HUTCHINSON – Only 3.7 seconds separated Hesston and its shot at winning at fifth Class 3A boys’ basketball championship in six years.
 
A mere 3.7 seconds.
 
And just like that, it was Over.
 
A length-of-the-court drive and game-winning basket by Burlington senior Troy Over sank the Swathers’ hope for a repeat and sent the Wildcats and their fans into a frenzy. The buzzer beater ended one of the all-time class state tournament games as Burlington pulled out a 77-76 triple-overtime win over the defending champion Swathers in the nightcap at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
 
And quite frankly, it was fitting that it was the finale of semifinal night. Because there was no topping it.
 
“There are zero words,” Burlington coach Justin Logan said. “The TV just asked me, ‘What are your thoughts?’ And I honestly don’t have a clue. It’s jubilation for the kids, jubilation for the community. These guys were all behind us. It’s just awesome.”
 
While Logan struggled to find the words, the game’s final hero struggled to even recollect what he had just done, sending Burlington to its first state championship game since winning its only state title in 2004.
 
“It feels so good and I don’t even know how to put it in words,” Over said. “I’m still in shock right now and I don’t even remember the play, really.”
 
Burlington will never forget as Over delivered a shot that will live in program infamy.
 

 
In Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. championship game, Burlington (24-4) will take on No. 1 Wichita Collegiate (26-1), which ended a 10-year title game drought with a 57-43 victory over Silver Lake in its semifinal. The Spartans haven’t played for the title since 2016 when they captured the Class 3A crown.
 
And while the tourney’s No. 1 seed had little trouble clinching its spot, Burlington’s was anything but assured until Over’s final shot found the bottom of the net.
 
In fact, after one half of play, the Wildcats seemed destined to wind up in Friday morning’s third-place game. Hesston smacked Burlington with a 15-2 run to start the game and controlled the entire first half. Though the Wildcats regrouped a bit after the slow start, they still trailed 30-19 at halftime.
 
But in the third quarter, the game completely flipped. Burlington scored the first seven points of the second half to get right back in it and kept on scoring. Hitting 10 of 12 shots in the period, including 4 of 5 3-pointers, the Wildcats not only erased their double-digit halftime deficit, but raced to a 43-40 lead, outscoring Hesston 24-10 in the period.
 
“One of the main things we talked about in the locker room was resetting, refocusing, getting back within our spacing and stretching it out a little more to get them out a little bit,” Logan said. “Because they run a really good, disciplined pack defense. They’re so great at it, being disciplined on defense. We were trying to get them out and guard in positions they were uncomfortable with. At the end of the day, we just wanted to get back to being us.”
 
After getting up 5 in the fourth quarter on two different occasions, Burlington saw Hesston rally with a 7-0 run to take a 51-49 lead just over halfway through the period. A basket by Over with 1:50 left in the period tied it 52-52 and that’s how regulation ended with Over and Hesston’s Ty Unruh each missing game-winning 3-point shots in the final 1:23.
 
At that point, the fun and craziness was only just beginning.
 
Following ties at 54 and 56-all in overtime, Burlington pulled out to a four-point lead with 39 seconds left on a free throw by Mason Collins, who scored seven of the Wildcats’ 11 in the extra period and led by five with 28 seconds left after Over went 1 of 2 at the line.
 
Hesston got a huge 3-pointer by Gavin Larson with 20 seconds to play made it a two-point game and it stayed there after Burlington’s Maddux Cheever missed two free throws with 13 seconds left that could have sealed the win Given the opening, the Swathers took advantage and Unruh’s two free throws with six seconds left forced a second OT.
 
This time, it was Hesston that seemingly had the game in its clutches. The Swathers led by four with just over a minute left and by three with 21 seconds left after Unruh made 1 of 2 free throws.
 
In Tuesday’s quarterfinal win over Heritage Christian, Over was the shooting star, hitting 5 3-pointers. But he also had a solid co-lead as Shawn Mautz came off the bench to knock down three treys.
 
Fittingly, Mautz played the initial hero against Hesston. With time running out on the Wildcats’ hopes, Mautz took a handoff from Cheever down the left side and put up an off-balance 3-pointer that hit the backside of the rim, bounced straight up and back to the front of the rim and fell through into the net to force a third overtime.
 
“Honestly, the ball just came to me and we practice hard for these moments,” Mautz said. “I had confidence it was going in, and it went in. For a little moment I might have been, ‘No, it’s not gonna fall,’ but was so happy when it did.”
 

