Maize South proves power after electrifying win over Campus
Kael Kordonowy reared back as if he was preparing for the Super Bowl in about a week.
Trey Reid hadn’t even turned around before he let it go. The ball flew about 50 feet before it landed in Reid’s hands in stride. A few steps later, he was at the basket. He was fouled, and it went in anyway. He jumped into the stands to celebrate as Kordonowy pointed at his receiver. It was a touchdown, and Maize South scored a lot of them Friday night.
The Mavericks won their eighth straight with a 67-60 win over Campus, a team that had just one loss coming in. They trailed by 10 at halftime but used an explosive third quarter to spring the comeback.
Maize South went on a 21-4 run through the first seven minutes of the third that was capped with an alley-oop from senior Ethan Hartig to Kordonowy. Maverick coach Kip Schultz said they work on runs like that every day. He said he sees that type of execution almost every day in practice but never against that good of an opponent.
“In practice, you got to get a stop, and then you just start running,” senior Nolan Veenis said. “You just run and run and run over and over again.”
Reid was the most frequent target on Kordonowy’s long outlet passes. He finished with a game-high 22 points in the win; 14 of them came on layups. But Reid, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, said he isn’t doing the hard part.
“All I really gotta do is put my hands up and catch it,” he said. “At that point, it’s one-on-one to the basket. ... We got on a run, and we never looked back. After every play, we got in a huddle and talked about what we needed to do better.”
With so many talented players in the Wichita area and AVCTL II, Reid’s performances have gone overshadowed this season, but his finishing ability has been wildly important to the Mavericks’ run.
He started the season with 28 points in an overtime win against Andale. Since then, he has scored 15 in a win over Eisenhower, 23 against Wichita South and 17 in the midseason tournament championship win over Heights on Saturday.
Schultz said with his team’s past two victories, he knows it can hang with anyone in Kansas.
“When you want to be considered with the best, you have to beat the best,” he said. “We’ve set the tone that you’re going to have to bring a big game if you want to come in and beat us.”
Reid said to have won eight straight is an amazing feeling, but he and Schultz credited the senior leadership for the run. Reid said watching the way players like Veenis and Kordonowy go about their work is inspiring.
Veenis and Kordonowy had brothers on the 2015 team that reached the Class 5A state championship game. They said they took a lot away from how they led.
Schultz said this 2019 team has the same feel with six seniors on the roster.
“I know how talented we are, and I know we can go far if we have that kind of leadership,” Veenis said. “Everyone is hopping on. It starts in practice, and it translates onto the court like you saw tonight.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2019 at 11:03 PM.