Game Preview: Boys’ Basketball vs. Olathe South

Tonight the 12-1 Lancers will take on the 10-4 Falcons of Olathe South at home. The Lancers are coming off a big win against Lawrence High last Friday night and have great momentum coming into tonight’s game. With both teams at the top of the Sunflower League rankings, this game should be an interesting one.

Three of the Falcons losses have been to Lawrence, Leavenworth, and SM South- all respectable teams. Last Friday night, South gave SM South their closest game of the season, losing by just 7 points. Although they lost some key players from last year’s team who made a state run, South still has some solid young guys at the core of their team.

One key player to watch for the Falcons is junior Noah Knight. Last year as a sophomore, he was named First Team All Sunflower League and received a 6A State Honorable Mention. Look for Knight to try and penetrate the East defense and facilitate the ball to sharp shooting seniors David Nelson and Connor Soukup on the perimeter for three-pointers.

The South team is similar to the Rockhurst squad East played a couple of weeks ago in terms of size. They are relatively small and rely on their guards shooting and perimeter play.

“Despite our lack of size and speed, we find a way to win, and have done a pretty good job of doing that this year,” Head Coach Jim Carr said.

East’s big win last Friday against Lawrence High came off of a last second shot by senior Zach Schneider, which put the Lancers up by two points and sealed their 12th win of the season.They will look to continue to utilize their size by moving the ball inside to Schneider and sophomore Lucas Jones to get easy buckets.

Senior Connor Knabe has came into the spotlight recently, moving from the third guard on the team to a starting guard. He brings a ton of athleticism to the squad and has lead the full-court press that coach Hair has recently implemented. East has also transitioned from a man-to-man defense, to a tough zone, which has really given opponents problems in the past few games.

The keys to the game will be how both teams handle guarding the star players on defense. If the Lancers play man look for Chase Hanna to be matched up with Noah Knight, as he has been the lockdown defender for Coach Hair thus far. Olathe South will look to limit touches for East stars Schneider and senior Vance Wentz.

For a live broadcast of tonight’s game, tune in at 7 p.m. here