by joanna

(These are boys games today)

10:20 p.m. – Southeast just won. Cecil Shaw hit 1 of 2 free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining to go up by four. Southeast wins 82-78. What a game, I’m exhausted.

Southeast had a 16-point lead in the third quarter and nearly lost. But the Buffs’ came through.

10:18 p.m.–Cecil Shaw’s at the line. Just hit one free throw. 80-78, 12.6 to go. He hit the second. A three-point lead. Olathe South jacks up a three with about 8 seconds to go. Misses and it’s Southeast ball.

With 3.2 seconds, Cecil Shaw’s back to the line.

10:17 p.m.– Olathe South’s at the line, Marlon Addison missed the first free throw with 16.3 seconds to go. Still 79-77.

10:15 p.m. – Olathe South just called a timeout with 19.4 seconds to go. I don’t know, I feel in my gut that Southeast wins. I do.

10:10 p.m. – Jeff Lutz just asked me if Southeast is going to lose. With 41.8 seconds to go, Southeast’s lead is down to 79-77. Yep.

But I don’t think Southeast loses. Joe Mitchell will come through with a big basket and then Cobb will score from the line. Or something like that.

10:05 p.m. – Well, the blog seems to be back up. Yay! Thanks to our fine online stud, Josh, who put up all our e-mails on the in-game updates so we could still give you our wit. Well, our updates, anyway.

Southeast is about to win this game, leading 77-69 with 1:19 to go.

It’s been a pretty good game, although there’s no doubt that Southeast has completely controlled this game. In the lane, on the perimeter, defensively, offensively.

Yet Olathe South has put up quite a few points.

Case in point. Olathe South just hit a three-pointer to get within 78-72 with 1:14 to go. With 1 minute remaining, Rustin Dowd is at the line for the free throw. He just cut the lead to 78-74 with 59.5 seconds remaining.

6:10 p.m. – SM Northwest moves on after beating Goddard 54-44 thanks to a strong second half.

6 p.m . — Goddard trails 51-44 in the final 50 seconds.

5:45 — End of the third quarter, and Goddard is trailing 44-37 after being outscored 16-6 in the period. As well as SM Northwest is shooting, it could be difficult to come back.

5:45 p.m.

5:40 p.m. — Goddard has been outscored 10-2 to start the third quarter as SM Northwest has taken a 38-33 lead with 3:46 to go in the period.

5:25 p.m. — Goddard has a 31-28 lead at the half. And as the half ended, both bands started playing their school songs. A complete lack of etiquette and I love it.

Goddard is playing really well. Down 26-23, Ian Spence hit his third three-pointer to tie the score. Down 28-26, Grant Langhofer drove the lane, scored and was fouled, hitting the free throw to go up by one. Then Kory Schroth made two free throws.

5:15 p.m. — SM Northwest leads Goddard 26-23 with 2:30 to go in the first half.

5 p.m. — I can’t believe it, but Goddard coach Steve Blue is not wearing his customary blue shirt with tie. He’s in brown. When I teased him, he said he was changing up his look. It works.

I love these crowds. Goddard’s is excellent and by sheer numbers, SM Northwest is even better and it’s active. I love it. I asked a SM Northwest fan if this was normal. He said it was.

The first quarter is nearly over, and Goddard leads SM Northwest 15-14. This is a good game, and both teams appear pretty similar.

4:30 p.m .– Heights wins 63-56. It was a much closer game than I think any top-seeded team wants. But with Dodge City, you kind of have to expect that. Maybe I’ve just been around for too long.

Heights didn’t completely put Dodge City away until the final 49 seconds. Heights had a 59-50 lead with 56.6 seconds when Perry Ellis hit two free throws.

But Landon Head came down and hit a contested three-point shot to get back within six. Joe Auer shook his head. Against Dodge’s press, Perry Ellis got the ball and was fouled inside, he hit both free throws. After a Head missed three, Ellis hit 1 of 2 from the line.

