Home Stretch: The 3A Race

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>State tournaments are just about a month away. As teams jockey for sub-state seedings and try to get on an upward swing, let's take a look at the 3A race.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Favorites:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Southeast of Saline</strong> - The Trojans' returned most everyone from the team that placed third in 3A a year ago. They've rolled through the schedule with their lone loss coming to 4A Hugoton. They have a frontline duo that few can match in 6-foot-7 [player_tooltip player_id='1080163' first='Eli' last='Sawyers'] (pictured) and 6-foot-4 [player_tooltip player_id='1378391' first='Nakari' last='Morrical-Palmer']. The tandem combines for about 32 points and 16 boards. Don't overlook the impact of guards <strong>Kayson Lilley</strong>, <strong>Drake Augustine </strong>and <strong>Luke Gebhardt</strong>, each of whom has experience and a winning pedigree.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Sabetha</strong> - Prep Hoops scouts have had their eyes on this group for a couple of years, expecting them to fly up the 3A ranks as they grew into upper classmen. The Blue Jays have a big man who can score in [player_tooltip player_id='1624976' first='Davis' last='Rokey'], and another who brings intense athleticism in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2147823' first='Christian' last='McAfee']</strong>. They have fiery competitors at the guard position in [player_tooltip player_id='1378396' first='Matthew' last='Garber'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1378447' first='Marcus' last='Bauman']. The one question about Sabetha's glossy record: have they faced enough high-level competition outside of their league to be ready for the sub-state/state gauntlet?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>The Challenger:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Haven</strong> - Haven continues to roll as somewhat of an under-the-radar team. [player_tooltip player_id='1750179' first='Brant' last='Sipe'] is a big forward who can score and rebound. <strong>DJ Miller</strong> is a veteran guard who can score and distribute. The Wildcats have won a couple of regular season tournaments and have beaten some good teams to stay undefeated.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hopeful:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Bishop Ward</strong> - The Cyclones have destroyed just about everything in their path this year. Other than a close loss to 4A Hayden, they haven't lost in the state of Kansas. Like Haven, they have a nice inside/outside combo in [player_tooltip player_id='1561987' first='Immanuel' last='Campbell'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1749041' first='Jeremyah' last='Greer']. That pair scores about 30 points per game. Greer is a playmaking guard who can shoot and distributes 3 assists per game. Campbell is a solid, powerful forward who runs the floor. There's a lot of talent around those two in <strong>Dustin Recker, Jalen Pickens, [player_tooltip player_id='2169821' first='Tyler' last='Holmes'] </strong>and <strong>TJ Maddox</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->