Friday’s takeaways: Weather becomes a player in league races

Arkansas City fell a half game short of an AV-CTL Division II title. Eisenhower played one less game.

Here are some takeaways from Friday’s basketball action:

‘No time left’

Tuesday morning, everyone woke up to snow and ice outside; the Andover Central at Eisenhower game got pushed to Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, it was much of the same weather; the game was postponed to Friday.

Thursday, Eisenhower was scheduled to play at Arkansas City, but weather postponed the game to Friday, which meant Andover Central at Eisenhower game was cancelled.

“There was no time left, I guess would be the answer,” Andover Central coach Jesse Herrmann said. “5A boys start their sub-state on Tuesday, and once you get into the weekends, it’s hard for anybody to reschedule.

“I just feel like it was in neither team’s best interest to try to play a weekend game.”

The schedule was also a victim of the sub-state seeding meetings. Brackets were posted Saturday morning.

Eisenhower still held a two-game lead in AV-CTL II.

If Eisenhower had played 20 games, Arkansas City still had a chance to pull even. Playing 19, they didn’t.

Ark City emphasized the issue with a 71-64 win over Eisnehower on Friday. Despite the loss, Eisenhower posed with its legue title trophy.

Eisenhower finished league play 9-2. Ark City finished 9-3 and Andover Central 7-4.

That left Ark City coach CJ Jennings in the dark.

“You’re talking about the top three teams in the league right there in a tight run, I felt like they should have tried to make it up, but that’s out of my control,” Jennings said. “It’s just a tough pill to swallow for my guys.”

There is no rule in the KSHSAA basketball manual that dictates teams must play 20 games, only that if a game goes unplayed, it does not count for or against either team.

Andover Central would have had to beat Eisenhower to give Arkansas City a share of the title.

The Jaguars were also busy Friday, beating Derby 70-61 on Friday. Eisenhower won its early-season meeting with Andover Central 57-44.

Since that loss Jan. 12, Andover Central has lost once, 59-56 agianst Arkansas City.

Friday against Derby, the Jaguars had it rolling again.

After the Panthers scored the first two points, Andover Central never trailed. Sophomore Xavier Bell scored 26, and junior Braden Belt scored 20.

Herrmann said despite a slow start offensively, his group played well.

“Second half of the season, we’ve been able to score the ball at a pretty good percentage, but we’re just giving away too many possession because of rebounding,” he said. “(Friday), we won the boards. Any time we’re able to do that, we’ll have a great shot on the scoreboard.”

Maize defies preseason poll

Maize finished a 16-4 regular season with a 64-47 victory over Salina South that clinched AV-CTL I. It was the Eagles’ second game in as many days. Coach Chris Grill said coaching this year’s group has been enjoyable.

“They have a great awareness of what makes them successful,” Grill said.

Grill said the back-to-back scheduling was good and bad. The uncertainty surrounding when the games were played was the toughest part, he said.

“We were just grateful to get all 20 games in,” he said. “The kids want to play. They don’t want to miss out on any opportunities.… But it’s been a weird couple of days.”

Maize is the No. 3 seed in its Class 5A sub-state assignment. The Eagle start with Great Bend and will have the winner of Salina Central vs. Newton.

This story was originally published February 24, 2018 at 12:27 PM with the headline "Friday’s takeaways: Weather becomes a player in league races."