Tough, tough game for Heights. But it’s a good win, and we are assured of one CL team being here on Friday night. Will Goddard do it in the next game? Will we see a Goddard-Heights matchup? Will there be some AVCTL-CL smack talk going on?

4:26 p.m. — Heights leads 62-53 with 23.5 seconds to go. Evan Wessel is at the line. Perry Ellis is being seen by the trainer after getting bopped in the nose on a foul. He went 1 of 2 at the line.

Wessel made 1 of 2. The subs are in for both teams.

10.6 seconds to go and all starters are out for Heights. Dodge still has one starter in.

4:10 p.m. _ Heights leads 47-45 with 4:21 to go.

4 p.m. – Heights heads into the final period 43-39. Heights just finished the quarter with a sweet play, a pass to Ellis down low for an easy look.

Dodge City and Heights are tied at 39-all with 2:13 remaining in the third quarter. Terrance Moore, a freshman, just hit a three to tie it. Dodge City had led 39-34.

3:35 p.m. – We have a game here at 6A. It’s Dodge City 31, Heights 28 at the half. What is it about Dodge City? I’ve seen mediocre teams in Dodge go through its own tournament and win. It’s just amazing.

Here’s Dodge City, with 13 wins, and the Demons are leading arguably the state’s best team at the half in the quarterfinals of the state tournament. And Dodge City is playing really well. The zone defense is working for the Demons, and they’re getting strong offensive output from its players — which I definitely did not see from the Demons against Maize.

Heights has blocked a ton of shots, though. It’s been Perry Ellis, Austin Bahner, Thomas Bland, Evan Wessel, Darrell Dempsey.

It’s definitely exciting. That’s for sure.

Here’s the scoring — Landon Head 9, Bruce Campbell 8, Trey Hallman 3, Miles Morin 6, Zach Taylor 2, Rico Hogan 3

Heights — Dorrian Roberts 10, Evan Wessel 4, Austin Bahner 5, Perry Ellis 6, Darrell Dempsey 3. Heights has outrebounded Dodge City 23-13. Ellis and Wessel both have 7.

3:20 p.m. — You might see some double info on my blog and Jeff’s but we look at things so differently that you’ll get different insight.

Heights is leading 19-12 early in the second quarter.

Evan Wessel and Perry Ellis are cleaning up on the boards

Heights’ Dorrian Roberts had a nice first quarter, hitting both threes that he attempted. Dodge City is staying right with Heights, playing it’s methodical offense. It’s in a zone now, and has taken a 21-20 lead after Rico Hogan, a freshman starter, hit a three.

3 p.m .– One of my favorite pastimes at state basketball is perusing the program and looking at who the referees are. There’s quite a few from the Wichita area here, including David Kaufman, Chris Kaufman, John Kaufman, Bill McAtee, John Mies. That’s just a few from the area and only at 6A.

OK, so they’re announcing the non-starters and the assistant coaches. For both Dodge City and Heights, the biggest cheers went to the managers, including Kyle Coffman, the autistic manager from Heights who scored three points in an emotional game against Northwest near the end of the regular season.

2:50 p.m. — The lower stands are starting to fill up for this game. Both teams have bands here and Heights has a pretty decent student section, although Dodge City’s might be bigger.

I’ve got Bob Lutz sitting on my right, Jeff Lutz on my left. I’m pretty lucky. Right? Right?

2:20 p.m. — Like the title says, this is my blog on 6A. Jeffrey Lutz is here with me at 6A, and he’s got a blog post, too, which is why my name is in the title.

All right, now that that’s been clarified, let’s get it on. I see I’m the first blog up today, which means I’m the hardest worker.

Anyway, we’ve got Dodge City and Heights boys warming up right now. I would imagine this could be one of two things — a blowout or very close. Dodge City is methodical offensively, so I’m curious as to how that will play against Heights’ tough defense and its uptempo offense.