On the prowl: They are catching fire at the right time before clash of champs
Andover Central has lost three games since Jan. 17, and those have came against teams with three combined losses in the regular season.
The defending Kansas Class 5A basketball state champion got off to a slow start at 3-5, but the Jaguars will play for a chance to return to the state tournament against a team pegged as near unbeatable, the 5A champion from two years ago.
Tuesday night, Andover Central beat Maize 63-50 to advance to its sub-state championship game against 21-0 Bishop Carroll, who beat Maize South in its first round matchup. Last year, Central, Maize and Carroll were considered the top three teams in Class 5A.
When Central beat Maize in the semifinal round, it was Maize’s first and only loss of the season. Now the Jaguars are facing another undefeated team in an elimination game.
“I love these guys,” Central coach Jesse Herrmann said. “They’re fighters. They’re winners. That’s why we’ve started trending up here at the right time.”
Central entered the 2019-20 boys basketball season on the heels of its second trip to a football state championship in school history. The Jaguars lost to Bishop Miege Nov. 30 in Hutchinson.
Eight of the Jaguars’ varsity players were in that game and had just four practices before their first game against Maize South on Dec. 6. Although they won that game, they lost the two that followed, including one against Bishop Carroll in the AVCTL/GWAL Challenge at Koch Arena.
Central lost that game 68-46 in what was supposed to be the biggest game of the early season.
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The Carroll players sprinted through the back hallways of Koch Arena to their locker room and celebrated as if they had just won another state title. In some sense, that rang true.
Last year’s 5A state tournament bracket worked out so that Central and Maize were on one side with Carroll on the other. The winner of Central and Maize in the semifinal round was likely to meet Carroll, but the Jaguars never got that chance despite holding up its end of the bargain.
Carroll entered the fourth quarter up double-digits on Basehor-Linwood but squandered that lead and had the play for third place the next day. So when Central and Carroll met in the AVCTL/GWAL Challenge, it felt like the championship game that never was.
But Central wasn’t ready for that game, and it showed. Even the players and Herrmann said as much after Tuesday’s victory. Carroll is laced with basketball-first players like All-Metro contenders Tanner Mans and Alex Littlejohn. The Golden Eagles were geared up, and Central was still trying to catch its breath from a deep state football run.
Bell said the Jags are a much different team this time around.
“Really all I can say is that we want it,” Central senior Xavier Bell said. “We want it all.”
Jan. 17, Central’s season hit a low point in a loss at Valley Center. Last year, the Jaguars beat Valley Center by 23 points. This season, they lost by 12.
Bell said it was hard to want to pull things together. He said he knew Central had the pieces to make it work but wasn’t sure whether it had the legs.
It would have been easy for Bell to throw in the 2020 season. He is already pledged to play Division I basketball at Drexel. He has already won a state championship, earned All-Metro and Top 5 honors from the Eagle. He said that’s not him.
“My dad always told me, ‘Tough times will show you who you really are,’ ” Bell said. “It was hard. It was hard to go through. I just stayed prayed up. Stayed with the guys and didn’t flake away. We just came together, and that has been the biggest thing for us.”
Since that Valley Center loss, Central won its midseason tournament in Chanute with an eight-point win over Shawnee Mission South, who finished fourth in Class 6A last year, and have gone 10-3. Here are their only three losses in the past 53 days:
- 66-48 at Campus (20-0), Feb. 4
- 65-56 at Eisenhower (17-4), Feb. 11
- 56-54 vs. Andover (21-0), Feb. 25
It’s possible Central doesn’t have the guns to repeat as state champions in 2020. Last year, the Jaguars had Bell, Easton Leedom and Braden Belt, three of the top players in Kansas. This year, they have Bell and seven other seniors who might not have the same basketball acumen but are plain winners.
“I knew our team was made up of a bunch of strong, competitive seniors,” Herrmann said. “This team isn’t gonna lose because they’re not playing hard. They’re gonna lose because a team beats ‘em, and that’s fun to coach.
“Over 25 years of coaching, I’ve had hundreds of players play for me. Having a son in this grade and knowing them since they were growing up, it’s a really special group to me. I’m so happy that we’re able to finish the season much better than we started.”
Outside of Bell, seniors Jerome Washington, Kaden Wilson, Matt Macy and Ty Herrmann are the Jaguars’ top contributors this season. All played on the state runner-up football team. They know what it takes to win big games, and they will have to put that metal to the test 7 p.m. Friday at Bishop Carroll.
“They thought it was gonna be the championship game last year,” Washington said. “Here it is. It’s gonna be a sub-state championship.”