Wichita East, Heights reach Dodge City final

By Taylor Eldridge/Eagle correspondent

Published Jan. 20 at 11:21 p.m. | Last updated Jan. 21 at 8:26 a.m.

DODGE CITY The best Dodge City boys basketball coach Dennis Hamilton could do was grimace at the question.

Would he like to reconsider his position on the better team, East or Heights?

“After East smacked us in the opening game of the season (by 28 points), right then I said East will beat Heights,” Hamilton said. “But Heights is pretty good, too … as we found out.”

It was hard not to become a believer after the Falcons swallowed Dodge City’s best upset bid and spit out a 47-33 victory over the Demons inside the United Wireless Arena on Friday night.

The question will be answered tonight in the championship game of the Tournament of Champions, as the City League’s best will be on display in Heights and East, which advanced with a 64-38 win over Hutchinson.

“Flip a coin,” Hamilton said. “But probably the toss-up goes to Heights.”

The tournament field never came up with an answer to address the height, speed and athleticism Heights and East offered. East and Heights have won their tournament games by an average margin of 20 points.

“Our kids just don’t see that type of length and athleticism,” Hutchinson coach Nathan Henry said. “That was my biggest concern before the game, how we would handle that. I thought if we could weather the storm in the first quarter, then we would be fine.”

Try telling that to Hamilton. Even with a perfectly executed game plan to lead 4-2 after the first quarter, Dodge City still couldn’t keep up with Heights.

The Falcons, which improved to 10-0 and extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 54 games, displayed a surprising amount of poise. Heights entered the season with only Perry Ellis and Terrence Moore as varsity returners, yet the whole team looked like four-year starters against Dodge City.

“Dennis Hamilton is one of the best high school basketball coaches in Kansas history, and for a good reason,” Heights coach Joe Auer said. “We got exactly what we expected tonight.”

There was no better example for Heights than Perry Ellis. The 6-foot-8 senior struggled early, missing four of his first five shots.

But Ellis didn’t falter in front of the more than 2,000 fans going for Dodge City. He scored five straight times he touched the ball to end the second quarter, solely engineering a 10-0 run to give Heights a 16-9 lead.

“I just kept posting hard and kept my composure,” said Ellis, who finished with 27 points and 16 rebounds. “Everybody on the team kept their composure.”

All four of the City League teams’ opponents have tried to limit possessions and grind out games. Heights and East have been equally impressive by how each has handled the task.

Heights has accepted the challenge and outplayed teams at their own game. The Falcons are efficient in the half court, evident by their 48.8 percent shooting.

While East stills sometimes falters in the half-court, eventually the Blue Aces’ will to get out in the open court has won out. East made 8 of 18 shots, blocked four Hutchinson shots and raced out to a 20-4 lead in the first quarter against Hutchinson.

“Those guys played hungry,” East coach Ron Allen said. “They made it personal. They didn’t want anybody scoring on them. They had that attitude, and when we play like that we’re going to be pretty good.”

Hutchinson tried to play man-to-man to start the game, but quickly switched after East scored on its first three possessions. Then the Salthawks fell back in a sagging zone, which was promptly torched by Jalen Love. The East senior swished four straight three-pointers in a row, with his last coming five feet behind the three-point line.

“I knew I had hit three in a row, so I had the confidence and I knew if I could hit that fourth one then I could give my team a boost and that’s what I did,” said Love, who finished with a game-high 21 points.

East played its best defense of the season. At one point, East’s guards looked to almost be funneling Hutchinson drivers to the basket. The offer looked tempting, until East’s array of big men slid over to pound away the shot. East finished with 14 blocked shots.

“I wait for the ball to go up and I attack it at its highest point,” said DaAnte Brandon, who took no shots but blocked five shots. “Getting that block is just as good as hitting a three for me. It’s all about role-playing and that’s my role.”

Both teams have been impressive in their route to the championship game, which will be a rematch of the 1990 Tournament of Champions final, a game that Heights won in triple overtime.

“We still got that edge to us,” Brandon said, referencing to East’s earlier 70-60 loss to Heights this season. “We want to get them back. It’s going to be a good game.”

Allen knows the importance of what a mid-season title can do for a team. East owns 13 titles from Dodge City.

“It usually starts building that team mindset that you can go on and win a championship somewhere else,” Allen said. “It’s something to draw from. It can become very important.”

HUTCHINSON: Bowen 0 0-0 0, Higgins 0 0-0 0, Boyd 1 0-0 2, Munds 8 0-4 17, Roehm 3 1-2 7, Wells 2 0-0 5, Flores 1 1-2 3, Wilkens 1 0-0 2, Dower 1 0-2 2, Turner 0 0-2 0, Cains-Grissom 0 0-0 0, Ackley 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 (2) 2-12 38.

EAST: Love 8 1-2 21, Terrell 3 2-2 8, Jackson 3 1-3 8, Brandon 0 0-0 0, Dennis 4 0-0 8, Martin 2 2-3 6, Hester 2 0-0 4, Nespor 2 0-0 4, Griffin 1 1-1 3, Sanders 1 0-0 2, Burris 0 0-0 0, Haynes-Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 (5) 7-11 64.

HEIGHTS: Moore 2 0-0 4, Kolbeck 0 0-0 0, Thurman 3 0-0 6, Smith 0 2-2 2, P. Ellis 12 3-7 27, Lynch 2 0-0 4, Reed 2 0-0 4, Bell 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-0 0, Hervey 0 0-0 0, Lattimore 0 0-0 0, Moreland 0 0-0 0, B. Ellis 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 (0) 5-9 47.

DODGE CITY: Hallman 2 5-5 10, Davis 0 0-0 0, Doan 0 0-2 0, Larson 1 0-0 2, Goedeken 2 1-4 7, Bradshaw 5 0-1 12, Newton 1 0-0 2, Sands 0 0-0 0, Taylor 0 0-0 0, Gross 0 0-0 0, Weiser 0 0-0 0, Middleton 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 (5) 6-12 33.