Carroll boys enjoying ‘joyride’ to the state tournament

This could have easily been a forgettable season for the Bishop Carroll boys basketball team.

In November, 10 days before the season began, Gary Cundiff resigned as coach and assistant Mike Domnick was asked to implement his own offense and prepare a team sorely lacking varsity experience for the nightly rigors of playing in the City League.

Late on Saturday night, Domnick and his players danced and screamed and celebrated, surrounded by a swarm of Carroll fans who had just witnessed what some were calling the best high school game they have seen: a five-overtime victory by Carroll, 103-102, over Kapaun in a Class 5A sub-state championship game.

With a berth to the state tournament in Topeka locked in — Carroll (12-10) will play top-seeded Eisenhower (21-1) on Thursday — Domnick could now appreciate the journey he has been on this season.

“The one thing you can’t predict is how high school kids are going to react,” Domnick said. “Things could have gone in a bad direction. But these kids have been so open and so coachable. I can’t imagine a better situation playing out for the team and for myself than what’s happened this season. It’s been a joyride for me with this team.”

The joyride hit its climax on Saturday.

Kapaun rallied from a six-point deficit in regulation in the final 90 seconds to take a two-point lead, only to watch Carroll’s Adam Theis make a layup at the buzzer to force overtime. Kapaun’s Mitchell Woodward made a three-pointer to bring on a second overtime; Theis got a three to bounce in to force a third; Kapaun again rallied from a six-point deficit by hitting three straight threes in the final 50 seconds to force a fourth; Carroll’s Clay Cundiff drained a mid-range jumper to bring on a fifth and final extra period.

By the time it was over, Kapaun’s Thomas Wells (36 points) and Cundiff (31) had career highs, Carroll’s Luke Evans (26), Woodward (26), and Kapaun’s Chris Meitzner (24) scored more than 20, and Kapaun emerged with 17 threes (11 coming in the overtimes).

But it was Carroll, which built a 102-96 lead in the fifth overtime and withstood a final Kapaun rally, that came away with the win.

“We really believed that we could do this,” Clay Cundiff said. “We thought this was our time and we just had to give it all we had.”

Carroll doesn’t believe its run is over.

Although it plays No. 1-ranked Eisenhower in the quarterfinals, Carroll has the confidence of going toe-to-toe with the City League champion on its home court and coming out on top after five overtimes.

“It feels like we just ran a marathon,” Theis said. “I feel like this team can do anything now.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2017 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Carroll boys enjoying ‘joyride’ to the state tournament."