Heights pops East for Dodge City crown
DODGE CITY For the last eight days, Saturday night was all East’s Jalen Love could think about.
After losing by 10 points to the Heights boys basketball team last Friday, Love and his teammates have been begging for a sequel in the finals of the Tournament of Champions.
Love got his wish, as childhood friends from east Wichita decided the 69th annual championship of the Tournament of Champions 160 miles away from home in Dodge City’s United Wireless Arena.
What Love found out, making him and the Blue Aces victim No. 55 of the Heights’ winning streak, is it takes a near-perfect game to knock off the Falcons. East went through three sloppy minutes and that was all Heights needed to pull away for a 69-52 victory.
“You’ve got to be perfect,” said Love, who has yet to defeat Heights in his four-year career at East. “You can’t have any mishaps.”
Heights broke a 33-all tie with a 9-0 run midway through the third quarter. After that run, the lead never dipped below seven points. Just like that, one bad sequence, and East was done.
“We told the kids that this gives you a peak to the post-season,” Heights coach Joe Auer said. “This is three games in three days, much like we hope it will be like at Koch Arena at the end of the year. It gives the kids that experience in their memory bank and helps us when we get to March madness.”
Heights remained untouchable largely because Perry Ellis played perhaps his best three days of basketball in his Heights career in Dodge City. Ellis finished with 31 points in the title game and grabbed nine rebounds. In three games, Ellis averaged 28.3 points and 12.3 rebounds.
“The kid is unbelievable,” Auer said. “He plays his tail off and he does it with such class and dignity. He is the greatest high school basketball player I’ve ever seen in the state of Kansas. He’ll never tell you that, but I’ll tell you that right now. His record speaks for itself. He’s doing things that nobody has ever done.”
Ellis said there was no change in his demeanor for the tournament. It’s just what Heights needed at the time.
“I’m just blessed to be out here,” Ellis said. “I’m just glad I get the chance to do this. That’s the main thing, just trying to come out and play hard and be thankful for what I have.”
Heights has played its best basketball against East, which Auer has said is the most talented team in the City League from top to bottom.
Some of that has to do with East’s talent level, but it also has to do with many of the players having played with and against each other in their childhood and during the summer.
“East does bring out our best,” said Heights’ Terrence Moore, who scored 21 points and had four steals. “East is a very talented team and we know a lot of them. But when the ball goes up, all the friends are put aside and it’s time to battle.”
The battle was back-and-forth for the first 20 minutes. But the momentary lapse from East was all Heights needed to pull away. Once the Falcons had a comfortable lead, they never allowed East to make a run.
Heights improved to 11-0 and won its sixth Tournament of Champions title.
| East (8-4) | 16 | 11 | 12 | 13 | — | 52 |
| Heights (11-0) | 14 | 15 | 19 | 21 | — | 69 |
EAST: Love 8 5-7 21, Jackson 5 5-5 15, Brandon 2 0-1 4, Dennis 3 0-0 6, Burris 2 0-0 6, . Totals 20 (2) 10-13 52.
HEIGHTS: Moore 9 2-5 21, Thurman 4 1-2 9, Ellis 9 13-16 31, Lynch 2 2-3 6, Bell 1 0-2 2. Totals 25 (1) 18-28 69.
Hutchinson 44, Dodge City 37 — In practice, Hutchinson runs a drill pitting them in a 10-point deficit with a certain amount of time to erase it. If the Salthawks don’t, they run.
In the third place game, Hutchinson made up a 27-20 deficit late in the third quarter by out-scoring host Dodge City 24-10 in the final nine minutes. Instead of running sprints, the Salthawks will enjoy a 7-4 start to the season.
“This game we didn’t get down when we got down,” coach Nathan Henry said. “We upped our effort and intensity, and I was very happy with the kids and proud of them because they showed a lot of heart being down 27-20 and coming back and winning.”
| Hutchinson (7-4_ | 7 | 9 | 8 | 20 | — | 44 |
| Dodge City (5-6) | 8 | 7 | 12 | 10 | — | 37 |
HUTCHINSON: Higgins 5, Boyd 2, Bowen 5,Munds 10, Roehm 4, Turner 9, Wilkens 7, Dower 2. Totals 16 (4) 8-19 44.
DODGE CITY: Hallman 12, Davis 4, Doan 2, Larson 11, Goedeken 2, Newton 4, Gross 2. Totals 15 (2) 5-10 37.