Boys’ Basketball Advances to State Semi-Finals

The Lancers have made it to the state semifinals for the first time since 2009 with a 53-41 win over Wichita East on Wednesday night at Charles Koch Arena.

East started off poorly with missed shots and bad turnovers. J.J. Normore put down a monster dunk early in the game to give the Blue Aces all of the momentum. They hit a few key three pointers and uncontested layups down the stretch. The Lancers could not get anything going on the offensive end and missed some uncharacteristic mid-range shots and layups. The Blue Aces led by six going into halftime and seemed poised for an upset.

“We just didn’t take care of the ball in the first half,” senior guard Vance Wentz said. “We didn’t execute what we wanted to.”

East came out in the 3rd quarter on a mission and once they tied the game with a few minutes left there was no looking back. Senior Zach Schneider got going on the offensive end and finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds.

“I had one of my worst shooting halves of my career in the first half,” Schneider said. “So [in the second half] I focused on getting to the rim a lot more as well as making an effort to try and get every rebound.”

Senior Chase Hanna held Wichita East’s Samajae Jones in check on the defensive end. Hanna led a two-on-one fast break down the court where he dumped a pass off to sophomore Lucas Jones who threw down a big time dunk, giving the Lancers even more momentum.

Wichita East only scored three points in the 3rd quarter and did not play as a team for much of the half. The Blue Aces tried to make a run to get back into it towards the end of the game, but Jones and Schneider grabbed one big rebound after another.

“Coming out in the second half we had a lot more energy and we were able to hit some shots and get the ball inside,” Wentz said. “Rebounding was a big key and we rebounded well.”

With under two minutes to play it was almost clear that the Lancers’ had clinched a spot in the state semi-finals. Wichita East put up a last shot with around 5 seconds to play which was rebounded by the Lancers. It was official, the Lancers would be moving on.

“I just kinda thought back to freshman and sophomore year and thought how we’ve come from then,” Schneider said. “Now we’re two wins away from a state championship.”

Although there were no more than four students at Koch Arena to celebrate the win, a huge fan base gathered at Johnny’s Tavern to watch the game on Metro Sports, and as the buzzer went off erupted into the school song.

The atmosphere at Johnny’s, packed with students and parents, was like that all night. A number of chants broke out in the restaurant, including ‘Seven Nation Army’ at the first half tip-off and ‘I Believe’ when the Lancers had sealed up the game.

“The atmosphere at Johnny’s was incredible, every there was a Lancer fan and it was great to be able to do chants at the restaurant,” senior Parker Johnson said.

The Lancers will move onto play #7 Blue Valley West who upset senior KU commit Conner Frankamp and Wichita North last night. More East students plan on making the trip to Wichita for the game this Friday night at 8:15 p.m. at Koch Arena.