No practice? No trouble: Sabetha boys off to 4-0 start

Going into the 2018-19 basketball season, Sabetha boys coach Scott Burger wasn't the least bit concerned about the chemistry his team would have.

"This is a group that has played together since they were little kids, since second grade," Burger said. "The chemistry I knew would be there."

Still, Burger wasn't exactly sure what to expect out of his team when the Bluejays hit the court for its season opener against Marysville. Leading up to that contest, Burger had conducted only three practices with his full complement of players.

The bulk of his squad spent all of November on the gridiron, delivering the school its second straight Class 3A state championship. The season ended a mere six days before the Marysville opener and in between Sabetha also missed a day of school and practice because of weather.

Out of his roster of 32 players freshmen-through-senior, Burger had just 10 for the bulk of the preseason. All five starters played football as did all but two of the Bluejays' varsity roster.

The preseason limitations haven't hampered the Bluejays one bit. Sabetha started the season with a convincing 77-50 rout of Marysville and followed with solid wins over Wamego, Jefferson West and Riverside to get out to a 4-0 start.

"I'm surprised at how well we're playing," Burger said. "We were really limited on practice and of course they're sore, and beat up and drained. I felt like our first three games we played really, really well. We shot the ball really well. ... I felt like our ball-handling skills and shooting, we wouldn't be very sharp and we have been."

Sabetha went just 13-8 a year ago and graduated what little size it had a year ago. This year's team features just one player taller than six-foot.

But balance has been the Bluejays' key with all five starters having scored double figures at least once this season. Ryan Stapleton leads the team with 12 points per game, while Jesse Burger (10.5 ppg), Gabe Garber (10.5 ppg), Joseph Gruber (9 ppg) and Braeden Cox (10.0 ppg) are all right behind.

"Any one can lead us in scoring," Burger said. "We share the ball really well and they're tough. They're football guys so they're tough. That makes a difference."

Sabetha has some more tests coming up before the break, finishing its December schedule against a Hiawatha team coming off a big upset of Nemaha Central on Tuesday night. The Bluejays began this week ranked No. 3 in The Best of Kansas Preps rankings.

"I think we're going to have a good team, but I don't know if we're a (third)-ranked team," Burger said. "We might be, but I don't know if we're that good. But we do a lot of good things and it's a great group, a really fun group of guys."

BASKETBALL

-- Hartford boys coach Patrick Gardner picked up career win No. 100 with Tuesday's 66-62 victory over Marais des Cygnes Valley. The Jaguars finished third at the Yates Center Invitational, falling in the third-place game to Southern Coffey.

-- Chapman's boys won their home round-robin tournament with a 3-0 mark with the big win a 53-47 win over perennial power Sacred Heart. Izek Jackson was named tournament MVP and averaged 27 points per game in the tourney with a high of 32.

-- Santa Fe Trail's John Long reached the 1,000-point mark in his career in the semifinals of last week's Ike Cearfoss Memorial Tournament at Central Heights. Long averaged 32.3 points per game in leading the Chargers to the tournament title, scoring 46 in the championship against Metro Academy. He followed with a 35-point outing Tuesday against Prairie View.

-- Dillon Byrne has shined in Silver Lake's 3-0 start, averaging 23.7 points per game. He scored 27 in a win over Council Grove and had 24 against Riley County. Mason Griffin scored 13 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter of the Eagles' comeback 57-55 win over Jefferson West in the season opener.

-- Devan McEwen led Lebo to the title at the Herington Invitational, averaged 22 points per game. McEwen scored 34 in the championship game against Chase County.

-- Reagan Kirkwood got off to a big start for Valley Falls, averaging 28 points per game in the Dragons' first three contests, including a 37-point outing. She also averaged 10 rebounds and six steals per game.

-- Molly Burton led Abilene's girls to a 3-0 start, averaging 18 points per game. She scored the final 10 points in a 45-43 overtime win over Augusta, finishing with 21 points and going 12 of 14 at the free throw line. Hannah Willey added 16 points and 7 rebounds per game.

-- Washington County's Wyatt Bentz led the Tigers to a 5-0 start, hitting double figures in each game and averaging 14 points and 9 rebounds per game. He posted a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds in the title game of the Thunderbird Classic.

-- Tee Preisner averaged 17.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game for Northern Heights as the Wildcats went 2-1 at the Wabaunsee round-robin.

-- Josie Weishaar scored 31 points and hit 5 of 10 3-pointers for Jefferson North in a win over McLouth.

-- Plesant Ridge's girls got 19 points from Julie Miller and 17 from Lindsey Heim to knock off Valley Falls 47-34.

-- Michael Moreno scored 19 points in Hiawatha's 51-47 upset of Nemaha Central. The Red Hawks outscored Nemaha 21-10 in the fourth quarter to pull out the win.

WRESTLING

-- Marysville captured the team title at the Clay Center Invitational, beating runner-up Holton by 51 points. The Bulldogs had three champions at the tourney with Jonny Crome (138), Storm Slupianek (170) and Garron Champoux (195) all winning titles.

Holton's Kolby Roush won the 132 title at the tourney, pinning Class 3-2-1A No. 2 Dylan Weimer of Hoxie in the first round of the title match. Riley County's Luke Richard (145) and Clay Center's Rhett Koppes (106) also were area champions.

-- Ottawa freshman Collin Creach won the 126-pound title at the Eudora Tournament of Champions, pinning ranked Levi Buckridge of Emporia in the title match. Teammate Tucker Mace claimed the 182 title. Other area winners at Eudora were Lawrence's Logan Farrell (113), Wellsville's Ethan Ewing (132), Emporia's Anthony Delgado (170 and Rossville's Kody Davoren (220).

-- Riverside's Luke Horn beat a pair of ranked wrestlers to take the 145-pound title at the Sabetha Duals Tournament.

-- Rock Creek's Drew Burenheide is 10-0 with all 10 wins coming via pin in winning 138-pound titles at the Wamego and Onaga Invitationals.

-- Baldwin's Cy Hockey knocked off two ranked foes on his way to the 182-pound title at the Baldwin December Duals.

-- Atchison County's Mason Scholz is 12-1 at 106 pounds this year with 11 pins.