Lancers Face Wichita East in First State Game

After a long regular season the 20-2 Lancer Boy’s basketball team has made it to the first round of the state playoffs in Koch Arena at Wichita State University. There they will face the 15-7 Wichita East Blue Aces. The winner of this quarterfinal matchup will meet the winner between second seeded Wichita North and seventh seed Lawrence Free State.

Both teams have not been in the state tournament for several years, coming in third place in their last appearances, 2008 for the Blue Aces and 2009 for the Lancers. Wichita East has won two state championships in recent history, 2002 and 2005. But this is head coach Joe Jackson’s first season as head coach for Wichita East, where he replaced longtime coach Ron Allen. The Lancers’ head coach Shawn Hair had success in the 2006 tournament coming in as the runner-up.

The Blue Aces are coming into the game with a six game winning streak, but have not beaten a team with a winning record in that time span. They are a balanced team with six players who average more than eight points per game (PPG). Their leading scorer is left-handed sophomore guard Samajae Jones who averages 13.8 PPG.

According to Lancer assistant coach Ryan Ottemier, Jones is the main threat from beyond the arc. Wichita East’s best player off the bench is 6’6” All-State wide receiver J.J. Normore who is averaging 13.1 PPG. This is his first year on the basketball team, and he has been a major factor for them. Point guard DeShawn Terrell is considered by many as the quickest guard in the City League

“[Terrell] is a player that tries to break you down and get to the bucket,” Ottemier said. “Their whole team, in general, is very athletic.”

On the defensive side of the ball, Wichita East plays man-to-man defense a majority of the time where they want to pressure the ball, but most of the time they do not play much help-side defense. After made baskets they go into a 2-2-1 full-court press to try and force turnovers.

For the Lancers a key to the game will be moving the ball down the court. Beating the Blue Aces in transition is a way to execute the fast pace tempo the Lancers want. According to Ottemier, Wichita East doesn’t get set up in their full-court press after free throws, so they want to quickly convert on makes and misses.

“The biggest key for us is to stick to what we have done best and that is pound it inside. We don’t think there is any team in the state that can match up with our bigs,” Ottemier said.

With the game being in Wichita, it is almost a home game for the Blue Aces. Senior post Zach Schneider doesn’t think it will affect the team though, because of the senior dominated team and Jones handling challenges with ease so far in the season.

“I think we will just enjoy the moment because it is an awesome arena to play in, I think we are all looking forward to it,” Schneider said. “No one is really nervous, we are just kind of anxious and want to get out and play in that atmosphere.”

Schneider and senior guard Vance Wentz have been starters on the team for the four years they have been at SM East. Both have found success individually, but not much success as a team except for two sub-state victories.

“[Winning state] is obviously the dream and it would be even more special coming from two losing teams and kind of a disappointing year last year,” Schneider said. “It would obviously be really special for all of us. That is the ultimate goal and we are going to everything we can to make it happen.”

The game will be broadcast on Metro Sports at 8:15 tonight.