 on the road last Tuesday.

The Lady Warriors forced 25 turnovers and dominated most of the night, especially the last three quarters.

Calumet was able to hang in there for much of the first as Okarche grabbed a 14-9 lead.

The Lady Chieftains didn’t score more than six in any of the rest of the quarters.

Okarche’s 28 points at half had Calumet doubled up and the lead was 18 after three quarters.

KatieParham’s11points in the fourth sparked a 24-6 run to close out the game.

Parham scored 18 points to lead all scorers.

Scout Payne added 11 points.

The win moved the Lady Warriors to 15-8 on the season.