WICHITA – As good and consistent as Berean Academy is on defense, there has to be some elixir at work, right?
“It’s just team defense, you know,” Berean junior Wyatt Friesen said after the Warriors defeated Rossville 55-38 in the Class 2A boys state tournament quarterfinals Wednesday at Friends University’s Garvey Center. “Jumping the ball, getting in the lane. It’s not just one guy, it’s the whole team.”
Berean’s first state appearance in six years was a product of stifling defense, and it doesn’t appear the Warriors are going to change their colors now. Rossville, which finished its season 17-8, became the 17
th Berean opponent held to 40 points or less.
The second-seeded Warriors, who earned a Friday semifinal matchup with St. Mary’s Colgan at Emporia’s White Auditorium, held Rossville to 12 first-half points. While the Bulldawgs found more offense in the second half in their desperation to keep their season alive, Berean also turned its methodical sets into points.
Berean's Wyatt Friesen moves toward the basket as Rossville's Jack Donovan defends during Wednesday's 2A quarterfinal.
The 6-foot-1 Friesen led Berean (23-2) with 20 points, making 9 of 14 free throws. Emory Kukula added 16 points for the Warriors, who never conceded the lead after the senior banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key early in the second quarter to make it 12-10.
As Berean added to its advantage, the characteristics that made the Warriors rise in the 2A rankings during the season began to surface. After Rossville scored the first points of the second half to make it 20-14, Berean doubled its lead over the next five minutes with Kukula scoring inside and Friesen hitting a 3-pointer from the baseline.
Another 3 by Lawson Wiebe stretched the Warriors’ advantage to 33-20.
Meanwhile, Rossville, which scored 90 or more points three times this season, continued to grind for points.
“We were just wearing them down,” Friesen said. “At the end of the game, they were tired. They weren’t as quick with what they were trying to do.”
Berean coach Lewis Wiebe has seen it play out numerous times this season.
“They anticipate really well,” Wiebe said. “They’re phenomenal athletes, but they anticipate really well and do the fundamental things pretty well.”
And Berean has done it in the Heart of America League, which produced 2A champion Sterling, runner-up Moundridge and third-place finisher Ell-Saline a year ago. The league’s depth was equally good this year, which has strengthened the Warriors.
“It makes you ready to play every game,” Friesen said. “You can’t take any games for granted. Every game is different, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do, which is move the ball well and play good defense.”
Colgan's Jayden Brown goes in for a layup during the Panthers' 54-42 victory over Wichita Classical.
ST. MARY’S COLGAN 54, WICHITA CLASSICAL 47 – Colgan won its first state tournament game in seven years by forcing 20 turnovers and withstanding a late shooting barrage by Classical.
Coach Clint Heffern believes in defensive versatility, but the Panthers’ bread and butter Wednesday was a zone defense that repeatedly choked off Classical’s passing lanes. Colgan recorded 14 steals, including four by Jayden Brown, who was one of three Panthers who scored 12 points.
“We’ve done a lot of different things,” Heffern said. “We’ve played man, we’ve played zone, we’ve played different types of zones. We keep preaching that if we’ve got all those things in our bag, it should just make us that much more dynamic.
“We can throw different things at teams at different times, and they’ve got to be prepared for any of it. We were trying to decide what the call was today – whether we wanted to stick with it or go man – but I felt like our guys did a really good job of seeing shooters. Boxing out and rebounding out of zone can sometimes be a challenge, but I thought our guys really made a concerted effort and did a good job with that.”
Colgan (19-7) didn’t trail after the first quarter, but led just 18-13 at the break as both teams used zone defenses effectively. With Brady Crossland and Will Schremmer matching Brown’s scoring production, the Panthers led 41-25 with 4:48 to play, but left the door open by making just 16 of 32 free throws.
Classical, which got 16 points from Graham Yost and 10 from Mack Dolloff, hit six second-half 3-pointers. But the Saints, who finished 20-5, could only get within five with nine seconds remaining.
STERLING 77, DOUGLASS 29 – Sterling looked every bit the favorite. Douglass every bit the underdog.
Fresh off pulling off two straight upsets in sub-state play, including a double-overtime buzzer-beating win over Uniontown, Douglass was hoping that momentum carried over into its showdown with defending champion and unbeaten Sterling.
