PREP BOYS' BASKETBALL: 10 players score, and Parsley goes over 1,000 career points as Dragons defeat Edgerton

WORTHINGTON -- Getting off to early leads of 4-0, 9-3, 16-5, 20-9 and 26-11 in the game's first 10 minutes Saturday afternoon, second-seeded Adrian rolled to a 39-21 halftime lead on seventh-seeded Edgerton and posted a 76-45 victory over the Flying Dutchmen in the quarterfinals of the Section 3A South high school boys' basketball tournament.

The win advances the Dragons (20-4) to the tournament semifinals, while Edgerton -- which earned its way to "Super Saturday" with a 59-44 victory over Red Rock Central in Thursday's opening round -- finishes the season with a record of 10-15.

Adrian will tangle with third-seeded Hills-Beaver Creek at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Worthington. H-BC advanced with a 72-61 victory over Southwest Star Concept, which had defeated Round Lake-Brewster (80-50) in the opening round.

The Dragons and the Patriots split during the regular season, with each team winning at home.

Senior guard Brian Tjepkes, who passed for eight assists, hustled for seven steals and pulled down eight rebounds, scored a team-high 17 points Saturday, including a 3-pointer that gave the Dragons a 29-13 lead at the 7:27 mark of the first half.

Senior forward Danny Parsley, who scored his 1,000th varsity career point -- on a drive with 5:37 to play in the first half, lifting AHS to a 32-17 advantage -- finished the game with a dozen counters and now has scored 1,006 points for the Dragons.

"That was a nice thing for Danny," praised Adrian head coach Cory Van Briesen. "He has worked hard and been a good all-around player for us."

Edgerton, paced by junior forward Codi Gunnink's 11 first-half points, kept the spread around 15 for most of the closing minutes before intermission.

In fact, a basket by Gunnink trimmed the margin to 13 (34-21) with 1:28 to play.

But Adrian closed out the half with a 3-pointer by senior forward Justin Weidert (off an assist from junior guard Nate Reyne) and a nicely-executed fast break from Parsley (rebound) to Weidert (assist) to Reyne (basket) that beat the buzzer and gave the Dragons an 18-point cushion, 39-21.

Weidert finished the game with five assists to go along with eight timely points, while Reyne pulled down eight rebounds for Adrian.

Tjepkes opened the second half with a 3-pointer, and Adrian continued to build its lead, stretching the margin to 55-29 by the 12:47 mark.

A nice high-low play by the Dutchmen -- Chace Hulstein (eight points, five rebounds) to Alex Elgersma -- and a feed from Alex Van't Hof (three assists) to Hulstein, capped a 6-0 Edgerton run over the next two minutes, making the score 55-35.

But Adrian answered with a 12-1 run of its own, capped by a three-point play by junior forward Mitchell Voss at the 6:23 mark.

Both teams played out their rosters over the closing minutes, as a total of 19 players -- 10 for Adrian and nine for Edgerton -- scored in the game.

Gunnink finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and a block to lead Edgerton, while Alex Heard claimed five rebounds (helping the Dutchmen earn a 34-27 advantage on the boards) and Marty Van Peursem came up with a pair of steals.

For Adrian, which had only 15 turnovers and shot nearly 50 percent (25-of-49) from the field, freshman center Kyle Kilgore (nine) and junior forward Brendon Kopplow (eight) combined for 17 points.

Kopplow scored eight of the Dragons' first 18, including a 3-pointer that gave Adrian its quick 16-5 lead with less than seven minutes gone.

"We had a lot of kids contribute," concluded Van Briesen. "We believe that our depth is a positive thing for us, and we stress not 'skipping a beat' when we rotate players."

Edgerton 21 24 -- 45

Adrian 39 37 -- 76

Edgerton (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Kleinjan 0-1-2-4, Van Peursem 0-1-0-2, J.Gunnink 0-1-1-3, Heard 0-0-2-2, Elgersma 0-2-1-5, C.Hulstein 0-4-0-8, C.Gunnink 0-8-1-17, DeKam 0-1-0-2, VanderWaal 0-1-0-2. Totals 0-19-7-45.

Adrian (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Kontz 0-1-2-4, Tjepkes 2-3-5-17, Parsley 0-3-6-12, Weidert 1-1-3-8, Aggen 0-1-1-3, Brake 0-2-1-5, Voss 0-2-1-5, Kopplow 1-2-1-8, Reyne 0-2-1-5, Kilgore 0-4-1-9. Totals 4-21-22-76.