Big Players, Big Games

<p>The season is building to a climax. The best teams are separating themselves from the pack. There are lots of big games every week as the season rolls toward the playoffs. Here are a handful of big games from across the state:</p> <p><strong>Inman defeated #1 Little River 63-45</strong></p> <p>The #1 team in 1A Div. 1 went down for the first time in a shocker Friday. The Redskins had defeated Inman quite handily earlier in the season and can probably just flush this defeat and move on. But it was quite a feather in the cap for Inman. The Teutons held all-stater [player_tooltip player_id="962478" first="Jayden" last="Garrison"] and talented senior <strong>Trey Rolfs</strong> to just 6 points apiece. Inman was led by <strong>Eli Brunk</strong> with 22 points, 13 of which came in the fourth period. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1076407" first="Jace" last="Doerksen"]</strong> added 12;</p> <p>Inman freshman <strong>Tanner Heckel</strong> is a player to watch. The 5-foot-9 guard has shown ability from deep and the athleticism to be a contributor on the football team as a freshman. He has numerous games in double-figures in his young career.</p> <p><strong>Wamego and Concordia go to FOUR overtimes:</strong></p> <p>That’s right, four overtimes! The exhausted Panthers finally fell off the pace and lost 84-78 in the eighth period of the night. Wamego was led by 27 points from <strong>Burk Springer</strong>, a 5-foot-8 junior who had a career night. Wamego also got 22 from [player_tooltip player_id="730642" first="Tanner" last="Hecht"] and 17 from <strong>Ledjor Rowden</strong>.</p> <p><strong>#3 Maize defeated #2 Salina South 55-41:</strong></p> <p>Maize claimed a big lead early and never looked back in the battle of 5A elites. The Eagles had balance, with junior [player_tooltip player_id="946254" first="Kyle" last="Grill"] leading the way with 15 points. [player_tooltip player_id="730629" first="Jacob" last="Hanna"] and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="891928" first="Mason" last="Belcher"]</strong> added 13 apiece. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="889521" first="Colin" last="Schreiber"]</strong> led the way for South with 12 points. [player_tooltip player_id="1070200" first="Josh" last="Jordan"] added 11.</p> <p><strong>#3 Lawrence bests #4 Free State:</strong></p> <p>This one wasn’t particularly close. The Lions won 56-40, showing some real separation between #3 and #4 in 6A. <strong>Pearse Long</strong> hit five 3-pointers. [player_tooltip player_id="599752" first="Zeke" last="Mayo"] was held to just 12 points, but no worries for the Lions. For Free State, Mozae Downing scored 17, but needed 15 attempts to do it.</p> <p><strong>#10 Jefferson North holds off #9 Valley Center:</strong></p> <p>In a battle of top 2A clubs, Jefferson North edged the higher-ranked Dragons. There were several good players in this game, but it turned into a duel between the Chargers’ 6-foot-2 senior <strong>Emmitt Jobbins</strong> and the Dragons’ 6-foot-7 senior [player_tooltip player_id="889500" first="Nate" last="Hawk"]. Jobbins finished with 20 points, enough to offset the 25 tallied by Hawk. Jobbins was aided by junior <strong>Ryan Feldkamp</strong>, a 6-foot-4 junior who added 17 for Jefferson North.</p> <p><strong>Lyndon gets the best of #7 Madison in OT:</strong></p> <p>Lyndon is out of the 2A rankings for the time being, but they edged 1A Div. 1 Madison 48-47 in overtime. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1134452" first="Luke" last="Detwiler"]</strong> led Lyndon in this low-scoring affair with 14 points. Big man <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1134453" first="Miles" last="Kitselman"]</strong> added 10. Madison struggled offensively, other than Chase Harrison, who drilled four 3-pointers and led all scorers with 15.</p> <p><strong>#5 Campus holds off Derby:</strong></p> <p>It was close until Campus pulled away in the fourth period in the 6A battle. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="891908" first="Jameer" last="Clemons"]</strong> (pictured) and <strong>Fontaine Williams</strong> made it interesting by each scoring 20 for Derby. <strong>Stevie Strong, Jr.</strong> led the way for Campus with 21, while [player_tooltip player_id="730616" first="Sterling" last="Chapman"] added 16.</p>