By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
Coming off a second straight Baldwin Invitational championship, the Hayden Wildcats welcomed the winless Shawnee Mission West Vikings to the Ken Bueltel Activity Center on Wednesday, building a big halftime advantage en route to a 75-63 non-league win.
Hayden senior Connor Hanika scored a team-high 17 points in Wednesday's 75-63 non-league win over Shawnee Mission West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Wildcats, who lost three games at the start of January, have since won five of their last six.
Hayden would get things started Wednesday with senior Makhi Kidd scoring the Wildcats' first two baskets to take a 4-3 lead.
The only lead changes of the night would come in the first quarter as the Wildcats and the Vikings would answer each other with six lead changes until Hayden senior Connor Hanika would give his team the lead and score two of his team-high 17 points as the Wildcats would go on an 8-0 run before the Vikings would get a basket with a free throw to make it 14-8.
The Vikings would keep digging and make it a two-point game at 19-17 late in the first quarter before the Wildcats would close with two 3-pointers to make it 25-19 at the end of the first.
Senior Makhi Kidd scored 16 points in Wednesday's 75-63 Hayden non-league win over Shawnee Mission West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The second quarter would get started with Hayden senior Kade Mitchell, who before the game accepted his invitation to play in the 2026 Kansas Shrine Bowl, would find the basket followed by Kidd, who would score his eighth point of the night on the way to a 16-point night.
Hayden would outscore the Vikings 18-10 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a commanding 43-29 lead.
The Vikings would come out on fire and go on a 7-0 run to make it 43-36 before Wildcat junior Mason Becker would make his second of four 3-pointers on the night to stop the Viking run.
“The same message that we've had all season is our energy and effort have to be consistent,'' Hayden coach Dwayne Anthony said. "And that has to be something that doesn't waver and sometimes we get into the funk of letting that waver.”
After receiving a message from Anthony the Wildcats would go on a 13-0 run to blow the lead to 57-41 and Hayden would close the third out with a 61-47 lead.
Kidd would continue staying hot in the third quarter as he would score six points in the quarter.
“When I would cut, my teammates would give me the ball,'' Kidd said. "My teammates were getting tip passes. I was coming up with them, getting putbacks, doing everything I can to help the team win, really.”
“Makhi is having a good year,'' Anthony said. "And the crazy thing is, I really believe that Makhi has even more that he's going to show us before the season's over because he's just really a strong kid. He has really good skills and he's starting to learn how to play in some areas that may have been uncomfortable for him before. He's really doing a good job.”
Hayden junior Carter Compton scored 16 points Wednesday night against SM West, one of four Wildcats in double figures [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Wildcats would have four players in double figures, with juniors Carter Compton and Mason Becker scoring 16 and 14 points.
“That's the vision I have for this program,'' Anthony said. :You know, if we play basketball with a certain pace and the way that we do, it should be easy for guys to get easy buckets into being double figures a lot more than sometimes they are.”
“It's huge,'' Kidd agreed. "If you look at the games we've won, that's that's how we do it. We have multiple people in double figures and that really pushes us to be great when we're sharing the ball and getting everybody touches because everybody on the floor can score.”
The Wildcats won’t have a game for nine days when they host Junction City.
“It’s huge coming off a double overtime win against Baldwin, and then this game,'' Kidd said. "We need a little bit of rest, our legs are tired. It's probably our longest break and I don't know how long, especially for some of us football guys, but we've been playing straight sports. So it's gonna be good to be able to get in the gym with my guys and get shots up and just tighten everything up.
“Whether it's the beginning of the seasons where we have no practice or now, you know, it's just, that's our lifestyle and we make the most aware of where we're at. So I'm hoping it'll be a nice time to tighten up some of our processes and the way we do things out there while at the same time, getting some rest for those legs and getting ready to finish the last stretch of a regular season.''
With the win the Wildcats got back to .500 on the season at 8-8.
The Vikings were led in scoring by senior Miles White, who scored 29 to lead all scorers.
HAYDEN 75, SM WEST 63
SM West 19 10 18 16 -- 63
Hayden 25 18 18 14 -- 75
SM West (0-11) -- White 11-17 2-2 29, Roadnax 3-6 4-4 10, Riley 2-7 0-0 6, Bailey 2-6 1-1 5, Nixon 1-3 0-0 2, Nelson 2-4 1-2 6, Little 1-1 0-0 3, Webb 1-2 0-0 2, Nash 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 8-9 63.
Hayden (8-8) -- Hanika 7-12 3-7 17, Kidd 8-12 0-0 16, Compton 5-9 4-5 16, Becker 4-7 2-2 14, Mitchell 2-5 0-1 4, E. Tourtillot 3-5 0-0 8, Wolff 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-51 9-15 75.
3-point goals -- SM-West 8 (White 4, Riley 2, Nelson, Little), Hayden 8 (Becker 4, Compton 2, Tourtillot 2). Total Fouls -- SM West 16, Hayden 13. Fouled out -- none.
