Individual Leaders in the Wild West

<p>Some of the best teams out west are led by some of the best players in the region. They are stuffing the stat sheet and putting their teams in position to compete with the best from Kansas City, Wichita and across the eastern portion of Kansas.</p> <p>Here are some the top leaders in the west (in alphabetical order):</p> <p><strong>Alexis Barron</strong>, 6-foot-2 guard, 2023, Macksville:</p> <p>The Mustangs are balanced and young, and Barron is just one of several good players on the team. He leads the team with 12.3 points per game, and he gathers 6.2 rebounds while also dishing out 3.2 assists to his talented teammates. Sixth ranked in 1A Div. I, Macksville’s only loss came to 2A Ellinwood. They’ll be a team to watch come playoff time.</p> <p><strong>Carson Bennett</strong>, 6-foot-2 guard, 2023, Hugoton:</p> <p>Hugoton has a lot of good young players, but Bennett has been perhaps the most productive thus far this season. He is averaging 14.1 points per game, to go with 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists.</p> <p><strong>Kylan Cunningham</strong>, 6-foot guard, 2022, Lakeside:</p> <p>Cunningham is a player making a name for himself in his senior season out in Downs. He’s racking up 17.0 points and 4.2 rebounds from the guard spot, while also dealing out 3.5 assists. To that, he also gathers in 2.6 steals per contest.</p> <p><strong>Jared Eitzmann</strong>, 6-foot-1 guard, Beloit-St. John’s:</p> <p>Eitzmann has been really good for a few years now. He’s going out with a flourish, leading the otherwise very young Blujays in nearly every category. He is averaging 14.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals. (editors note: we've had Eitzmann's name spelled with just one 'n' in some previous articles, as well as his state ranking. Those errors are being fixed)</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="952432" first="Jose" last="Guzman"], 5-foot-8 guard, 2022, Ness City:</p> <p>Fellow senior [player_tooltip player_id="946252" first="Taylor" last="Cable"] tends to get a lot of the accolades for 1A Ness City, but Guzman deserves a ton of credit for his dynamic guard play for the Eagles. He averages better than 11 points per game, and got 20 with 6 assists in a win over Tribune – Greeley County in the Northwest Kansas League tournament.</p> <p><strong>Corbin Ross</strong>, 6-foot-6 center, 2022, Ness City:</p> <p>Ross joins Cable, Guzman and company to make the Eagles a team to fear come playoff time. Ross is averaging 13.4 points and 11.4 rebounds as the big man for Ness City.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1195621" first="Bailey" last="Sides"], 6-foot guard, 2022, Northern Valley:</p> <p>Northern Valley is one of the best small school teams in Western Kansas, and Sides is the team leader. His team is ranked #2 in 1A Div. II. The senior is a stat monster. He’s averaging a pretty impressive 6.2 assists to go with his 17.1 points. He does it all – 6.3 rebounds and 4.7 steals. (Here’s a little preview: Sides will be getting a nice bump in the 2022 rankings next week for his leadership of such a good team.)</p>