Freshmen players star on the Wichita Collegiate basketball team

Mitch Feigl knows a thing or two about leading a team loaded with freshmen to greatness over the years at Collegiate.

He’s relishing the challenge so far this season, as the Spartans started 5-0 behind a talented trio of freshmen in AJ Batiste, Sebastian Haynes-Turner and Jaden Parker, who put together 45 points in Collegiate’s 54-42 victory. Rose Hill on Friday.

“When you hit from baseline to baseline like we do, the number one thing you have to bring is energy, and now we’re playing with a lot of energy,” said Vigel. “Now once we can get some style with our energy, man, we’ll be really good. But right now we have these flashes where we run out and then we have these flashes where we don’t run out, which is to be expected with such a young group.”

It reminds Veigl of the challenge he faced exactly 30 years ago, the last time that many freshmen played together at the university.

Back in 1993, DeAngelo Evans was a new Collegiate sensation and led the Spartans to their first state championship under Fiegel, who remembers four new players—Evans, Jed Bond, Ryan Francisco, and Brian Fearnow—playing on the field together during the final game.

While Evans has been an unstoppable force on his own, this season Collegiate has benefited from having three new players in Batiste, Haines-Turner and Parker who can lead the team in scoring in any game.

Fiegel was also impressed with how his young group responded to adversity early in the season. The Spartans regained a 10-point halftime deficit with a 12-point win over Labette County and held off late strikes from Parsons, Andal and Rose Hill.

“We were a lot more resilient than I thought we were going to be so young,” Feigl said. “We’ve been able to weather some of the challenges that usually require dealing with a veteran group.”

Not only are the three freshmen leading scorers for Collegiate, but the team also has one of its leading scorers, Quentin Fair. The rest of the group had a sporadic experience going into this season: James Shackelford, Brett Whitta, Robbie Raspberry, Asa Ahmed, David Chegg and Carter Drumright.

Although Collegiate has weathered every challenge so far before the Christmas break, Fiegel knows that the sixth-ranked Spartans still have things to improve in order to reach their Class 3A championship potential.

“We have to improve our shot selection and our ability to finish defensively, and the good news is that those two things are manageable,” said Vigel. “We haven’t finished well in terms of boxing and we haven’t played yet where we haven’t had some kind of serious problem. Again, that comes with experience. It’s hard for youngsters to be aggressive and disciplined, but it’s possible. And that’s where we’re going to have to get to.” .

Wichita high school basketball game scores

scores of boys

Andover 70, Eisenhower 37

Andover Central 57, Valley Center 40

Campus 52, Corn 50

Derby 65 Salina South 42

Hutchinson 59, Goddard 50

South atom 85 newtons 35

Salina Central 60, Arkansas City 53

Andale 53, Clearwater 31

Augusta 55, Bowler 49

Circle 69, Mulvan 48

Collegiate 54, Rose Hill 42

McPherson 84, Winfield 47

Wellington 60, Eldorado 30

Cheney 56, Sterling 51

Ell-Saline 56, Douglas 40

Garden Plain 48, Sedgwick 33

Independent 53, Mondridge 47

Inman 54, Chaparral 49

Kingman 70, Bennington 64

Remington 55, Conway Springs 40

Trinity Academy 66, Berian Academy 52

Haven 62, Larned 16

Pratt 65, Nickerson 41

Smoky Valley 48, Halsted 43

SE Saline 56, Hillsboro 37 (Thursday)

Galva Canton 72nd, 34th place

Goessel 62, Rev Vista 39

Norwich 65, South Haven 45

West Elk 62, Fredonia 59

dozens of girls

Andover 53, Eisenhower 33

Derby 51, Salina South 32

Hutchinson 51, Goddard 36

Corn 40, Campus 25

Southern Corn 59, Newton 19

Salina Central 54, Arkansas City 42

Andale 59, Clearwater 54 (2 OT)

Buller 48, Augusta 41

Precinct 45, Mulvan 36

Collegiate 40, Rose Hill 37

McPherson 54, Winfield 30

Wellington 70, Eldorado 18

Pennington 57, Douglas 39 (Thursday)

Berrian Academy 34, Garden Plane 30 (Thursday)

Cheney 42, Remington 27 (Thursday)

Conway Springs 54, Inman 46 (Thursday)

Kingman 54, Moundridge 48 (Thursday)

Marion 44, Medicine Lodge 42 (Thursday)

Trinity Academy 50 Ell-Saline 30 (Thursday)

Halsted 37, Smoky Valley 33

Haven 52, Larned 30

Pratt 47, Nickerson 25

Southeast Saline 45, Hillsborough 40 (Thursday)

Bluestem 55, Bearden Central 31

39 Classic, Cunningham 35

Eureka 68, Flinthills 18

Norwich 46, South Haven 27

This story was originally published Dec 17, 2022 1:38 PM.