The Press Box

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A lasting memory at Class 1A boys tournament

Posted on : Mar 10, 2010 by Brett Marshall
Filed under High School Sports

Through all my more than a decade of sports reporting and years of playing and watching high school basketball, Tuesday’s Class 1A boys quarterfinal games provided me a first.

Burrton senior guard Alex Santiago scored 53 points in a losing cause against defending champion Hanover, including an amazing 36 in the final two quarters. That’s 36 points in 16 minutes! It’s the first time I’ve seen a player top the 50-point plateau.

Some of the more impressive performances I had witnessed in the distant past was a 41-point effort by former Kansas State standout Lonnie Kruger when he was a senior at Silver Lake High School back in 1970. That came in the Dodge City Tournament of Champions against Class AA (now 6A) Kansas City-Wyandotte.

I also was privileged to watch current Denver Nuggets star and former Colorado standout Chauncey Billips when he was a freshman prepster in Denver. In 3 consecutive games at the old McNichols Sports Arena in the Colorado State Championships, Billips scored 38, 42, and 44 points to help propel his team.

But I think the most amazing scoring spree I have witnessed in person came in the NJCAA National Championship game back in the 1982 tournament in Hutchinson by Midland, Texas’ Spud Webb.

For those of you too young to know Webb, he was 5-foot-5 (or 4) with his shoes on. He could shoot from the outside, he could drive to the basket and he could jump — boy how he could jump! In all likelihood the Spudster (as we nicknamed him) scored 46 points in the title game and was named the tourney MVP. I recall him skying over a 6-10 center on the opposition and dunking over him. It was an amazing performance and even more impressive coming in the championship game. He would go on to play at North Carolina State and then the NBA.

And now I can add Alex Santiago of Burrton, Kan. to my list of phenomenal performances. I estimated that one of his 3-point baskets in the game Tuesday night was at least from 30-35 foot range. His right foot was firmly on the letter “t” of Fort Hays State near press row when he went up and swished it.