Concordia Boys Basketball Ends Season with 64-29 Loss to McPherson

The Concordia High School Boys Basketball team's postseason run came to an end Saturday, March 2nd, falling to unbeaten McPherson 64-29 in its 2024 Kansas State High School Activities Association Class 4A - West sub-state tournament championship game.  The Panthers couldn't tame a hot-shooting Bullpups team, ending its season with a record of 13-9.  Seven of the team's nine losses came against teams that have qualified for this year's state basketball tournaments.

McPherson proved why it's one of the top programs in the state, putting together an 18-0 run to grab a 23-7 lead over the Panthers at the end of the first quarter.  McPherson shot 19-of-27 (70.4 percent) in the first-half, including 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) from behind the arc, and tallied 19 points off turnovers to end the half with a 32-point lead over the Panthers, 48-16.  The Bullpups built their advantage to as many as 38 before ending the game with a 35 point win.

Concordia struggled from the floor in their final game of the season, shooting well below their average at 30 percent (12-of-40) and held below 30 points for the first time this year.  The Panthers finished the game just 3-of-15 (20 percent) from behind the arc and made only 2-of-8 (25 percent) attempts from the free-throw line.

Senior Guard Payton Breese led the Panthers with 10 points.  He was named our Nex-Tech Wireless MVP of the Game.

Senior Center Jonathan Turner followed with 8 points off 4-of-6 shooting and 5 rebounds.  He received our H&R Block of the Game.

Concordia received 4 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists from Senior Point Guard Joey Henderson.

Junior Guard Peyton Retter had 3 points, followed by 2 points each from Junior Luke Donovan and Sophomore Chane Parker.

Senior Guard Lewis VanMeter played ten minutes and recorded the only steal of the game for the Panthers.

The game marked the final contest for the Panthers under head coach Derek Holmes, who is retiring after four seasons at the helm of the program.  Holmes had a record of 47-39 since 2020-2021.