A year ago, the Centennial League trio of Manhattan, Emporia and Topeka High combined for 19 wins and brought up the rear of the league standings.
 
More than half of that win total came from Emporia, which posted a 12-9 mark. Manhattan managed just six wins, while Topeka High struggled mightily in a one-win campaign.
 
But an offseason of change in some cases and maturation in others has produced markedly different result for those three programs this season. Going into Tuesday night’s league play, Emporia, Manhattan and Topeka High have already accounted for a combined 20 wins and have a combined overall record of 20-6.
 
“It’s been fun so far,” Manhattan coach Benji George said. “We’ve just really grown up from last year and the kids have bought in. It’s been great up to this point.”
 
Manhattan actually started the season with a loss to Wichita-based Life Prep Academy in the opening round of the Hays Shootout. But since that loss, the Indians have been on a roll. They finished out the Hays tourney with wins over Newton and Hugoton and have reeled off seven straight wins overall going into Tuesday’s league showdown with arch rival Junction City -- the longest streak for the program since the 2016-17 season.
 
At 7-1, the Indians already have topped last year’s 6-15 mark, a rare losing season under George, who began this season 14 wins shy of becoming the winningest coach in program history.
 
“For the first time in my tenure here, there was a real lack of experience,” George said. “And then you combine that with just a small senior class and that’s how it worked out. There was a lot of figuring out what it takes to win, figuring out what we want our culture to be. We just never quite got there.
 
“It was trial by fire for a lot of our first-year varsity players. Everything that goes into winning, there’s nothing harder than winning consistently in high school basketball and we found out how hard that is last year. This year, I think our players have really embraced how hard it is and how badly they want to win and it’s showing in the way we prepare and attention to detail.”
 
Returning all but two players off last year’s team and bringing back three starters, Manhattan isn’t lacking in the experience department this season. George saw marked improvement in his players during the summer and that has carried over into the season.
 
The maturation has really showed up in the fact that of the Indians’ first eight games, only two have been at home. Manhattan has picked up big road wins over Shawnee Heights, a 56-54 nail-biter, and Hays, pulling out a 62-59 overtime victory.
 
“If I had to pin-point one thing, it’s our defense,” George said. “We’ve really leaned heavily into that end of the floor and made some adjustments. We’re playing more man and honestly we want all the programs at Manhattan High to have success, but with football playing for a state title we had so few practices together. Up to the Shawnee Heights game we could have not executed anything offensively if we had to. It was all defense and conditioning up to that point.
 
“That’s why the Shawnee Heights game was such a nice win. To that point, we hadn’t really practiced offense yet, but we still went out and got a win. And then the Hays game we started to execute some things. … They had lost right before break and I knew how ticked off they would be and they weren’t going to be happy about that. They’re just different at home, a different animal in their new gym. It was such a good high school game and to come out of that with an overtime win was huge for us. It put even more confidence in the guys.”
 

   
Senior Will Carpenter led the Indians in the Hays win with 17 points, a game after hitting the game-winning shot in the win over Heights, capping a 27-point night. He’s averaging a team-high 16.5 points per game this year after coming off the bench last year for 6.4 points per game.
 
Vince Doering, who was an honorable mention all-leaguer last year, is right behind with 12.1 points per game and is a menace defensively, tying a school record for steals in a game with 9 in a win over Dodge City earlier this season. He’s on pace to set the school’s steals records.
 
Sawyer Nelson averages 11.3 points per game and Henry Witt, the lone junior starter, adds 8.1 points per game. Nelson scored a career-best 20 points in Friday’s win over Topeka High and Tim Washington also had a career-high with 12 points.
 
While Manhattan was able to somewhat hit the ground running following last season, Emporia and Topeka High both spent the offseason in a bit of transition mode with new coaches taking over the programs.
 
After spending six years as head coach at Heritage Christian, Evan Burns was ready for a change and to him, Emporia was the perfect fit.
 
“It was the community and it just seemed to fit my personality,” Burns said. “I thought Emporia would be a fun town to coach basketball in with the history that program has. … It’s a basketball city and take a lot of pride with their basketball. Being a 5A, I wanted to jump to a bigger class and see what I could do with a program at that level. I just thought it was my type of place, intense and kids that would do the dirty work and all the small things and I thought it would be a good fit all around.”
 
Burns didn’t get the job until early July, so it was somewhat of a late start in getting the groundwork laid for what he envisioned for the program. But he also had a relatively blank slate to work with as Emporia only returned two players that saw extensive varsity time a year ago, seniors Rylan Crowell and Harry Trelc.
 
“I was only able to have six practices with the guys in the summer and I think they were a little shell-shocked,” Burns said. “I think they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, is this guy serious?’ with how I structure and operate practices. We go from one thing onto another thing in a very structured and organized emphasis. We emphasize something every day. I think they enjoyed it, though.”
 

