Both Manhattan Indians basketball teams — boys and girls — will tip off their seasons in the Hays Shootout tournament on Dec. 4. Their first opponent is Life Prep.
“They’re a prep school, one of those recruiting schools in the Wichita area,” said head girls basketball coach Scott Mall. “We opened with them last year. They have a lot of good players there. Most of them are not from the United States. Their best player is from Belgium… They have played a lot of games already. It’ll be our first game.”
Win or lose, MHS will play three games in the tournament.
Girls team gets ready to bring the heat
The Ladies bring experience from top to bottom after graduating just one starter last season. Seniors Kat Ball and Delaney Larson, in addition to juniors Bailey Busch and Jelena Depusoir, are returning starters this season. Seniors Jorryn Hall and Tess Henry, juniors Ansley Beckett and Avery Ingram, and sophomores Evie Banks and Joss Hall notably found Varsity playing time last season.
“I think we’re pretty quick and athletic,” Mall said. “We have some girls who can shoot the ball. We have girls that really, so far, have really played well together. That’s always a big key.”
Mall, in his 33rd year as head coach, has high hopes for this year’s team.
“Just get off to a good start,” Mall said. “We want to do well in league play… and [would] like to have a chance to go to state again and to compete for a state title.”
Boys team tries to rebound after rough last season
The Indians boys team graduated just two seniors last season. Due to a late end to the MHS football season, the official roster will not be set in stone until right before the squad’s first game. Head coach Benji George is happy with guys that are likely to take the court.
“I think fast-paced play [will be our strength], just because we’re so guard heavy and guard oriented,” George said. “Probably going to be streaky from three, I think has a chance to really create some havoc defensively and cause some turnovers.”
Seniors Will Carpenter, Vince Doering, Carter Goodpasture, Sawyer Newton and Tim Washington are all slated to come back. Other returning Varsity contributors from last year include junior Henry Witt and sophomore Asher Newton.
Last season was a down year for the boys. They finished 6-15 overall and fifth out of six teams in the Centennial League. The boys lost their last five games of the regular season, as well as, eight of their last 10 games, both wins in that stretch came against Topeka High who only won just one game all season. MHS went on to make a first round playoff exit.
“I think they’ve reflected on last year,” George said. “Last year didn’t go the way any of us wanted to and I think they’re ready to prove themselves this year. And it may take us a while to gel.”
Shot clock implemented for first year in action
The biggest change of the 2025-26 season for Varsity across 6A, 5A and 4A is a mandated 35-second shot clock — a change Mall believes is an improvement.
“It’ll help the game,” Mall said. “It shouldn’t come into play too much. Most teams shoot the ball before 35 seconds. It intends to keep a team from just holding the ball all the time, which is a good thing. The only downside is late in a game, I think if you’re in the last two or three minutes and you built a five point lead, you should be able to take advantage of that and be more patient looking to shoot. It makes it almost to the advantage of the team trailing, because they know the other teams got to do something with the ball.”
Though the shot clock wasn’t mandated last year, teams did have a chance to get in-practice getting used to it.
“We had it in nine of our 21 games last year. So we kind of had a trial run of it,” George said. “Truthfully, because we play fast, I don’t think it’s going to affect us as much on the offensive end. Defensively, I think it’s going to play to our advantage, because we play packline.”
