Kansas high school state basketball scoreboard: Maize boys upset top 6A team
Every March Madness needs an underdog.
The Maize boys basketball team has no problem taking on that responsibility.
After going on the road to take down Wichita Northwest last weekend in a sub-state championship game, Maize pulled off a stunner in the opening round of the Class 6A state tournament at Koch Arena on Wednesday with a 49-48 win over No. 1 seed Shawnee Mission South.
The No. 8 seed Eagles (17-6) have won 10 out of their last 11 games and will play at 2 p.m. Friday against the winner between Shawnee Mission Northwest, the defending state champion, and Mill Valley.
“After our midseason tournament, we started a gradual incline and I don’t know if we’ve slowed down,” Maize coach Chris Grill said. “They’re a fun group to be around. We’ve probably had two practices that weren’t good all season. Your goal as a coach is to get them to play the best we can and right now we’re playing as good as we have all season.”
There was no special game plan for approaching the challenge of facing Kansas City’s best. Maize stuck to what has been working lately: working the ball around for a good shot on offense and committing to defense and rebounding. The starting lineup of Alec Grill, Ty Willits, Charles Sharp, Brayden Myovela and Alan Hanna rose to the challenge.
SM South played with the lead for the first half, opening up a 21-16 halftime advantage, but a strong third quarter by Maize tied the score at 35 entering the final eight minutes. From there, it was a nip-and-tuck battle.
“We just tried to focus on the things that we could do as a team,” Grill said. “We can’t play different than what we already are. So we just focused on the things that we could be good at it and we hung around long enough to give ourselves a chance.”
With Maize trailing 46-43 with 3:33 left, Hanna scored a layup to trim the deficit. After each team traded empty possessions, Myovela (15 points) scored with 1:22 left to put the Eagles up 47-46. SM South answered back with a put-back score by Conor Kerrigan (22 points) to go back up 48-47 with 53 seconds left.
Maize worked the clock before attacking and SM South used a foul to give, which led to a Maize timeout with 9.4 seconds left. On the baseline out of bounds play, the ball was funneled to Myovela at the right elbow of the free throw line and he ball faked to get his defender leaning the wrong way and stepped through for the game-winning score with 6.2 seconds left.
After SM South’s own timeout, Maize trapped the ball at halfcourt and forced a turnover when Myovela came through with a steal to secure the victory.
“It was great to see Brayden have the concentration and the focus to finish that shot,” Grill said. “But I thought all five of our starters played really well. Everybody had moments where they had to step up and they all did. He happened to be the one who stepped up in the last couple possessions.”
Below is an updated list of scores from the playoff games played on Wednesday, March 12.
Class 6A state basketball scores
Boys (Wichita)
Final: No. 8 Maize 49, No. 1 Shawnee Mission South 48
Final: No. 4 Shawnee Mission Northwest 76, No. 5 Mill Valley 52
Final: No. 7 Olathe North 69, No. 2 Derby 50
Final: No. 3 Wichita Heights 64, No. 6 Washburn Rural 44
Class 5A state basketball tournament
Girls (Emporia)
Final: No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas 51, No. 1 Hays 48
Final: No. 4 Spring Hill 61, No. 5 Maize South 56
Final: No. 2 Topeka Seaman 66, No. 7 Kansas City Piper 54
Final: No. 3 Andover 49, No. 6 St. James Academy 44
Class 4A state basketball scores
Boys (Salina)
Final: No. 1 Ottawa 63, No. 8 Atchison 46
Final: No. 4 McPherson 60, No. 5 Baldwin 59 (OT)
Final: No. 2 Rock Creek 56, No. 7 Abilene 33
Final: No. 3 Andale 45, No. 6 Pratt 43
Class 3A state basketball scores
Girls (Hutchinson)
Final: No. 2 Halstead 50, No. 7 Neodesha 33
Final: No. 6 Colby 57, No. 3 Osage City 31
Final: No. 1 Hesston 52, No. 8 Holcomb 37
Final: No. 4 Silver Lake 56, No. 5 Girard 45
Class 2A state basketball scores
Boys (Manhattan)
Final: No. 1 Moundridge 58, No. 8 Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan 25
Final: No. 4 Valley Falls 58, No. 5 Syracuse 54
Final: No. 2 Sterling 97, No. 7 Chase County 48
Final: No. 3 Ell-Saline 82, No. 6 Rossville 78
Class 1A Division 1 state basketball scores
Girls (Dodge City)
Final: No. 2 Centralia 50, No. 7 St. John 27
Final: No. 3 Troy 33, No. 6 Central Plains 25
Final: No. 1 Little River 76, No. 8 Colony-Crest 27
Final: No. 5 Quinter 65, No. 4 South Gray 54
Class 1A Division 2 state basketball scores
Girls (Colby)
Final: No. 8 Linn 51, No. 1 South Haven 39
Final: No. 5 Attica 46, No. 4 Bucklin 40
Final: No. 2 Lebo 44, No. 7 Hodgeman County 24
Final: No. 3 Hanover 64, No. 6 Wallace County 49
This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Kansas high school state basketball scoreboard: Maize boys upset top 6A team."
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