Eads Boys Enter District 2 Tourney as Top Seed
Get Big Win over CW to End the Regular Season
February 28, 2003
The Eads Eagles are ranked second in the state behind Otis and will enter the District 2 1A tournament as the top seed getting the bye in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. They have earned the opportunity to get some huge revenge on the McClave Cardinals who entered the tournament in the five spot but upset Granada in the first round on Tuesday afternoon and advanced to the semifinal round to take on Eads. The two teams have met twice this season with the Eagles handily controlling the Cardinals at the Lamar Holiday Tournament for the championship but losing in the Cardinal gym in early January by a small margin. Eads will be looking for long-awaited revenge on Thursday at 7:30 PM in the Lamar Community Building in Lamar when they play McClave; winner advances, loser stays home. In the other semifinal match up, No. 2 Kit Carson will have their hands full with the Cheraw Wolverines who lost to the Wildcats in the regular season but who are capable of putting huge numbers on the scoreboard. In essence, the boys semifinal round in Lamar on Thursday will see the best match ups area basketball fans have seen in a long while with all four teams being in the top-ten poll in 1A and well-capable of competing at the state level.
Eads finished off their regular season at home against the Cheyenne Wells Tigers who always brings out the worst in the Eads players. Friday night in Eads was no different as the officials did a very good job of controlling the highly emotional contest calling a number of early fouls and ejecting one unruly Tiger fan. The Eagles would get the highly-touted win in a close one, 54-50. Cheyenne Wells had to face Eads without their top scorer, Nate Hadachek, who was injured and force to sit and watch from the sidelines. However, the Tigers didn’t seem to miss a beat as they came out playing very aggressive man defense and creating some nice scoring opportunities at the post with sophomore Kyle Wamsley picking up the void left by Hadachek hitting for eight of his 11 points on the night during first half action. By the end of one, the score was all knotted up at 12 apiece. The second and third quarters saw the Eagles slowly move ahead behind some excellent outside shooting from guards Keyvis and Steven Gilmore. Keyvis was particularly strong for Eads hitting four of his five long-balls in the first half. Post player Ryan Trosper was uncharacteristically quiet in the first half for Eads; an important factor in the close contest. Eads would lead at half by four, 26-22. While Steven Gilmore got hot into the third for Eads, Trosper finally got something going hitting for 10 of his 12 points in the final two stanzas.
At one point late in the third, the Eagles had pulled away by 12 and it looked like they were about to put the game away when the Tigers came pouncing back behind some uncharacteristic outside shooting from Travis Ackerman who hit two down-towners bringing his Tigers back into it by the fourth. Into the last period the score continued to teeter with Eads barely holding onto the lead and pulling out the win.
The Cheyenne Wells game was the last home appearance for an excellent crop of Eagle seniors with Trosper, Keyvis Gilmore, Casey Gibbs, Miles Philpy, and Bruce Laird playing in their final regular season game. Keyvis Gilmore would lead all scorers in his final home appearance hitting for 19 points while brother Steven hit for 13 and Trosper added a final double-double to his resume hitting for 12 points and grabbing 11 boards.