4A-I boys: Andover Central, McPherson advance to semifinal matchup (+videos)

Late in the second half of Andover Central’s Class 4A-I quarterfinal game, senior Darraja Parnell came racing down the middle of the court. He’s so strong and quick, he’s more like a nimble train cutting through the defense.

The Wamego defense immediately surrounded Parnell, intent on keeping him from getting to the rim for an easy layup.

Parnell didn’t hesitate. He whipped a pass out to the left corner where a wide-open Cole Taylor was waiting to hit another three-pointer.

“You know we’re going to score either way on that almost,” Taylor said. “… I know he’s going to score or he’ll kick it out to me and I’ll have a great shot.”

Taylor made six three-pointers and scored 27 points, and Parnell added 26 as Andover Central beat Wamego 87-60 to advance to Friday’s semifinal against McPherson at 8:15 p.m. McPherson (22-1) beat Rose Hill 64-45.

“They’ve learned to play with each other really well,” Andover Central coach Jesse Herrmann said. “For three years they’ve gotten to know each other. They have a good feel for each other. Most of that stuff in transition, that’s probably when we’re at our best. It’s nothing we practice. They know know where to go.”

Andover Central (19-4) made 32 of 53 shots, including 12 of 22 from three. Wamego is also an excellent three-point shooting team, but only made 7 of 23. Sean Nordberg made 4 of 7 and he finished with 18 points.

A close game through the midpoint of the third quarter when it was tied at 27, Wamego (19-4) and Andover Central traded baskets.

“We were trying to outscore them for a while, and I was kind of nervous because they can score a lot of points,” Herrmann said.

Andover Central broke it open largely because of Parnell’s ability to get to the basket.

Wamego had no answer for his quickness and ballhandling skills. A defender might be in front of him, but then suddenly Parnell had raced around or split defenders to score on a lay-in.

“There’s not a lot of people in the state who can guard him,” Taylor said. “He’s really good at attacking the basket.”

Herrmann agreed.

“They started having to help so much on Darraja driving,” Herrmann said. “We started getting open looks…. They did some things to keep it from him, but in the second half, he started finding some shooters.”

Namely, Taylor. He made four three-pointers in the third quarter as Andover Central started to pull away. Isaac Anthemides and Eyan Curtis also hit second-half threes.

Andover Central senior Jordan Birch added 14 points and eight rebounds. He made 6 of 9 shots, including 2 of 2 from three-point range.

McPherson 64, Rose Hill 45 – Rose Hill scored seven unanswered to cut McPherson’s lead to one point midway through the second quarter. Considering that McPherson had beaten Rose Hill by a combined 69 points in their two previous meetings in AV-CTL Division III play, it was an unexpected situation.

But McPherson coach Kurt Kinnamon refused to call time.

“I figured they could figure it out,” he said. “It’s a veteran team. It’s a two-time defending state champion team. They’re guys who played key roles in that. They knew what they had to do. They figured it out.”

McPherson (22-1) did, hitting four three-pointers over 2 ½ minutes.

The Bullpups’ four three-pointers – two by freshman Jake Alexander and the others from Ben Pyle and Spenser Wine – were the spark in a 16-2 run to end the first half. McPherson shot 25 of 58 from the field, 7 of 23 from three.

Pyle led McPherson with 16 points, while Drew Pyle had 13 points, 13 rebounds and Wine added 11 points, as did Alexander.

Rose Hill was led by Austin’s 20 points. He hit 3 of 5 threes.

“We were playing really, really well,” Austin said. “We played fully together like we thought we could at the beginning of the year. We knew at the beginning that they could come out sluggish because they whooped us pretty good the first two games. We knew if we came out and hit them in the mouth early, we could.… Keep it close.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 9:18 PM with the headline "4A-I boys: Andover Central, McPherson advance to semifinal matchup (+videos)."