Giant Communications and JBN Telephone Company Road to Glory, presented by Giant Mobile

The Eagles came into the state tournament as the second seed and their first round was on the way to take on the number seven in the 13-10 Central Christian Cougars. Centralia put on an absolute clinic coming out of the gate and pressed on for all four quarters with nothing but a remarkable pace and undeniably fantastic tempo. Axtell took care of business today winning 66-44.

The first quarter started hot for the Eagles, with Wyatt Detweiler scoring the first four points inside the paint. Axtell would build their lead early on off of the hot hands of Eli Broxterman and Colin Shaughnessy with both of them hitting their first two three-pointers. The first quarter would end 24-14. 

Axtell would jump out to halftime up 38-24 with another good outing against the Cougars. The second quarter is where star sophomore for the Eagles, Logan Sandman, would put up six points and completely control the glass. When the half-finished, Axtell had also out-rebounded Central Christian 20-8, with nine total offensive rebounds to just the only two given up to the Cougars.

The third quarter would begin a little slow for the Eagles as in the first nine points they would be out-scored 7-2, but in the remaining eleven points of the quarter, the Eagles would out-score the Cougars 7-4. Axtell led heading into the fourth quarter 47-35. Logan Sandmann had another solid quarter for the Eagles in the third with five points.

Eagles would close the game out with a dominant fourth quarter, ending the game with their largest lead over Central Christian, twenty points, 66-44. Axtell would end the night with nearly three players recording double-doubles and forty-three total rebounds on the game. The Eagles scored eighteen points of second chance opportunities thirty-four total points inside the paint. Axtell hit seven total threes and ended the game shooting forty-five percent from around the field.

This win puts Axtell to now officially 22-1 on the season, win number twenty-two tying last season's school record of most wins in a season for the boy's basketball team, 

Axtell will face 21-3 #3 seeded Dighton at 8:00 PM tomorrow. Live coverage will be provided by the MSC Radio Network on 92.1 KMZA

NAPA Auto Parts in Atchison/Sabetha Starting Line-up and Top Performers’ Stats

Logan Sandman: 16pts, 10RBS, 3BLKS, 7/10 FG

Brandon Schmelze: 15PTS, 9RBS, 3AST, 1 STLS, 6/12 FG

Eli Broxterman: 11PTS, 10RBS, 6AST, 1STL, 3/10 3PT

Wyatt Detweiler: 9PTS, 1RBS, 6 AST, 2STLS

Landon Schmitz: 7PTS, 7RBS, 4 AST, 3 STLS

Colin Shaughnessy: 6PTS, 4RBS, 2AST, 2STL, 2/6 3PT

Image provided by Axtell Community