Postseason heroics send 15th-seeded Wichita East on Cinderella run to state tournament
As a player and now a coach, Carlin Whitten has seen a lot of top-level basketball be played over the years in the City League.
He’s not sure if he’s ever seen a run like the one Wichita East senior Manuel Martinez is on this postseason.
Three days after scoring 44 points on the road to take down No. 4-ranked Junction City in overtime, Martinez banked in a 35-footer at the buzzer to continue the Blue Aces’ improbable Cinderella march to the Class 6A state tournament with a 48-47 road win over Wichita South on Saturday night.
“I’ve seen this kid work, so I know what’s in his DNA,” Whitten said. “As he’s been piling up the points, I haven’t been surprised because I know what he’s capable of. So I just try to step back and enjoy the show. I’m so happy for him. It couldn’t happen to a better kid.”
After winning just five games in the regular season, Martinez’s heroics had 15th-seeded East dancing its way to Koch Arena next week. The Blue Aces will face top-seed and undefeated Shawnee Mission Northwest at 2 p.m. Thursday.
Martinez said his postseason explosion stemmed from a conversation he had with teammates following the conclusion of the regular season.
“They told me, ‘It’s your senior year, you can’t go out without a fight,’” Martinez said. “So I just had to lock in. I don’t want to go home yet.”
During a timeout with 1.4 seconds left and East trailing 47-45, it wasn’t even a question of who the ball was going to. Whitten just tried to figure out a way to get Martinez open.
“I even had the other kids in the timeout telling me to give him the ball,” Whitten said. “No question where we were going.”
With East inbounding the ball near halfcourt next to its bench, Martinez broke free from the foul line and caught the ball closer to the half-court line than the 3-point line. He launched the shot with so much forward momentum that he actually tripped and fell, as he watched the ball kiss off the glass as the buzzer sounded to set off pandemonium in the South gymnasium.
“I’ve shot from there before, but it don’t be going in,” Martinez said. “Tonight, my prayer was answered. I knew it was going in right after I let it go. ‘That’s game.’”
Martinez’s shot rescued East from what would have been a devastating collapse, as the Blue Aces saw their 10-point lead in the third quarter vanish with South rallying to take its first lead, 46-45, with 59 seconds left. The Titans doubled their lead with another free throw with 6.4 seconds left to set up a wild sequence to end the game.
East originally needed to go the full length of the floor in just 3.8 seconds, but Martinez was fouled by South near halfcourt with 1.4 seconds left. That gave the Blue Aces a chance to diagram sideline out-of-bounds play from half-court instead.
Martinez said the celebration following the shot felt like an out-of-body experience. A mob of teammates and students rushed the floor to hound Martinez, who was then lifted on the shoulders of teammates in the post-game ceremony with the sub-state championship trophy.
“To be honest, I blacked out,” Martinez said. “I don’t really know what was going on. I’m still in disbelief.”
Whitten said he was proud of Martinez, but even more proud of his team. After losing several overtime and single-digit games during the regular season, the Blue Aces used that as motivation for when the postseason came.
After taking down a title-contender in Junction City, East had confidence matched up with another Cinderella team in the City League. It’s a confidence they plan to carry with them to the state tournament, where they feel like they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
“This time of year, it’s all about believing,” said Whitten, who won two state titles as a player with the Blue Aces. “Anybody can beat anybody this time of year. The records don’t matter. Everyone is 0-0. That’s the mindset our kids have right now.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2024 at 5:58 AM.
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