by Clarke Davis
The Perry-Lecompton boys’ basketball team defeated Heritage Christian Academy Saturday night in overtime to capture the 3A sub-state trophy in their home school.
Kaws coach Matt Simmons told his team at the beginning of the season to be ready and willing to adapt to change and now, with a 19-4 season behind them, the players are going to have to adapt to being in the 3A state tournament.
The Kaws will travel to Hutchinson for the 3A state competition held in the Hutchinson Community College Sports Arena March 8-11.
Perry-Lecompton, seeded seventh, will play second-seed Gypsum-SE Saline (22-1) at 6 p.m. Thursday.
The other teams in order of their placement are Galena (23-0), Hesston (22-1), Marysville (21-2), Wichita Collegiate (20-3), Colby (20-3), and Wellsville (18-5).
The second-round play for the Kaws, if successful, will be at 8 p.m. Friday. The consolation and championship games are at 2 and 6:15 p.m. Saturday.
Key Kaw players are Kamryn Kaniper, 6-4 senior, who leads scoring with 18 points per game and 4.4 rebounds; Gunnar Ball, 6-3 senior, with 16.3 points per game and 10 rebounds; Kael Gorski, 6-4 senior, averaging 7.2 points and 4.4 rebounds; and Eli Dean, 5-8 sophomore, averaging 5 points and 3.7 rebounds.
The Kaws were the Paola Tournament runner-up, Valley Falls Tournament champions, and took second in the Big 7 this year behind Sabetha, who went undefeated in the regular season.
Gorski, Kaniper, and Ball were named to the Valley Falls All-Tournament Team. Kaniper went over 1,000 career points in the sub-state championship game and Ball is currently at 948 career points going into the state tournament.
PLHS recently went to the state tournament in 2018 and 2019 under Coach Jared Swafford. Best finishes at state are second in 1980 and third in 2019.
“I am very proud of our team and happy for our community. We showed great resilience battling against a very good Heritage Christian team and competed at the highest level,” coach Simmons said. “I believe being in such a great league really prepares us to play against tough teams one after another in big games. I think that was part of the reason we won Saturday. We had several players step up and refuse to lose.”
Simmons is in his second year at Perry-Lecompton. He coached two years at Jefferson West before moving to Perry and is the elementary and middle school physical education and weightlifting teacher.
The coach played basketball for his Great Bend high school and then played for Fort Hays State University.
The additional years the boys’ team has been to state are 1975 (4th), 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980 (2nd), 1981, and 1982.
The Perry-Lecompton boys was the only one of 12 Jefferson County teams that emerged the winner after entering sub-state action last week. Here is a wrap on the three tournaments that involved county teams:
Perry-Lecompton senior Kamryn Kaniper goes up for a two-handed dunk in the first half of Friday night’s game versus Silver Lake. Though the Eagles led 19 to 17 at halftime, the Kaws turned it on in the second half, grinding out a 38 to 28 win, leading the team into a sub-state championship win Saturday versus Heritage Christian.
Perry-Lecompton 3A
The Kaw boys (16-4) were seeded second in the tournment behind Bishop Ward (17-3) and defeated Jefferson West, 67-36, in the first round of play Tuesday.
The Kaws defeated Silver Lake, 38-28, Friday to reach the finals while Heritage Christian knocked off Bishop Ward, 54-52.
Perry-Lecompton then defeated Heritage Christian, 73-66, in overtime for the sub-state title.
In the girls’ 3A sub-state, Jefferson West (5-15), seeded seventh, defeated second-seed Heritage Christian (15-4) in first round play Monday.
The Tigers then lost to third-seed Rossville (14-6) Thursday, ending their season.
The Kaw girls (7-13) were seeded sixth and lost to Rossville in the first round.
Top-seeded Silver Lake (18-1) defeated Royal Valley, Maur Hill-Mount Academy, and Rossville to win the championship.
Horton 2A
In boys 2A action at Horton, Jefferson County North and Valley Falls both won their first contests Monday with JCN (13-7) seeded first.
The Chargers beat last-seeded Republic County, 41-22, to meet Riverside (6-14) Friday. The third-seed Dragons (10-8) defeated Pleasant Ridge (6-14) by a score of 51-49, to face Horton (11-8) on Friday.
Both county teams lost the next round with JCN falling to Riverside, 43-36, and Valley Falls dropping to Horton, 57-42.
Horton defeated Riverside in the championship for the trip to state at Manhattan.
In the girls’ tournament, the two county teams were pitted against each other in the first round with sixth-seed Valley Falls (7-12) defeating third-seed Jefferson County North (13-7) by a score to 42-37.
The Dragons then lost the next round to second-seed Jackson Heights (15-4), 40-32.
Riverside was top-seeded and beat Republic County, Valley Heights, and Jackson Heights for the championship.
St. Marys 2A
Oskaloosa and McLouth teams were entered in the 2A sub-state at St. Marys.
In boys’ action, Oskaloosa (5-14) was seeded seventh and lost in first-round play Monday to second-seed Wabaunsee (13-6), 67-34.
McLouth lost in a play-in game to Maranatha Christian Academy, 50-32.
Lyndon (19-1) was seeded first but lost to third-seed St. Marys (12-7) in the championship game, 66-63, in overtime.
In the girls’ tournament, Oskaloosa defeated McLouth in a play-in game to advance to St. Marys.
The Bears (3-17) went up against top-seeded Mission Valley (16-4) in the first round and and lost, 79-28.
St. Marys (9-10), seeded second, defeated Mission Valley in the championship, 56-38, for the trophy and trip to state.