 
Burlington scored the first three points of the third OT ad after Eli Haug ended the spurt with a jumper, two free throws from Over put the Wildcats up 75-72. Larson hit two free throws with 20 seconds left to cut the deficit to one and after Mautz missed two free throws with 10 seconds left, the Swathers had a possession to win it.
 
Which they seemed to have done when Jerick Humphreys found Kasen Landes inside for a layup with just under 4 seconds left for a go-ahead score.
 
“There were a lot of momentum swings and we were just trying to stay calm and level-headed,” Mautz said. “We just had trust in what the coaches and teammates said.”
 
Out of a timeout, Logan ran an inbounds play where Mautz and Over crossed and whichever came open would take the ball the length of the floor. It was Over, who took the inbounds pass in stride and motored down the court, pulling up on a step-back jumper on the left wing just steps in front of where Mautz had buried his miracle 3-pointer.
 
His shot was nothing but net as the buzzer sounded.
 
“I knew that I had to take the shot,” Over said. “I had to put it up. It felt so good the whole way. I was ready for that step back. I was ready for it.”
 
The exhilarating finish was a stark contrast to how Burlington’s 2025 state appearance ended a year ago. Also facing Hesston, this time in the quarterfinals, Burlington couldn’t come up with a big shot late and fell in a 45-42 heartbreaker to the Swathers, who went on to capture the state title.
 
That moment wasn’t lost on Logan as he celebrated being on the other side of things this season.
 
“That was one of the things we talked about with the guys last year, soak all this in so it’s not a new experience next year,” Logan said. “We want this to be a been-here, done-that so that we can go take care of situations like that. Honestly, credit to Hesston because obviously they’re a been-there, done-that.
 
“I told the guys yesterday this was going to be good on good with what they’re great at and what we’re great at. Those were going to clash and this was going to be a lot of fun to be a part of.”
 
Hesston’s been-there, done-that resume included three straight championships in Class 3A from 2021-23 and then a fourth title added to the collection last year. While the reign came to an end, Swather coach Garrett Roth could 
 
“It was a back-and-forth game, we got out early and then they started hitting shots like we knew they were capable of,” Roth said. “I don’t remember a lot from the game, but one constant I do remember is that we had our backs against the wall and never gave up. Never quit and I’ve never been prouder of a group to fight through adversity like that and have a shot.”
 
Both teams had two players foul out with Burlington losing Collins (16 points, 8 assists) in the first OT and Alex Mautz in the second and Hesston having to go without Drew Bartell (15 points) after the first OT and Unruh (22 points) fouling out in the third OT.
 
Over finished with 16 points while Burlington was led in scoring by Gaige Navarro, who scored 20 points in regulation before going scoreless in the three OT periods. Unruh and Bartell were joined in double figures by Landes, who finished with 11 and 3.7 seconds shy of being the game’s hero.
 

 
WICHITA COLLEGIATE 57, SILVER LAKE 43
 
After setting the Class 3A state tournament scoring record with 106 points against Wellsville in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, Collegiate was going to have a hard time duplicating that offensive output in the semifinals against Silver Lake.
 
So when the semifinal became a bit of a grind, that’s exactly what Spartan first-year coach Nate Schmitt expected. Even with Silver Lake’s affinity to get out and score themselves.
 
“Silver Lake’s a great team and we knew the team that could play the pace and style they wanted the most was going to be successful,” Schmitt said. “They did a good job for so long against us but we were finally able to break through there and pull away.”


It happened later than Schmitt might have expected. Collegiate’s biggest lead of the first half was seven and after going up 25-21 on a Mason Bond 3-pointer to close the half, the Spartans saw Silver Lake open the third with a 9-5 spurt to grab a 30-29 lead on a Camden Kruger basket two and a half minutes in.
 
That seemed to snap Collegiate to life as the Spartans ripped off a 12-0 run that proved to be decisive. The Spartan lead stretched to 13 by the end of the quarter, Silver Lake only got as close as 7 on two occasions in the fourth quarter.
 
“We knew it was going to be a tough kind of now,” Collegiate senior Sebastian Hines-Turner said. “No more 30, 40-point games. We came together and grinded it out and made plays to come out victorious.”
 

 
Hines-Turner led the charge, filling up the stat sheet. The senior standout had 22 points and also collected 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals.
 
