In the first night of 48th annual Ralph Miller Classic‘s final game, The Chanute Blue Comets played the Andover Central Jaguars. Andover took the 82-69 victory behind Xavier Bell’s 29 point performance.

“We made shots, we’ve struggled to make shots this year and tonight we were making shots. Now I don’t think we made more than Chanute made, talking about threes,” Andover Central head coach Jesse Herrmann said, “We’ve been struggling from the three-point line and tonight we were able to get either Xavier Bell going to the basket or Kaden Wilson and Skyler Clevenger were. It’s easier on the offense when you’re making shots.”

The Comets were lead by Kam Koester’s 21 points on seven three-pointers made. That’s just two shy of the single-game Ralph Miller Classic record, set by Joplin’s Taylor MacFee in 2006. This also puts Koester seven threes behind the record for most threes in one Ralph Miller Classic.

“It’s great to see guys who are in the gym. It shows. It’s obvious on our team, you can tell who’s in the gym and who isn’t. [Koester is] in the gym, he works hard, he deserves it, and it’s fun to see him go out there and make shots,” Chanute’s head coach Devon Crabtree said.

Chanute got off to a good start against the reigning 5A state champions. After one quarter the game was tied at 19 a piece as Koester hit three of his three-pointers in the opening period. 

The Jaguars jumped to a lead in the second quarter behind nine points from Clevenger, who would finish with 20 points. Andover took a 40-30 into the half. 

The second half was more of the same with Andover Central doing everything Chanute did just as good if not better. With this win Andover is now one step closer to the third three-peat in Ralph Miller history after Fort Scott did so twice from 1987-89 and then from 1993-95.

“[We need to improve] rebounding, pretty obvious. You’ve gotta rebound the ball better to win games, so that will be a big focus from here on out.” Crabtree said.

Andover Central will advance to the semi finals matched-up against the Emporia Spartans tomorrow at 8 pm and you can catch the Chanute Blue Comets tomorrow at 4:45 pm against the Olathe North Eagles.