Pioneer League Spring Wrap

<p>The Pioneer League was pretty well dominated by Wellsville this past winter. The Eagles return their best player to build around.</p> <p>Here’s a look back, and a look forward, for the Pioneer League:</p> <p>Top Team: Wellsville</p> <p>The Eagles steamrolled to state at 20-3, where they were finally upended by Galena in the first round. They had their best players back from a 15-8 season the previous year and in addition to having the league’s best player, placed two seniors on the league second team</p> <p>League Player of the Year: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1139921" first="Jimmy" last="Dorsey"],</strong> junior, Wellsville</p> <p>The 6-foot-5 forward blossomed as a junior, scoring 20.1 points to lead the Eagles to state. Dorsey earned third-team 3A and will be one of the top bigs to return next season.</p> <p>Senior Star: <strong>Landon Carson</strong>, Iola</p> <p>Carson racked up 21.8 points as a senior. The 6-foot-1 guard was dangerous from deep and could produce some big outings, like the time he scored exactly half his team’s 64 points in a win over Burlington.</p> <p>Senior Star: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1070215" first="Maddox" last="Decker"]</strong>, Santa Fe Trail</p> <p>The 6-foot senior upped his scoring output from 17 points as a junior to 20 as a senior. Decker was a stat-sheet stuffer, tallying rebounds, assists and steals from the guard spot.</p> <p>Other Top Grads (in alphabetical order):</p> <p><strong>Tyler Duncan</strong>, Santa Fe Trail</p> <p><strong>Kaden O’Neil</strong>, Wellsville</p> <p><strong>Brian Payer</strong>, Burlington</p> <p><strong>Chris Pursley</strong>, Osawatomie</p> <p><strong>Jackson Showalter</strong>, Wellsville</p> <p><strong>Brody Smith</strong>, Santa Fe Trail</p> <p>Top Returner: Dorsey</p> <p>Other Top Returners:</p> <p><strong>Blake Buessing</strong>, junior, Santa Fe Trail</p> <p><strong>Sam Smith</strong>, junior, Burlington</p> <p>Players to Watch this Summer (in alphabetical order):</p> <p><strong>Tyler Boeken</strong>, junior, Iola:</p> <p>The 6-foot-3 forward didn’t grab a lot of headlines last year, but he did grab a lot of rebounds. 7.7 per game, to be exact. He also averaged 9.3 points per game, and that number will go up a lot next season when Iola loses a lot of top players. Boeken will use the summer to prepare for that day.</p> <p><strong>Reece Katzer</strong>, junior, Anderson County:</p> <p>The 6-foot-7 Katzer will be one of the league’s biggest returners, and he has a chance to develop a ton this summer. He’s a long, thin forward who can do a lot of things and will be one of the best players in the league next year.</p>