State championship-type statement made as Andover Central crushes Ark City
Two years ago, Andover Central needed an entire season to reach six wins. After Tuesday, the Jaguars are 6-0 and one of the best boys high school basketball teams in Kansas.
Andover Central and Arkansas City, two undefeated, AVCTL II, state-ranked teams, met in what was supposed to be one of the best games in Kansas ahead of the winter break. It wasn’t. The Jaguars won 70-44.
Coach Jesse Herrmann pulled his starters with 1:56 to go in a 28-point game. Andover Central was a class ahead.
“We lost to them twice at the end of the season last year, so that left a toll on us,” junior guard Xavier Bell said. “We just came out and competed.”
With the win, Central has now beaten three teams in the top 10 of the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association’s state rankings. This one was most impressive.
Ark City hung around for the first quarter, trailing only by a point after eight minutes. In the next two quarters, Central outscored the Bulldogs 37-16. Ark City couldn’t hit a shot, and Central couldn’t miss.
The Jags are known as a three-point shooting team, and that is certainly their best attribute with marskmen like seniors Easton Leedom, who finished with a team-high 21 points, and Braden Belt. But Tuesday, Central showed a potency getting to the rim and scoring in the paint.
It was a testament to how far the Jags have come in the past two years.
“We’re misunderstood because my sophomore year, all we could do is shoot, but in practice, we do more block drills than shooting,” Leedom said. “Last year, we knew we were good, but we just didn’t have that swag I guess. This year, we know we can get it.”
Andover Central is putting up 71 points per game and giving up just 52.2. It is one of the best scoring differentials in Kansas. That’s why college coaches were at the game Tuesday and stuck around afterward to talk with some of the Jaguars’ top players.
Central is No. 3 in Class 5A, according to the lastest KBCA rankings behind only Wichita Heights and Salina Central. The Jaguars have that type of title-contending pedigree. That was proven last year.
Playing in Class 4A-Division I, Central finished fourth in last year’s state tournament. The Jaguars lost to Arkansas City, the same team they beat by 26 Tuesday. They were bounced in the state semifinals by the eventual state champion Bishop Miege.
But Central is in 5A now with a new cast of contenders. As long as the Jaguars are clicking offensively, as they were Tuesday, Herrmann said his group will be hard to handle for anyone in the state. They will be tested again after the winter break when they host Wichita Southeast in the GWAL/AVCTL Challenge on Jan. 10.
“The atmosphere is the biggest thing,” Leedom said. “When we won six games, there was no one here, and now this place is loaded every game. It has been fun growing with these guys.”