By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
WICHITA -- The Washburn Rural boys’ run to state was ended by the tournament-tested Wichita Heights Falcons 64-44 Wednesday night at Koch Arena.
Senior Amare Jones (0) led Washburn Rural with 16 points in Wednesday's 64-44 state tournament loss to Wichita Heights. [File photo/TSN]
The veterans of the past three Class 6A championship finals had too much experience, too much length and too much athleticism for the Junior Blues in the first-round matchup.
The Junior Blues crawled out of a hole to pull to a 13-11 deficit to close the first period. But they went more than six minutes without a field goal in the second period and fell behind 29-16 at the intermission. The Falcons padded their lead by a few points in each of the next two periods.
Scoring was a challenge from start to finish for Washburn Rural. They hit 14-41 shots, 5-19 from behind the arc. They collected just six offensive rebounds off their misses.
“The power of Wichita Heights and what coach Joe Auer has created there is their defense,” said Washburn Rural coach Alex Hutchins. “They are so hard to keep pace with just because they make it so much work to score. And even when you do score, you’re so taxed just trying to get that bucket that it makes it even harder to defend because of how much it took out of you to score.
“When you play a team that is that athletic and that disciplined and that well-coached, you don’t get some of the shots that you’re used to getting.”
Trailing by double digits the entire second half, the Junior Blues shaved the deficit to 11 with 2:21 remaining. But the Falcons put together an 8-0 run to shut down the rally.
“I thought our guys scrapped and clawed,” Hutchins said. “I thought we did a pretty good job on our scouting report defense. We probably gave up too many offensive rebounds in the first half. But more than anything, it’s just being able to manufacture enough points to stay close.”
Senior Amare Jones led the Junior Blues with 16 points. Junior John Hoytal added 10.
Washburn Rural made its first run to the state tournament in Hutchins’ three years with the team, going 18-4 and sweeping the Centennial League.
“I’m proud of what these guys did all season,” Hutchins said. “And despite the score, I’m still proud of the way they competed tonight. We talk about, regardless of the score, let’s make sure we’re doing it the right way and let’s make sure that we are a team that is difficult to play. And I think we did that. I think we made Wichita Heights work tonight.”
The Junior Blues bid goodbye to three senior guards who made a big contribution to the program.
“We’re kind of standing on their shoulders right now, and I hope that they’ve made a real impression on the younger guys,” Hutchins said. “Because if we can have a program full of guys like Kaden Ballard and King Leonard and Amare Jones, we’re going to be in a really good place.”
WICHITA HEIGHTS BOYS 64, WASHBURN RURAL 44
Washburn Rural 13 16 13 22 -- 64
Wichita Heights 11 5 10 18 -- 44
Washburn Rural (18-5) – Jones 5-14 5-9 16, Leonard 2-3 0-0 4, K. Ballard 1-10 0-0 3, Rowley 1-6 4-4 6, Hoytal 3-6 2-2 10, Chooncharoen 2-2 0-0 5, B. Ballard 0-0 0-0 0, Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Schwinn 0-0 0-0 0, O’Connor 0-0 0-0 0, Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0, Nimz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-41 11-15 44.
Wichita Heights (21-2) – Robinson 5-15 2-2 13, Timmons 8-13 3-3 19, MBoule 2-7 3-4 7, Wilkins 3-7 0-0 6, Holt 5-9 0-0 14, O’Neal 1-1 0-0 2, Carter 0-1 0-0 0, Peeples 0-0 0-0 0, Hadley 0-1 1-2 1, Hayes 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-55 9-11 64.
3-point goals – Washburn Rural 5 (Hoytal 2, K. Ballard 1, Jones 1, Chooncharoen 1) Wichita Heights 5 (Holt 4, Robinson 1). Total fouls – Washburn Rural 13, Wichita Heights 16. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
