WICHITA - The Maize boys’ basketball team walked into Koch Arena looking to set a precedent for their program: the first team to advance to the semifinals of the state championship tournament. After a brutal back-and-forth war, the Eagles achieved their goal with a 44-43 victory over Olathe East after a last-second defensive stop.
“I can’t explain the feeling,” Maize junior Connor Lungwitz said. “We got the monkey off our backs, finally.”
Maize and Olathe East battled all game long, as the teams exchanged the lead 14 times, and were caught in a tie four times.
With 2:45 left, East led Maize 40-37. That’s when Jacob Horsch took over. The 5-foot-9 senior guard hit his first three of the night after missing his first five with 2:07 to go and drew the foul. Horsch missed the free throw, but the game was tied 40-40. After East got a bucket and one on the other end, Maize countered with a pair of free throws from Lungwitz.
With 55 seconds left, East still leading, 43-42, Hawks’ Javion Blake was sent to the line for a one-and-one. The juniors shot rimmed out, and Maize had its chance. Horsch took yet another three, but this one hit the heel. However, he stepped up, grabbed his own board, and threw up a runner. It fell through, and Maize led 44-43 with 25 seconds left to play.
“He’s a heady player,” Maize head coach Chris Davis said of Horsch. “He’s out there for a reason. He can make shots, and he wants it. He’s done that all year. He was all-league for a reason.”
But East would get one more shot. After holding the ball, East’s Caelan Neal found space for a short jumper, but it fell short. Lungwitz got tangled up on the rebound and the refs called for a jump ball.
“I just held on to the ball. I looked at the score table, I saw the arrow and I just started screaming,” Lungwitz said of the sequence that would give the Eagles the ball with 1.6 seconds to play.
Lungwitz – who also is the Eagles’ varsity quarterback – chucked an inbound down court, time expired, and the hometown crowd erupted. The Maize Eagles were going to the basketball Final Four for the first time in school history.
“We’re a gutsy bunch. We believe in one another, we don’t care who makes plays, as long as they get done,” Davis said.
Maize has a tough test next, however. Davis’ team will take on Blue Valley Northwest, a nationally ranked powerhouse and the top seed of the tournament from Overland Park, on Friday night. But for now, the Eagles can take in the win. They have two more games to play.
“We’ll enjoy this one until midnight, then we have to get ready to play an unbelievable team,” Davis said. “We played well, but we gotta put this one to bed. We’ll find a way.”
On Thursday night, Davis’ “gutsy” team certainly found a way. On Friday, fans will get a peek at how they handle the top-ranked team in the state of Kansas.
