Boys basketball loses to Hays High in final of Hays City Shootout

Jacob Clanton, Sports Editor

With less than five seconds left in the game, Hays High senior Shane Beren put up a long field goal in the hopes of breaking a 49-49 tie and winning the game. His shot hit the rim, and bounced out, leaving Manhattan fans happy.

Their joy was short-lived though, as Beren grabbed his own rebound, and threw it up as he fell out of bounds behind the goal. As the ball travelled over the backboard, the buzzer sounded, giving this shot the power to make dreams come true.

With fans from both sides holding their breaths, the ball fell through the net, clinching the game for Hays High (3-0). This day, Hays’ dreams came true, as Manhattan (2-1) was denied a chance to repeat their Hays City Shootout championship win.

Some argued the goal should not have counted, as it travelled over the backboard.

“Afterwards,” senior guard Trevor Hudgins said, “people started talking about how rules applied or whatever, and like how it can’t go over the backboard, and so I thought we should have gone into OT, but [the refs] just went back to the locker room.”

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) basketball rule book, Rule 7-1-2b states that “A ball is out of bounds: when it passes over a rectangular backboard.”

There was no decision made on the court though, meaning the shot stood, giving Manhattan the 51-49 loss in the championship game. This loss was a reflection of the Indian’s poor fourth quarter, as they scored only six points.

“The second half was just bad all around basically,” senior guard Tommy Ekart said. “I mean we just didn’t execute very well, [and we] didn’t play with enough intensity in the second half. Fourth quarter was just the worst quarter by far that we had.”

MHS had other issues leading up to the final quarter, primarily its rebounding struggles.

“We’re short on bigs,” Hudgins said, “and I think the guards really need to help the bigs [in rebounding] because we only have a couple [of them].”

Even so, there were some positives that came out of the tournament. The Indians continued to fight, and had no major fixes that needed to be made.

“I feel like we didn’t freak out when things weren’t going our way,” Hudgins said, “or when the refs weren’t calling [correct calls] at least, and we just need to fix the little things, we just got away from the little things at the end, and it kind of lost us the game.”

Playing in an early season tournament also allowed the team to gain some much needed experience.

“Most of those guys haven’t played a minute of varsity before,” Ekart said. “That was probably a good thing to have in the preseason tournament, so it will help us in league.”

The team was still led by its seniors, as Hudgins led the team with 16 points. Ekart and senior Cade Roberts tacked on 10 each.

Hudgins and Ekart were both named to the All-Tournament Team.

“It feels pretty good to be a part of that,” Hudgins said, “but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They gave me the ball, they finished my assists, they hustled, they were right there with me, so pretty [it was] cool to win that.”

Ekart also won the Most Inspirational Player, an award he feels honored to have.

The next game for the Indians will be against Junction City on Dec. 16 in the North Gym.