February 9, 2025

Tournament of Champions Recap: Derby wins double-overtime thriller in 1000th game

TOC completed bracket 2025

The 82nd annual Tournament of Champions ended with an instant classic during the 1000th game in the tournament’s history, as Derby defeated Kansas City Piper 81-75 in double overtime. The two teams traded blows for 40 minutes before Derby pulled through in the final minute to leave Dodge City as champions.

The game included 12 lead changes, 15 ties, and the largest lead was just eight points. The game featured seven players who scored in double figures, two players with double-doubles, and two players that came off the bench to score 21.

For Kansas City Piper, the combination of PJ Moore, Johnny Vogel, Alamar Brooks and Derrick Jackson continued to make play after play to give themselves a chance in the hard fought game. Moore had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Pirates.

Vogel made five threes and had seven assists. Three of his threes came in the overtime periods as he made numerous clutch shots that included a game-tying three with under a minute to play in the first overtime.

Brooks had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds while dishing out six assists. Also dishing out six assists was Jackson, who had 20 points and seven rebounds as well. He made the game-tying shot before Derby hit the game winner in double overtime.

Other than those four for Piper, there was only one made field goal. Derby was able to get eight players to score in the win. The Panthers really got to show their depth, as it was Avant Riley and Cale Clingan who each scored 21 points off the bench. Not only did those two lead the team in scoring, they made the biggest shots of the night.

“That’s the strength of our team,” Derby head coach Brett Flory said. “It’s not necessarily about one individual star or even two. We’ve got eight players really that are pretty high level basketball players.

Riley’s day included a 5-of-6 performance from downtown that saw him bury a three toward the end of regulation, the first overtime, and the second.

“Avant is probably the best non-starter in the state,” Flory said. “He’s incredibly unselfish too to be willing to be that sixth man as a sophomore for us.

Clingan, also off the bench had been relatively quiet leading up to Tournament of Champions, averaging just 5.4 points per game. Flory and the rest of the Panthers did not seem shocked that he performed the way he did however.

“We’ve been waiting for Cale to break out,” Flory said. “He’d been our best shooter all summer. He kind of labored a little bit to start the year, but he delivered tonight.”

Clingan made the final field goal of the game, a step-back three at the top of the key with 23 seconds to play and put Derby up 78-75. Derby then got a stop and made their free throws to put the game away.

The championship included two teams who had to win a tough semifinal game in order to reach the finals. Piper needed a last second shot to beat Wichita Heights, who defeated Junction City in the third-place game after the Blue Jays lost a close one with Derby.

The trio of Derby, Junction City and Wichita Heights entered TOC with undefeated records.

“It’s always good, this year was off the charts,” Flory said of the competition at TOC. “Junction City is a state championship contender, Heights is always a state championship contender, obviously Piper will be and hopefully we will be. We know if we are fortunate enough to advance to the state tournament it won’t be any harder than this.”

On the consolation side of the bracket, it was Maize South winning 5th place with their wins over Andover Central and Bishop Carroll, while Dodge City lost a close one to Andover Central in the 7th place game.