Who are the area’s most dangerous boys basketball teams midway through the season?
Several teams have made major strides during the first half of the boys basketball season, and a few stand out as the area’s most dangerous.
Here are some some teams to watch on the way to March:
Eisenhower
Coach Steve Blue’s team is the only undefeated team left in the City League and the AV-CTL.
The Tigers have beaten their opponents by more than 13 points per game. They ran away with the Spring Hill Tournament over the weekend and beat Maize 88-68 on the road Tuesday.
Senior guard Dylan Vincent has stayed hot throughout the first half, scoring more than 26 points a night and dropping 41 on Tuesday. He isn’t the Tigers’ only option though. Fellow senior Jeff Wake adds 15 a gamew and Vincent’s brother, Jordan, scores 10.
Blue said his team is about winning, not individual accolades, and with the first half of the season they have put together, he is worried about being respected.
“I feel pretty dang good after beating Maize,” Blue said Tuesday night. “I feel pretty good about my team, but as a coach, you also get nervous. Before I started coaching, I had hair.”
Bishop Carroll
The Eagles have followed a 1-4 start with seven wins in eight games.
Carroll took McPherson into the fourth quarter of the Bullpups’ home tournament over the weekend, eventually losing by 11 in a game that was much closer than the final score indicated. In the Eagles’ first game back in the City League, they beat North 80-64 on Tuesday.
During the Eagles’ one-loss stretch, they have beaten South, Derby and Free State. Six of the seven opponents have at least a .500 record this season.
Carroll’s lone senior Luke Evans has improved dramatically since the start of the season, and sophomore Tanner Mans has come along as a reliable second option. With depth around those two, coach Mike Domnick said he puts no bounds on where his team can go.
“One thing coaches love to have is experience, and we didn’t have any coming into the season,” Domnick said. “Now the kids have kinda gone through it, 13 games. They’ve toughened up, and the kids that were fumbling balls and didn’t know what to do in game 2 are now cutting to the basket and finishing. I’m curious to see where this takes us.”
Andale
Andale is running away from its competition in League IV.
The Indians’ only loss came Jan. 12 to McPherson (13-1).
The Indians are set to only improve as well. Coach Jeff Buchanan said much of his team has been either sidelined or fought through nagging injuries from an elongated football season.
With midseason tournament MVP Easton Hunter continuing to scorch defenses and an increasingly healthy supporting cast surrounding him, Buchanan said he likes where his team is heading despite a tough second-half schedule
“It’s not gonna be no cake walk,” Buchanan said. “We just gotta survive that and keep building confidence heading into the postseason. They’ve shown a lot of grit, a lot of physical toughness.”
Cheney
Last season, the Cardinals were 11-9 before winning five straight elimination games to reach the Class 3A title game.
They have already matched last season’s regular-season win total, and there are seven games to play. Cheney’s only loss came Saturday in the Adolph Rupp Tournament final to Andale.
Cheney remains tied atop the Central Plains League with Trinity Academy, another of the area’s best teams heading into the second half.
The Knights and Cardinals meet up at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at Trinity. .
“If you wanna win a league title, which on the guys’ side doesn’t happen very often, it goes through Trinity every year,” coach Lee Baldwin said. “I just like playing good teams. I’d much rather have a subpar record if we’re playing good teams and learning from that vs. having a gaudy record and not really testing yourself.”
Maize
Led by a father-son combination in Chris and Caleb Grill, the Eagles went on an 11-day tear.
Maize beat Salina Central by 23, Southeast by nine, Dodge City by 27, Miege by five and Heights by 11 to final three game to win the Tournament of Champions.
The Eagles’ run ended Tuesday with a 20-point home loss to Eisenhower. Eisnhower was up 21 at halftime, but with 3:42 left in the fourth, Maize had cut the lead to nine.
With play like he saw in that stretch and like he experienced during the 11-day run, Grill said he is encouraged going forward.
“I have a vision for this team at the end of the season,” Grill said. “And I think these guys can really, really get to maxing out their potential at the end of the year if they just stick with it.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Who are the area’s most dangerous boys basketball teams midway through the season?."