‘The little engine that could’: Sunrise proves it belongs with national hoops powers
It wasn’t the finish the Sunrise Christian Academy boys basketball team was looking for, but it concluded unquestionably the best season in program history.
Sunrise played for the GEICO high school national championship in Florida on Saturday afternoon, the first time it has advanced in the national tournament. No. 2 Sunrise lost 62-52 to No. 1 Montverde Academy on Saturday, but it didn’t spoil a season that saw Sunrise knock off the No. 1-ranked team in the country and play for two national titles.
“Man, it was tough to not get it done today but it was a major accomplishment for our program to get this far,” Sunrise coach Luke Barnwell told The Eagle in a phone interview on Saturday. “We’re a little bitty school out in Bel Aire, Kansas and to be up against all of these big-time power schools with these amazing facilities was pretty cool. It’s fun to be the little engine that could that broke into that market with all of the best teams in the country.”
Sunrise had qualified for the GEICO national tournament the previous three times, but had never won a game at that stage.
That changed on Thursday when Sunrise erased a seven-point, fourth-quarter deficit to rally for a 56-55 victory over Prolific Prep in the quarterfinals. Sunrise erased another fourth-quarter deficit the next day when it won 70-63 over IMG Academy.
“These kids showed their resiliency and their character and who they were this week,” Barnwell said. “It was a lot of fun to be in that locker room after those two wins. It felt like winning a game in the NCAA Tournament. It was a tough locker room in there today, but I’m so proud of these guys. It’s tough not being able to finish it because I wanted it as much for all of the former guys as the current guys. We’re all one big family here at Sunrise.”
In the championship game, Sunrise led 11-8 after the first quarter and trailed 23-21 at halftime. But Montverde made all 12 of its field goals in the third quarter to score 28 points and build a 13-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Sunrise was able to trim the deficit to 53-47 with 4:23 remaining, but would never come closer. Jaden Akins led Sunrise with 14 points off the bench, while Baylor signee Kendall Brown added 11 points, KU pledge Gradey Dick had nine points and Tennessee signee Kennedy Chandler chipped in with nine points and seven assists.
“Some of their guys made some shots that weren’t necessarily on the scouting report,” Barnwell said. “Some of their guys shot better than normal, but we hung in there. We played so hard, maybe even a little too hard early on and a little tense. We just couldn’t get the shots we needed to fall to get us through the bad stretch in the third quarter. Give them credit, they shot really well. It was tough for us the third day in a row try to dig out from a deficit.
“And that was a high, high-level game. There were four or five NBA guys out there on the court between the two teams. So we’re playing at an extremely high level.”
Barnwell believes the national exposure going up against traditional powers like Montverde, IMG Academy and Oak Hill Academy will only help Sunrise in the future.
While the season on the whole was a positive, Barnwell was still somber after the championship game loss because of the seniors who are moving on after leading the team to its best season in school history.
“I’m sad because I don’t get to coach these kids anymore,” Barnwell said. “They allowed us to push them and they worked hard and cared for each other and played together. They bought into something that didn’t revolve around one individual person. That’s what’s tough. I don’t get to coach (KU commit) Zach Clements, Kendall Brown or Kennedy Chandler again. Those seniors have poured a lot into this program. I get to be their biggest fan as they move on, but I’m going to miss the opportunity to coach them.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2021 at 3:29 PM.
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