On a night when nothing came easy, the Derby boys managed to stay undefeated thanks to the gritty second-half play of Panthers forward Josiah Ray.
Ray scrapped, fought and dunked his way to 14 second-half points in the Panthers' 63-47 victory over Wichita Southeast.
"The more he gets the ball, the better we play," Derby coach Brett Flory said.
Derby's Tyler Chambers led all scorers with 21 points. Ray ended with 17 and Dylan Hunter added 12, as Derby improved to 8-0 despite a first half plagued with turnovers.
"Southeast gave us some problems, and we didn't play very smoothly at all," Flory said. "It was kind of a grind-it-out win."
E.J. Garnes scored 11 points for Southeast, which fell to 3-3.
Derby girls too much for Southeast - Here was Derby's plan, according to Panthers forward Alyxis Bowens. "Push the ball, beat them in transition," she said. "It worked out almost exactly like we thought it would."
Bowens had 18 points as Derby dominated Wichita Southeast 52-30, not allowing a single Buffalo to reach double-figure scoring. Bailey Hansen had 14 points for Derby (3-5) while Madi Greenwood added 10.
"We knew (Southeast) had some good 3-point shooters, and some quick guards, and Cheyenne (Bullock) down low," said Bowens, a 6-foot-1 senior. "She's big and strong. So it was important for us to box out and not let them get offensive boards."
Southeast fell to 2-4.
Maize South boys hold off West - Brett Barney, the 6-9 Division I prospect for Maize South, had missed the previous two games with stress fractures in his ankles. He could only watch as the Mavericks slipped to a 1-4 record.
“That wasn’t fun,” Barney said. “I want to turn Maize South into a winning team.”
Barney and Mavericks took their first step toward that goal, surviving a hard-fought battle over Wichita West, 47-42. They scored the first 12 points of the game, stretched their lead to 16 in the third quarter, then watched the Pioneers rally to tie the game at 38 in the fourth.
“I had all faith in everyone that we were going to win,” said Barney, who scored 10 of his game-high 15 points in the second half. “We’ve had really good practices over the Christmas break, we’ve been working hard, and I knew we could handle the pressure.”
Barney proceeded to score Maize South’s next six points, including the go-ahead inside basket that gave the Mavericks a 44-42 advantage with 1:39 to play. The Pioneers wouldn’t score again.
Kade Kordonowy scored 11 for Maize South (2-4).
The comeback for West(1-5) was led by Kennedy Bates (13 points) and Anfernee Boykins (eight points) - both of whom did all their scoring in the second half.
Maverick girls handle Pioneers - Maize South gradually built a lead throughout the game and ending up winning 55-33, but West's Jamisha Bonner made things interesting early in the second half.
Of Bonner's game-high 20 points, 15 came in the third quarter.
"That No. 32 (Bonner) just went on a roll, and we had trouble stopping her," Maize forward Mariah Suchan said. "I was starting to get a little worried, but we were able to slow her down eventually."
The Pioneers scored 25 points as a team in that third quarter, but never did get within single digits of the Mavericks (3-3). Maize South put the game away by starting the fourth quarter with a 16-2 run.
The 6-foot Suchran led the Mavericks with 19 points and 17 rebounds, while point guard McKenna Poynter scored 11.
"McKenna starting attacking more, and things started opening up," Mavericks coach Mike Domnick said. "We needed that. We saw some athleticism out there that we just don't see in the nightly games in our league."
West fell to 0-6.