 
Putting in considerable team-bonding activities leading into the season, the buy-in was quick and Emporia has reaped the benefits. The Spartans opened the season with nine straight wins before suffering a 55-54 loss at Hays last Friday. Emporia won its home Paul Terry Classic with tourney wins over Spring Hill, Basehor-Linwood and Hayden and also has knocked off fellow 5A programs Great Bend (61-51) and Liberal (66-34).
 
Emporia has shown the ability to win the close games this season as well. Six of the Spartans’ nine wins are by 11 points or less with four by six points or less.
 
“I’m super-proud of them,” Burns said. “It’s been sticking to the fundamentals we work on every day. We really try to win the rebounding war. … I think we’re averaging 10 offensive rebounds per game. If you can get extra possessions and take away possessions, that’s a big key.
 
“It’s also helped us having eight straight home games to start the season, I’m not gonna lie. That was a huge factor to that good start.”
 
Crowell and Trelc have been the leaders Burns hoped they would be with Crowell leading the team with 16.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.3 assist per game and Trelc averaging 13.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest. Terrick Franklin has emerged as a third major weapon, adding 14.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
 
“Watching last year’s film, I knew there was something to play with there,” Burns said. “I knew seeing what they were able to do and break it down what the players’ strengths were and give them roles that played to their strengths.”
 
Even with the tough road loss to Hays ending Emporia’s 9-0 start – the best ever by a first-year coach at Emporia – Burns has been pleased, but not necessarily shocked by the early success.
 
“I set the bar high for myself because I like to strive for greatness,” Burns said. “I don’t think the people really believed I’d be doing what I’ve done and get them to believe this quickly. … I wanted to bring the blueprint to Emporia and it’s worked before. I knew if it worked at Heritage, it would work here. You just have to keep the game simple, work on the game daily and encourage and coach the boys.
 
“They bought into what I had to provide and teach and have done a tremendous job. It comes down to executing the small details and it’s fun because you can see it. I’ve gotten so many compliments from the town how the boys just like each other and how fun it is to watch them play together.”
 
While Burns was a new face to the Emporia program, Topeka High turned to one of its own to try to turn its program around. Robbie Sanders is a 1996 graduate of Topeka and spent his early coaching days as an assistant coach for the Trojans, serving under Mike Henson and Pat Denney.
 
After a 13-year stint as a Trojan assistant, Sanders joined Ken Darting’s staff at Shawnee Heights and spent the past six years with the T-Bird program.
 
But even while devoting his efforts to the Heights’ program, his alma mater was never far from his mind. And seeing the program struggle over the past half decade wasn’t easy.
 
“No matter where I was, I always kept my eyes on what was going on here at Topeka High,” Sanders said. “It was hard to see that. There’s a lot of tradition there. A lot of great coaches and great players that have been in this program. It was hard to watch.”
 
When the head coaching job became available after last year’s 1-19 campaign, Sanders was ready to return home and try to turn things back around. High hasn’t had a winning season since going 16-6 in 2019-20 and its most wins in the five season since had been just five.
 
“It’s always been the place I wanted to be when I started coaching,” he said. “My only dream was to eventually become the head coach at Topeka High some day.”
 
When he got the dream job, he also felt like he inherited a dream roster. Having stayed in Topeka throughout his assistant coaching days, he was plenty familiar with most of the returning Trojans and knew there was a foundation to work with.
 

 
Senior forward Bryson McComas had begun his career at Heights before transferring to High last year where he averaged 11 points per game. Senior guard Jalen Aldridge returned after averaging 14.3 points per game while starters Elisha Guest and Octavian McFadden also returned.
 
“I was shocked with the amount of talent we had here and the potential that this group of guys had,” Sanders said. “It’s just a combination of last year he had to play a lot of young players. I was looking toward the future and six months of growth and weight room and what that could do for the guys. They attacked the summer program the preseason program and put in the work to get better.”
 
High opened the season with a convincing 82-54 win that has served as a springboard to the Trojans’ early breakthrough. Though they dropped three of their next four games, the Trojans began the 2026 portion of their schedule with a big 74-55 road win over USD 501 rival Highland Park and then followed with a 66-65 hard-fought road win over Lawrence.
 
“It was huge to start the season with a win, really, really big,” Sanders said. “Just getting that win on the opening day gave a validation to the things I was asking them to do. There’s payoff if you’re willing to sacrifice – give a little bit more effort on the defensive end, be willing to share the ball, just the little things I’ve been asking them to do.
 
“The Highland Park game just means so much to so many people. The whole community came out and supported us for that game and it’s always tough to get a win against Highland Park, especially in that gym.”
 
McComas is averaging a team-high 14.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while Guest is averaging 12.9 points per game and Aldridge 12.3. Ajalon Ross is just under double digits with 9.9 points per game.
 
High dropped its league opener 70-63 to Manhattan last Friday and two of its other losses have come to 6A Olathe East. Even though a 4-4 mark won’t turn many heads, it’s a big step in the direction Sanders wants to take the program, which is back to its days of being a 6A contender.
 
