Perry, Kansas

Jared Swafford said before the game that he was confident in his guys, I mean a 19-2 season would give a coach that kind of confidence, right? A senior heavy led team, with state tournament experience, a recent Big 7 League title, now was looking to end another drought in Perry....back to back state tournament appearances.

It 1982, Floyd Morgison took his final state tournament team to the big stage. It was his 7th state appearance in the last 8 years. 1982 was the last time Perry-Lecompton had set foot on a state tournament court, until last year when that drought ended. Although Perry came up short and bowed out in the opening round, it was a taste of what that level is like, and a taste they'd soon come fond of. The court is named after Floyd Morgison now and the Kaws have now accomplished what Floyd's teams did many times...back to back state tournament appearances. It was no easy task to get to this point though. Perry handled West Franklin and Wellsville with relative ease, but Silver Lake was a different story.

The Kaws jumped out early with hot shooting from Colton Ketron and Connor Morgison and led 16-6 at the end of the first quarter. However, the (17-4) Silver Lake Eagles would fight back by doubling up Perry 12-6 in the second quarter to only trail 22-18, closing the second frame on an 8-0 run, capped by a buzzer beating 3-point bank shot made by Wyatt Heiman.

Silver Lake would use that momentum into the second half outscoring the Kaws by 5 in the third quarter to grab the 32-31 lead heading into the final frame. With both teams season on the line, this game seemed as if it was for a State Championship, not just Sub State. Silver Lake would lead by as many as 5 in the fourth quarter before Perry defied the odds and momentum stacked against them on their home floor. With :40 left in the game Drew Calderwood made two free-throws to extend Silver Lake's lead up to 46-42. Perry would take 18 seconds off the clock before watching Morgison, drill a three-point bucket with :22 seconds left to draw Perry within 46-45. Following the timeout by Coach Swafford, Silver Lake broke pressure and awaited Perry to foul, which they did. With :14 left, Wyatt Heiman walked to the free-throw line for a one-and-one. