Hayden Barber’s Tuesday takeaways: Wild night of hoops ends with upsets

There will be no undefeated boys basketball teams in the Wichita area this season.

During a night of compelling storylines and statement victories, a game in Goddard topped them all.

Here are five takeaways from the results:

Eisenhower suffers first loss

Arkansas City coach CJ Jennings knew his team was better than its record reflected.

The Bulldogs (8-5) lost to good Maize South and Andover Central teams, and Carroll and Campus when they were getting hot. So Tuesday’s 56-51 road victory over previously undefeated Eisenhower was vindication.

“Our losses aren’t bad losses, so I like where our team’s at, and I like what we’ve been doing,” Jennings said.

The game featured AV-CTL II’s top two leading scorers, Dylan Vincent and Cevin Clark. Clark led Arkansas City with 21, and Ark City held Vincent to 21, six below his average, and that was mostly the key, Jennings said.

Eisenhower was coming off a week in which it beat Maize and won its midseason tournament, so Jennings said he thought maybe there could a slip up in the waiting.

“Our seniors have never beaten that group of seniors,” Jennings said. “So I kept telling our guys, ‘This is a group you might have one shot at.’ I’m not saying we can’t win again, but next time, they’re gonna come in ready to go.”

Carroll proves no fluke

Northwest and East are the only City League teams the Carroll hasn’t beaten this season, and they’re next on the schedule.

Carroll beat Heights 59-53 on Tuesday, and one of its leading scorers, Carsen Pracht, scored two points. Coach Mike Domnick said had he known Pracht was only going to score two, he would have bet against an Eagle win.

Sophomore Tanner Mans scored a game-high 17 points. Freshmen and sophomores accounted for almost 60 percent of the points.

This victory is Carroll’s eighth in nine games, but Domnick said he didn’t like the attitude in practice during the week.

“You gotta walk that fine line,” he said. “You don’t wanna change the mojo of the team, but our kids are really getting loosey-goosey, so I don’t know if that’s something I’m gonna be comfortable with because I don’t want them to lose their focus.

“But they came out, and they performed, so I’m just kinda riding this thing out.”

Freshmen meet up at North

North’s Jackie Johnson III and East’s Daylan Jones are two of Kansas’ best freshmen, and they played against each other at East.

North came out with a 61-52 victory.

North coach Gary Squires said Jones was “smooth.”

There is a crop of young talent in the Wichita area. Squires cited Newton’s Ty Berry, Carroll’s Ezequiel Lankford and Heights’ Danair Dempsey. Squires has been in the City League for years, and he said 2018 might be the best time for young talent.

“It kinda reminds me of the PGA Tour,” Squires said. “Every weekend, there’s new guys winning, and these young kids are coming up.”

Trinity swamps top competition

Before Cheney traveled to Trinity, the Cardinals’ coach said winning a Central Plains title would go through the Knights.

He seems to have been right, but his team was on the wrong side of the score. Trinity beat Cheney 57-39.

The Knights were a dream on defense. In the second quarter, Cheney was outscored 18-2, couldn’t drive to the basket, and almost every outside shot was contested.

With the win, Trinity is alone atop the Central Plains League. Still, with each of the last six regular season games against league opponents, coach Chance Lindley said it’s not over.

“It’s a good win; Cheney’s a great team,” Lindley said. “But we tell our kids, ‘Every win is a big win.’ You need ’em all.”

Changing the calendar at Campus

The Colts are 6-1 this year.

Their season record shows 6-7 after Tuesday’s 51-43 victory at Hutchinson, but coach Chris Davis said his guys are leaving behind those six losses in December.

“I told the guys at Christmas, ‘Quit walking on egg shells and put a smile on your face,’ ” Davis said.

Since New Year’s Day, only Kapaun has beaten Campus. That loss came a day after the Colts upset then-6-2 Collegiate.

Campus’ December losses were to teams with a combined 54-27 record. The Colts lost to Derby after leading with 10 seconds left and Maize after leading with less than a minute to go.

“I told ’em Shakespeare ought to write our stories,” Davis said.

Davis called those games, “learning experiences,” and said having gotten some wins under their belt, the Colts are ready to attack 2018.

“I was so glad to get back in the gym on Dec. 28,” he said. “We knew we weren’t far away. Our kids never panicked, never pointed fingers.”

This story was originally published January 31, 2018 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Hayden Barber’s Tuesday takeaways: Wild night of hoops ends with upsets."