“It’s cliché, but it’s basically get 1% better each day,” Sanders said. “If we can get better every day from the beginning of the season to the end of the season, the wins and the losses will take care of themselves.
 
“I’m definitely pleased. Even though we’ve had a good start at 4-4, we’ve let a couple get away. We weren’t prepared to play the way we needed to play against certain teams. But I’m really, really happy. I was happy with the effort we had against Manhattan even though we came up short. Those were times in the past where we’d laid down and not believe. But we fought to the end and that’s what I mean about getting better every day.”
   
OSAGE CITY’S FORT HITS 500-WIN MILESTONE
 
For Dennis Fort, it was just another win.
 
But when Osage City beat West Franklin 71-26 on Jan. 6, it was a significant one. It marked his 500th career victory, not that Fort could have definitely told you that.
 
“I’m sure 500 wins is a big deal, but I honestly do not keep track,” said Fort, who is in his 32nd year as head coach at Osage City and has posted winning seasons in 25 of his previous 31 years. “It is not the reason I have been coaching all these years, for personal milestones. I have been very fortunate to have some really good players play for me over the years.
 
“The 500 wins is just a number, but spending 32 years at one school is a big deal.”
 
Fort has led Osage City to two state titles, winning Class 3A crowns in 2000 and 2016, the latter with his son, Duncan, starring for the Indians.
 
“As a coach, you wish every kid that plays for you could win a state championship, but that does not happen,” Fort said. “However, my assistant coaches and I owe it to our kids to coach them in a way to try and win a state championship every year. And I feel we have done that. Osage City has always been the perfect fit for me.”
 
 
OTHER BOYS BASKETBALL STANDOUTS

• Seaman’s KaeVon Bonner reached the 1,000-point milestone in a 60-57 win over St. James Academy last Wednesday. Bonner scored 27 points in the win and then followed that with a career-high 42 points in the Vikings’ 65-46 win over Lansing last Friday.
• Northern Heights is off to its best start in league play in more than five years, sitting 3-1 early in Lyon County League play. The Wildcats have beaten Marais des Cygnes Valley, Burlingame and Waverly in league play with its lone league loss a 78-74 shootout to Hartford. Kelton Bish has posted double-doubles in the Wildcats’ last two games, getting 19 points and 11 rebounds against Hartford and 22 points and 11 rebounds against Waverly. Cooper Woodrow had 45 points in the two games while Henry Scheeley had a career-high 19 points and 8 rebounds against Hartford. Heights is 3-6 overall.
• Rock Creek is 8-0 on the season after beating Concordia (71-64) and Abilene (86-46). Before the break, the Mustangs won the inaugural Flurry on Flush Tournament, beating Buhler, Eudora and Hays, the latter a 56-32 win in the championship game. Gavin Rosa was named the tournament MVP and is averaging 14 points per game this season.
• Wabaunsee split its first two games after the Christmas break, falling 54-53 to fellow Flint Hills League unbeaten Cair Paravel on Jan. 6 and then outlasting Lyndon 68-61 in double overtime on Jan. 9. In the win over Lyndon, Cole Frank had 32 points and 10 rebounds while Carter Falk added 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Falk also had 13 points and 5 rebounds against Cair Paravel and Cutter Murray had 18 points.
• Gage LeClair had 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field in Clifton-Clyde’s 54-50 overtime win over Frankfort on Friday. Landon Begnoche had a strong defensive game on Wildcat standout Wes Anderson and then led the way offensively in a 50-43 loss to ranked Thunder Ridge on Saturday with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 7 steals.
• In four games since the Christmas break, Axtell’s Colin Shaughnessy is on a serious scoring roll. Shaughnessy began a four-game surge with 30 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists in a win over Washington County and then followed with 30 points and 7 assists in a win over Frankfort. He erupted for a career-high 44 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists in a win over Seabury and capped the stretch with 26 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists against Lincoln. In the four games, Shaughnessy averaged 32.5 points, 8 rebounds and 6.5 assists helping the Eagles stay undefeated despite missing post presence Logan Sandmann, who was out with an injury.
• St. Marys’ Ben DeVader had a big week last week in a split with Silver Lake and Sabetha. DeVader scored 27 points in a 73-61 loss to Silver Lake and then had 23 points and 5 assists and then hit game-winning shot in a 61-59 win over Sabetha.
• After going just 4-19 last season, Jefferson County North is 5-3 this season, bouncing back from an 0-2 start to win five of its last six games. The Chargers knocked off defending Northeast Kansas League champion Maur Hill 55-39 on Friday. Isaac Laird is averaging 13.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game while Chance Jenkins has added 12.2 points per game, Rex Fuhrman 7.4 points and 6.1 rebounds and Will Elias 3.6 assists and 2.9 steals per contest.