Men’s Basketball gets second in Hays

Freshman+Coy+Cavender+focuses+before+shooting+at+the+free+throw+line+during+the+Freshmen+Boys+Basketball+Quad+Tournament.+

Photo by Jennifer Sadler

Freshman Coy Cavender focuses before shooting at the free throw line during the Freshmen Boys Basketball Quad Tournament.

Cole Schmitt, Social Media Manager

The Manhattan High Varsity boys basketball team went 2-1 in the Hays City Shootout this past week. The team beat Thomas More Prep-Marian (TMP) 67-48. The team then advanced to the semi-final and dominated Hays High 78-56 in their own house. They then then fought hard but fell short in the final against Millwood High 55-60.

Coach George said MHS did “well” considering Millwood High School, out of Oklahoma City, were allowed to start practicing in October. Kansas schools are not allowed to start practice until November.

“We have a chance this year to be a defensive force,” head coach Benji George said. “There’s things we need to do better but I think we started to establish ourselves defensively. We did a pretty decent job at getting the fast break going, we’ve worked on that this year. I thought we shot the ball well. Our shooting percentages were good.”

The team went 40 percent from the field against TMP, 49.2 percent against Hays, and 51.2 percent against Millwood. That’s 46.8 percent from the field on average in all three games. From the free throw line, the team went 59.7 percent.

“The team had great execution of our transition and press offense,” senior KJ Williams said. “We really looked to push pace and get good shots.”

After going 0-8 from the three-point line in the first game against TMP, the Indians went 15-42, or 35.7 percent from three in the tournament.

“We’re really deep,” said George. “Probably the deepest team we’ve had since I’ve been coaching here. We’ve got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys and I think that can be a factor for us this year.”

From the team, 11 players scored at some point or another in the tournament. Only five can play at a time.

The outcome might have been different in the championship game if the Millwood Falcons didn’t shoot 55 percent from the field and 50 percent from three.

“Situations where we were only down by two or three and then they would hit a three,” said George. “So it just felt like we were down by four or five points and they were just so long and athletic, 6’6”, 6’5” athletes. They did a good job of tipping passes and forcing us into constant turnovers.”

The Manhattan High Varsity boys basketball team (2-1) will practice all week before facing off with the Seaman Vikings (0-0) in the home opener at Manhattan High School.