Campus-Derby rivalry settled in overtime with dramatic finish to send winner to state
Scoring the game-winning basket to beat your rival and send your team to state seems like a picture-perfect scenario for a basketball player.
Campus senior guard Kaason Thomas would have made one minor edit after his game-winning heroics lifted the Colts to a dramatic 46-45 road win in overtime over Derby in an electric Class 6A sub-state championship game on Saturday evening.
“Ideally, we would have beat them by 20,” Thomas said with a grin.
Considering Campus had 11 points at halftime, Thomas gladly accepted whatever type of win the Colts could come up with to extend their season to next week’s state tournament at Koch Arena. Campus (14-8) will face Wichita Heights (20-2) in Thursday’s 6 p.m. showcase game.
An instant classic between two bitter rivals ended with two straight fortuitous bounces in favor of Campus to decide the game in overtime.
The first came when Thomas’ initial attempt at a game-winner was tipped and the pursuit to secure the loose ball resulted in players toppling over like bowling pins in the lane. With six players on the ground, the ball just so happened to trickle out of the pile straight to Thomas, who was standing underneath the basket and laid it in uncontested for the go-ahead basket with 10 seconds left.
The next came seconds later when 6-foot-7 senior Kaden Franklin rescued Derby’s chances by retrieving what looked like a lost possession, but his turnaround, left-handed hook shot from the right block was a touch long and bounced off the back of the rim.
A season continued and a season ended by mere inches and a random bounce of the ball.
“I was a little down because I missed the layup, but then I saw the ball just rolling on the ground to me and I knew I had to make it that time,” Thomas said. “It was just an amazing feeling.”
Derby played with the lead for the majority of the game, but was haunted in the end by 7-of-21 foul shooting, which included 3-of-10 accuracy in the fourth quarter and overtime period.
The Panthers executed their defensive game plan to front and double-team Campus star and Drake signee Andrell Burton Jr., who was limited to just nine points. But that opened up opportunities for other players, like Campus junior Landon Brown, who drilled three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help the Colts rally from behind.
Derby led 43-41 in the closing seconds of regulation, but Thomas forced overtime when he drove down the left side and hit a floater over the defense with three seconds left. Thomas scored all 19 of his points after halftime, including the scores to force overtime and win the game.
“Kaason is so quick and fast, once they put two guys on Andrell and focused on him, he was pretty much playing 1-on-1 going downhill,” Campus coach Zac Kliewer said. “There’s not a lot of kids in the state of Kansas who can stay in front of him. He was just in attack mode.”
Derby had chances to extend a lead in overtime, but missed four of six shots at the foul line in the extra period that resulted in the Panthers clinging to just a one-point lead in the final seconds.
That’s when Thomas came through once again with his last-second heroics to conclude what both coaches agreed afterward was a tremendous competition of high school basketball.
“The city of Haysville traveled so well and they were behind us tonight and then Derby’s crowd was incredible as well,” Kliewer said. “We got there at 4 o’clock and people were already standing outside waiting to get in. The environment was electric and you always know coach (Brett) Flory is going to do a great job and have his guys playing at such a high level. It sucks because they are very much a deserving team to go to state, but it just so happens that the chips fell on our side this time.”
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