The Black Bears snuffed it quickly. Sterling dropped 25 points on the Bulldogs in the first quarter and never let off the gas, cruising to the 48-point win.
Sterling (26-0) has now won 40 straight games, the bulk of those in the same dominating fashion in which they ended Douglass’ Cinderella run. Of Sterling’s 26 wins this season, 23 have been by 20 or more points.
Boston Ekart led three Black Bears in double figures with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor. Blake Smith added 12 and Zane Farney had 10. In all, 11 of the 12 Black Bears who played in the game scored.
Douglass was led by Brody Rush’s 14 points.
Sterling will face a high-powered offense in its 5:30 p.m. semifinal Friday at Emporia’s White Auditorium. St. Marys got 30 points from Ben DeVader in its quarterfinal win over TMP-Marian.
ST. MARYS 60, TMP-MARIAN 44 – One day after Rossville’s Rylee Dick lit up the Tony’s Pizza Events Center to the tune of a 31-point game, another Big East League shooting star followed suit on Wednesday.
Only St. Marys’ Ben DeVader came away with a win to go with his prolific scoring night.
DeVader hit six 3-pointers in the game and torched TMP-Marian for 30 points to lead the Bears into the Class 2A state semifinals. He nearly outscored the Monarchs in the opening half by himself, scoring 12 and hitting a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer that gave the Bears a 32-14 halftime lead. He kept on firing in the second half, getting 18 after the break.
St. Marys (20-7) will get a crack at defending champion and unbeaten Sterling (26-0) in Friday’s 5:30 p.m. semifinal at Emporia’s White Auditorium. The Black Bears hammered Douglass 77-29 in their quarterfinal at Koch Arena in Wichita.
CLASS 2A BOYS QUARTERFINAL BOXSCORES
STERLING 77, DOUGLASS 29
Douglass … 11 … 5 … 3 … 10 … – … 29
Sterling … 25 … 15 … 23 … 14 … – … 77
Douglass (13-12) – Cox 0-5 2-2 2, Ast 4-11 0-1 8, Moore 1-6 0-0 2, Knisley 0-9 1-2 1, Rush 5-18 1-3 14, West 0-2 2-2 2, Roberson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 10-52 6-10 29.
Sterling (26-0) – B. Smith 6-12 0-0 12, Farney 3-7 4-7 10, Newberry 2-5 0-0 4, Lewis 4-6 0-0 8, B. Ekart 7-12 4-4 20, Morris 2-5 2-2 6, Wohler 1-2 1-2 4, K. Smith 0-2 2-2 2, Isaac 0-2 1-4 1, Thompson 4-6 0-0 8, E. Ekart 1-3 0-0 2, Myers 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-64 14-21 77.
3-point goals – Douglass 3-21 (Rush 3-11, Knisley 0-1, West 0-2, Moore 0-3, Cox 0-4); Sterling 3-14 (B. Ekart 2-4, Wohler 1-2, Farney 0-1, K. Smith 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Isaac 0-2, B. Smith 0-3). Rebounds – Douglass 35 (Ast 10); Sterling 48 (Lewis 9). Assists – Douglass 3 (Knisley 2); Sterling 15 (Wohler 4). Turnovers – Douglass 20, Sterling 8. Total fouls – Douglass 15, Sterling 16. Fouled out – None.
ST. MARYS 60, TMP-MARIAN 44
St. Marys … 13 … 19 … 10 … 18 … -- … 60
TMP-Marian … 6 … 8 … 17 … 13 … -- … 44
St. Marys (20-7) – J. Hurla 3-6 0-0 8, B. DeVader 9-22 6-8 30, McCann 2-5 1-2 5, Sommars 3-6 0-0 6, Archer 2-4 3-4 7, Heim 0-0 0-0 0, L. DeVader 1-1 0-0 2 C. Hurla 0-2 0-0 0, Mayhew 0-0 0-2 0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Freeman 1-1 0-0 2, Waters 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 10-16 60.
TMP-Marian (20-6) – Eck 3-10 1-1 8, Dinkel 2-4 0-0 6, T. Schmeidler 1-5 0-0 2, Seib 2-7 5-9 9, G. Nehls 2-10 5-7 9, I. Nehls 2-5 1-2 5, Liles 0-3 0-0 0, Dreiling 1-1 0-0 3, Fabrizius 0-0 0-0 0, Baalma 0-0 0-0 0, C. Schmeidler 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 14-46 12-19 44.
