Cardinals Crush State value record on the way to third place in the state

By Tyler Henry
Lead Sportswriter – Salina Post

After the Ell-Saline Boy's Basketball Team had stumbled from 76-59 in the semi-finals of the 2a State Sterling on Saturday and Valley Falls had blown out 109-74 to claim third place in the state.

For the first time since 1980, a new young basketball banner will hang in the gym in Brookville.

“What these boys did is huge and I am sure we all felt a lot of pressure, but this was a moment when we lost ourselves last season and these were our expectations,” said Ell-Salin head coach Marty Wendel. “Making reality is huge, especially if we went back 16 minutes five minutes ago a week ago.”

This mark of 109 points broke the record of single game ratings for every team of the State Tournament in the history of the state of Kansa.

The combined total of 183 points has almost broken another record and is now the second -point game in the history of state basketball and the game with the highest number of points in the recorded history of class 2a.

“The pace was quick and we played our 1-3-1 zone throughout the game,” said Wendel. “They hadn't seen this type of speed and sportiness, and we hit shots and got a lot of good work in the transition.”

This victory was never undoubtedly when the cardinals flew to a lead of 33-15 in the first quarter, half-time and a 97-51 mammoth lead in third place of 63: 38.

In the fourth and last quarter, things slowed down a little, but thanks to their hard work in the first three frames, Ell-Saline was able to win in Manhattan.

In this game, four different cardinals were run in double digits, led by Brogan Rowley (34) Garrison Zerger (19) Reese Krone (15) Kas Kramer (13) and Trey Williams (12).

This state runs from a 22: 4 season for Ell-Salin, two massive services given the program of the program, as a trainer Wendel over five years ago.

Brick by Brick, Wendel and the Cardinals rebuilt a program that did not have a single winning season from 2013 to 2020 and collected the first victory of the program in almost three seasons in 2021.

From there, the cardinals stamped this first winning season in 2022-23 and just two years later as the third best team in class 2a, a remarkable turn in such a short time frame.

“As the head coach, it is humble to see this program where it is now,” said Wendel. “I didn't take on a diamond here, things were rough and it was not pretty, but people in the community who secured and supported me by them and continued to believe the positive means and see them.”

This could not have been done without an outstanding senior class, consisting of Brogan Rowley, Garrison Zerger, Tayton Williams, Melvin Lutes and Jake Tillberg.

“I couldn't be proud of our senior group,” he said. “We joke about the fights that we went through in the first few years, but I'm so happy that they were those who come here and achieve this.”

While growing pain in the absence of this group will be present in the next season, Ell-Saline has built up a program that was designed for the duration and will strive to get back on the floor again when the ball will get up again next season.

“We lose some keys and we suffer a little,” said Wendel. “But it is an opportunity for our underclasses to improve, and we are optimistic about the boys we bring back that we can fight next year. It is a run IT baking mentality. “