Conor Dunback puts up a shot during the sub-state championship game Saturday night.
Coach Kyle Deterding huddled his team before taking the floor Saturday night and told his group to come out strong.
From the jump, it was all Cardinals — seemingly every basket fell from the get go. And when coupled with a strong defensive effort, no one was stopping them.
Eudora started with paint touches from junior forward Jaden Hamm and then began to work the ball to the perimeter where junior guard Cole Parker knocked down multiple 3-point shots.
“I was really pleased with the defensive effort. We were locked in on some of the stuff, actions that they kind of do. We were making it pretty tough on them,” Deterding said. “And then when shots fall, obviously everything is a little bit easier. Defensively, I really think we set the tone, and we made a bunch of shots, too.”
Despite being made up of primarily juniors, the Cardinals will lose just one senior at the conclusion of this season: forward Traeger Rader. Rader displayed a dominant presence with his diverse attack.
Deterding said Rader is the hardest worker on this team. And the senior said it all stems from an unfortunate injury from a season ago that has made him fight and claw to be in this position this year.
“I was really devastated last year, but I had hope because I knew I would be healthy for next year, which is this year, and I was going to give it my all,” Rader said. “So, I’ve put in the work, tried to get better, it paid off, so now we are going to state.”
The boys come into the state tournament with the No. 1 seed at 18-3, but Parker understands the team needs to adopt a one game at a time mentality.
”From here on, every team is going to be solid, I mean there’s only eight teams left,” Parker said. “So we aren’t going to overlook anybody, but we’ll be ready to go.
Eudora plays at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Tony’s Pizza Event Center in Salina.
See our Facebook page for video highlights from the game.
Reach reporter Andrew Lind at [email protected]