3-point goals – St. Marys 8-23 (B. DeVader 6-15, J. Hurla 2-5, McCann 0-1, Sommars 0-1, Archer 0-1); TMP-Marian 4-14 (Dinkel 2-3, Eck 1-6, Dreiling 1-1, T. Schmeidler 0-1, I. Nehls 0-1, Liles 0-2). Rebounds – St. Marys 35 (Archer 14); TMP-Marian 29 (Seib 11). Assists – St. Marys 10 (Sommars 4); TMP-Marian 5 (Seib 3). Turnovers – St. Marys 8, TMP-Marian 8. Total fouls – St. Marys 14, TMP-Marian 13. Fouled out – none.
BEREAN ACADEMY 55, ROSSVILLE 38
Rossville … 7 … 5 … 12 … 14 … – … 38
Berean Academy … 9 … 11 … 15 … 20 … – … 55
Rossville (17-8) – McDonnell 6-13 1-2 14, Donovan 0-8 0-0 0, Bush 1-1 0-0 2, Miller 4-8 2-3 10, Johnson 0-0 1-4 1, Wuensch 0-0 0-0 0, Horgan 1-3 0-0 2, Dick 0-0 0-0 0, Lewis 4-7 1-4 9, Henry 0-0 0-0 0, Horak 0-0 0-0 0, Martinek 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-40 6-15 38.
Berean Academy (23-2) – Balzer 1-6 3-4 6, Kukula 4-6 7-10 16, Unruh 4-9 0-0 8, Friesen 5-8 9-14 20, Sweazy 1-2 0-0 2, Morgan 0-0 0-0 0, Wiebe 0-0 0-0 0, Gaudern 0-0 0-0 0, Snook 0-2 0-0 0, Wiebe 1-3 0-0 3, Beverlin 0-2 0-0 0, Regier 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-38 19-28 55.
3-point goals – Rossville 0-9 (McDonnell 0-1, Horgan 0-1, Miller 0-2, Donovan 0-5); Berean Academy 4-14 (Kukula 1-1, Wiebe 1-2, Friesen 1-3, Balzer 1-5, Beverlin 0-1, Snook 0-2). Rebounds – Rossville 22 (Miller 7); Berean Academy 31 (Unruh 7). Assists – Rossville 6 (McDonnell 3); Berean Academy 9 (Unruh, Friesen 3). Turnovers – Rossville 11, Berean Academy 7. Total fouls – Rossville 21, Berean 18. Fouled out – Rossville: Lewis.
ST. MARY’S COLGAN 54, WICHITA CLASSICAL 47
St. Mary’s Colgan … 10 … 8 … 12 … 24 … – … 54
Wichita Classical … 7 … 6 … 12 … 22 … – … 47
St. Mary’s Colgan (19-7) – Crossland 5-7 1-5 12, Schremmer 5-7 2-4 12, Bettega 3-4 3-4 10, G. Brown 0-2 2-2 2, J. Brown 4-11 4-9 12, Radell 0-0 1-2 1, Lomshek 1-3 0-0 2, Simmons 0-2 3-6 3, Beltran 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 18-39 16-32 54.
Wichita Classical (20-5) – Daniels 2-7 1-5 6, Yost 6-11 0-0 16, Sinclair 2-5 1-2 7, Black 2-5 0-0 5, Dolloff 4-9 2-2 10, Zickafoose 0-0 0-0 0, Neisler 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 17-40 4-9 47.
3-point goals – St. Mary’s Colgan 2-10 (Bettega 1-1, Crossland 1-2, Lomshek 0-1, G. Brown 0-2, J. Brown 0-4); Wichita Classical 9-24 (Yost 4-9, Sinclair 2-5, Neisler 1-2, Black 1-3, Daniels 1-5). Rebounds – St. Mary’s Colgan 25 (J. Brown 6); Wichita Classical 28 (Yost 5). Assists – St. Mary’s Colgan 7 (Crossland, G. Brown 3); Wichita Classical 14 (Black 4). Turnovers – St. Mary’s Colgan 9, Wichita Classical 20. Total fouls – St. Mary’s Colgan 14, Wichita Classical 23. Fouled out – Wichita Classical: Daniels, Black.