And he did it all while also drawing the tough assignment of guarding Silver Lake star Dayne Johnson most of the game. Johnson averaged better than 23 points a game during the regular season but finished with 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting.
 
It was a bit of a risk for Schmitt, but one he was willing to take and one Hines-Turner wanted.
 
“We had a lot of conversation with Sebastian about that,” Schmitt said. “Dayne’s incredible, a great player and just so under control and tough. Putting Sebastian in there, it’s two great players and hey, who’s better. They both went at it and it was a battle and fun to watch.”
 
“I wanted that challenge,” Hines-Turner said. “My coach, my teammates trust me to take that on and I stepped up. We knew he was a great player and could score a lot of different ways. But with great team defense helping me, we were able to play our style of basketball.”
 
Hines-Turner got plenty of offensive help from Kamari Jennings, who scored 14 and AJ Batiste who followed his 41-point quarterfinal game with 10 points.
 
Hunter Rooks scored 13 for Silver Lake, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts.
 
 
CLASS 3A BOYS SEMIFINAL BOXSCORES
 
WICHITA COLLEGIATE 57, SILVER LAKE 43
 
Silver Lake … 11 … 10 … 12 … 10 … -- … 43
Wichita Collegiate … 10 … 15 … 21 … 11 … -- … 57
 
Silver Lake (21-7) – Kruger 2-7 0-2 5, Johnson 6-14 1-2 14, Rooks 5-8 0-1 13, Bergmann 2-4 5-6 9, Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Womack 0-3 0-0 0, Kraus 1-5 0-0 2, Vanvactor 0-0 0-0 0, Renfro 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-43 6-11 43.
 
Wichita Collegiate (26-1) – Bond 2-6 0-2 5, Hines-Turner 7-16 5-7 22, Jennings 5-12 2-2 14, Batiste 5-14 0-2 10, Issa 2-2 0-0 4, Langston 0-1 0-0 0, Drumright 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 22-54 7-13 57.
 
3-point goals – Silver Lake 5-14 (Rooks 3-3, Kruger 1-5, Johnson 1-1, Kraus 0-3, Miller 0-1, Womack 0-1); Collegiate 6-25 (Hines-Turner 3-10, Jennings 2-7, Bond 1-4, Batiste 0-2, Langston 0-1, Drumright 0-1). Rebounds – Silver Lake 29 (Bergmann 12); Collegiate 34 (Hines-Turner 8). Assists – Silver Lake 7 (Johnson 3); Collegiate 12 (Hines-Turner 5). Turnovers – Silver Lake 18, Collegiate 8. Total fouls – Silver Lake 16, Home 17. Fouled out – Silver Lake: Bergmann.
 
BURLINGTON 78, HESSTON 77 3OT
 
Burlington … 8 … 11 … 24 … 9 … 11 … 7 … 7 … -- … 78
Hesston … 16 … 14 … 10 … 12 … 11 … 7 … 6 … -- … 77
 
Burlington (24-4) – Over 5-10 6-6 16, A. Mautz 2-3 0-0 5, Cheever 2-4 3-7 7, Navarro 9-15 0-0 20, Collins 6-6 3-4 16, S. Mautz 2-6 3-6 8, Sharpe 1-1 0-0 2, Birk 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 24-48 15-23 77.
 
Hesston (25-3) – Landes 4-7 3-3 11, Larson 2-10 3-4 9, Unruh 7-12 8-12 22, Lumbreras 2-4 0-0 4, Bartell 7-11 1-2 15, Haug 3-4 0-0 8, Humphreys 1-3 0-0 3, Schrag 0-0 0-0 0, Deeering 1-2 1-2 4, Bartlett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-53 16-23 78.
 
3-point goals – Burlington 6-12 (Navarro 2-3, A. Mautz 1-2, Collins 1-1, S. Mautz 1-1, Birk 1-1, Over 0-4); Hesston 6-16 (Larson 2-5, Haug 2-2, Humphreys 1-3, Deering 1-2, Unruh 0-2, Bartell –1, Lumbreras 0-1). Rebounds – Burlington 22 (Navarro 8); Hesston 25 (Landes 7). Assists – Burlington 20 (Collins 8); Hesston 16 (Unruh 6). Turnovers – Burlington 15, Hesston 14. Total fouls -- Burlington 24, Hesston 28. Fouled out – Burlington: Collins, A. Mautz; Hesston: Bartell, Unruh.