Basketball Recap: St. John's/Tipton Catholic Comes Up Short

St. John's/Tipton Catholic and Axtell squared off in some playoff action on Saturday, but St. John's/Tipton Catholic had to settle for second. They lost to the Axtell Eagles at home by a 76-58 margin. While losing is never fun, the Blujays can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 157th, while the Eagles are ranked 45th).

Tyson Gates

Points

03/08/25 vs Axtell	25
03/03/25 vs Pike Valley	15
02/21/25 @ Sylvan-Lucas	10
02/20/25 vs Sacred Heart	2
02/14/25 @ Stockton	10
+ 14 more games

Despite the loss, St. John's/Tipton Catholic still got an impressive performance from Tyson Gates, who shot 6-for-9 from downtown and almost dropped a double-double with 25 points and nine rebounds. That's the most points Gates has posted since back in December of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Edward Horinek, who put up 14 points.

Even though they lost, St. John's/Tipton Catholic was working as a unit and finished the game with 14 assists. This was only their fourth loss (out of 16 games) when they've passed the ball that well.

St. John's/Tipton Catholic has been struggling recently as they've lost three of their last four contests. That's put a noticeable dent in their 14-7 record this season. The win was the 19th in a row for Axtell, bringing their record for this year to 21-1.

St. John's/Tipton Catholic does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Axtell, they will square off against Central Christian at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Axtell knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past 12 matches -- so hopefully Central Christian likes a good challenge.