The Garden City Telegram
NEW E-Edition!
Subscription
Required
Add Your Comment | Read (0) Comments
Broncs honor '02 title team
Published 2/11/2012 in Sports
By KEVIN THOMPSON
sports@gctelegram.com
Ten years ago, the Lakin High School boys basketball team accomplished something no other team before them nor since can claim.
The Broncs put together a perfect, magical season to capture the state 3A title at the Hutchinson Sports Arena, capping a 26-0 run through the 2001-02 season and leaving an imprint on the memories of the Lakin community.
Players and coaches were reunited and recognized between varsity games Friday night in the gym that opened in 2000 and on which they made school history just a year later with a state title.
In its tournament run, Lakin defeated Oakley, Holcomb and Oberlin in sub-state.
Averaging 66 points a game that season, in the state tournament they rolled over Wichita Collegiate 77-44 and Riley County 75-57 to reach the finals, where they defeated Beloit 54-50 for the crown.
The four-point win was the closest anyone came to the Broncs all season since a 66-62 win over Scott City in the third game of that season.
Coach Roger Reed, two assistant coaches, nine seniors and three juniors comprised the team now immortalized in Lakin lore.
"All the pieces were there," Reed said. "I felt for a couple of years that there was that potential with that team. We had good height, good size, good quickness, two excellent guards. If you were trying to hand pick a team, those were all the elements that you would want."
The pressure of going undefeated was there, he said, but sometime into the season he gave the team back some control in the locker room and gave up some of the strict rules he was used to doing.
That seemed to keep the guys loose. As long as they worked hard on the court, he said, he gave them more autonomy off it.
"I coached 30 years at the high school level, and I can honestly say I have never had as complete a team as that one with all the elements," Reed said.
After moving on to Andover and Andover Central, Reed said he coached a few more seasons, but now he's just fine being a high school counselor in Circle. But he remembers well the great crowds from his Lakin days.
Crowd support was great during that season, he added. It was always good, but that year it was especially hard to find a seat, even in Lakin's much-larger newer gym.
Senior Jarrod King had said 10 years ago in the school annual, "Coming into this year, there were very high expectations from everyone included in the program. Anything less than a state title is considered a failure."
Derek Ramos added, "When we were growing up we had a lot of hype. I remember when I was younger, everyone was telling me that if we stick to it, we would be the best team to come out of Lakin."
Team members honored included Quint Ana, Brady Fuller, King, Ramos, Cris Bird, Nate Woodrow, Bo Richardson, Nick Hall, Tyler Riedl (all seniors on that squad), Deven Hammerschmidt, Jess Holmes and Carlen Collins (juniors).
Joining Reed were former coach Larry Dasenbrock and current girls coach Shawn Michaelis, who was in his second year at Lakin then.
Dasenbrock's sons Kyle and Kevin (currently a junior with the Broncs) were the ball boys.
Jake Edgington, Sklyer McKinley and Michael Bowser were the student managers.
Game rewind
Brady Fuller's opening tip and a 7-0 run got Lakin off to a quick start. A Jarrod King 3-pointer gave them a 17-8 lead at one point before settling for a 19-12 lead at the end of the opening period.
Lakin hit a snag in the second period, going scoreless for the first 2:40, while Beloit cut the lead down to five. Ramos and Hammerschmidt scored the last seven points of the half and Lakin led 23-23 at the break.
Beloit tied the game with an 8-3 run to open the second half. It was tied again at 48-48 with 3:10 left in the game.
With the team rattled somewhat by the atmosphere and the pressure, Reed said he told the team "to calm down, keep their pose and show the character that got them here.
With three minutes left, Fuller hit a three "from Yoder," as television announcer Rick Thomaczek called it at the time. It was first eyeballed at 23 feet but later revised to 26.
Fuller finished the Lakin scoring by hitting 1-of-2 free throws with 17 seconds left. Ramos grabbed a final rebound and threw to Fuller to run out the clock.
Fuller told the Lakin Independent after the game, "Our crowd was a big key for us all year. When things would go good, they would be cheering, and even when things didn't go so good their cheers would help motivate us to pull us through, as was the case tonight."
"This was the most mentally tough team I have ever coached," Reed said after that game. "They all worked hard, not just the starters but the reserves. I can't say enough about this bunch of men."
Found 0 comment(s)!