The Manhattan High School boys basketball team ended their season with an 14-9 record after their loss to Blue Valley North in the first round of State. Since Manhattan’s win over Washburn they finished off the postseason with a 3-1 tournament record.

In Manhattan’s last regular season game of the year they hosted Topeka Hayden in a blowout win on Senior Night. To start off the game MHS went on a 12-2 run in the first five minutes of the game. After that Manhattan continued to dominate with the help of senior Jack Wilson’s 16 point first half Manhattan was up 41-11 at halftime. In the third Manhattan continued to put up dominating numbers and held a lead of 47-27 after three. To start the fourth Head Coach Benji George called a timeout to take out the seniors one last time at home as they got a standing ovation. To end the game Manhattan held their lead and won 59-41.

“There was a lot of emotion going into possibly my last home game ever and I’m glad it was a memorable one,” Wilson said.

In their next game Manhattan hosted Wichita SouthEast for the first round of Sub-State. In the first half MHS took an early lead of nine after knocking down four from deep. Going into the half Manhattan held a lead of 32-24 looking to put the game away in the next quarter. Coming out of the half SE quickly diminished their deficit as they held a lead of one going into the fourth. In the fourth it was a back and forth battle as both teams scored one after another. In the final seconds SE hit a long two to tie the game with 20 seconds left on the clock. Senior Dre Delort drove down the court and went in for the layup and missed but with a second to spare junior Jason Kim tipped it in for the win as they took the game 59-57.

“I saw Dre go up for the shot and I thought he made it but then it rolled out so I jumped up and tipped it in and it felt amazing to hit the game winner,” Kim said

After an exciting win over SE Manhattan looked to advance to State for two straight years with only a win over Lawrence High to advance. From the start of this game Manhattan showed who the better team was as they out hustled LHS to take a lead of 22-18 at the half. In the second Half MHS continued to step on the gas as they went on a 15-3 run to hold a lead of 12 with a quarter left to play. In the fourth Manhattan dominated and held LHS to six points as they advanced to State in a 56-40 win.

“I told them that they were only half a team and we are a whole team and if we played together we would win,” George said.

In the first round of State MHS was set to play BVN in the two-vs.-seven seed game. In the first half MHS made BVN seem lost as they were connecting perfectly on passes and nailing shots but BVN was also hitting their shots going into the half Manhattan held a lead of 15-11. In the third both teams went back and forth nailing shots with MHS still holding a lead of four with a quarter left. In the fourth BVN was able to tie the game with four minutes and that’s when tragedy satruck for MHS as Wilson fouled out of the game with 16 points. To finish off the fourth both teams would hit two more shots as they headed into overtime tied at 36. In OT MHS struggled to finish without Wilson and fell short to BVN 39-44 in OT.

“It was a great season and I’m glad I was able to play with all of them and I hope they can accomplish even more next year,” Wilsdon said.

“I’m proud of every single one of them, they all worked as hard as they could and at the end of the day its not the result we wanted but its the result we got,” George said.