Wellington boys are off to state with huge 65-41 victory over Circle
Wellington boys win a sub-state title for the first time since 2015.
by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Just like everyone predicted, right?
The Wellington boys’ team will be going to state. The Crusaders dominated Circle 65-41 Friday night in its absolute best performance of the season. It will be the first time Wellington has reached the Class 4A State Tournament in Salina since 2015.
Wellington sophomore Carter Burnett led the team in points and most certainly deflections.
Using a tenacious 1-3-1 defense, Wellington stunned the third seed and 18-4 Circle team in front of a capacity crowd at Thunderbird gymnasium. Wellington had lost to the same team twice before and by 31 points at home on Feb. 3 – exactly one month ago. That’s a 55-point swing.
“I thought we would give them a battle,” said an elated Joe Newman, Wellington head boys basketball coach. “I didn’t think this was going to happen.”
Wellington was trailing Circle 16-14 at the end of the first quarter. Then the Crusaders, quite simply, took over. Wellington would outscore the Thunderbirds 17-3 in the second quarter, and 16-6 in the third. Leading 47-25 going into the fourth, like unwanted mosquitoes Circle pulled within 16, 50-34, with 5:49 fourth quarter. There was still that awful chance the Crusaders could blow this lead, much like it did against the Thunderbirds in the Chaparral Tournament finals.
But, instead, Wellington tilted it back the other way, outscoring the T-birds 15-7 the rest of way.
“I’m not sure Circle has been held to three points in a quarter all season,” Newman said of the second. “We just played great defense. I’m eager to see how many deflections we had in this game.”
Banks Hinshaw with key points in the second half
Circle had eight 3-pointers in this game. Four of those came early, resulting in its 16-14 lead. But they wouldn’t hit another until the fourth. Wellington would only hit three 3-pointers. They were too busy going inside the paint with 20 made baskets. And Carter Burnett dominated the board. He scored 16 points, getting a deuce every quarter.
“We did a good job rebounding the ball,” Newman said. “And offensively we were moving it around, playing our style of basketball. We made some shots on the outside and that opened things up in the middle.”
Wellington may have only made three treys in this game, but Wellington senior guard Cope Henry’s trey to start the second quarter may be the most memorable. It would spark a seven-point run. Soon Burnett at the top of the 1-3-1 was creating steals at half-court, resulting in transitional points inside. The Crusaders were ahead 25-19 at the four-minute mark and were leading 31-19 at the half.
The Wellington crowd was rowdy.
But there was this uneasy feeling amongst Crusader fans that the T-birds had a run in them. Circle opened with a 3-2 full-court press to start the second half. It would get a quick bucket to narrow the margin to 10. But then Henry did it again with a 3-pointer on the other end. Soon Wellignton’s lead would expand to 16, then 18, then 22 to end the quarter.
Circle’s last saving effort came early in the fourth when it would outscore the Dukes 9-3 in the first three minutes of the quarter. This was more of Wellington making two turnovers resulting from nerves. But the timeout, got Wellington back on track.
And it’s worth mentioning Wellington shot 17 of 23 in free throws. That was such an issue at the beginning of the year. Not Friday night.
Wellington starters sat on the bench the final minute of this game after a stunning win.
The win puts Wellington at 14-7, and that will probably pit it against either McPherson or Atchison in the first round at state. Not sure when the state will release the official Class 4A state bracket.
“At this stage of the game, we don’t care who we play,” Newman said. “It’s great to get to state.”
Full stats will be coming soon. For more pictures, click here.
Wellington 65 Circle 41
Wellington — 14 17 16 18 — 65
Circle — 16 3 6 16 — 41
Wellington: Rogers 13, Wright 8, Hinshaw 11, Henry 11, Burnett 16, Weir 4, G. Norris 1. Total: 20 (3) 17-23 65. Circle: Chadwell 14, Boldra 8, Cowman 7, Ahles 5, Koeingsman 4, Koehn 3. Total: 8 (8) 4-5 41.
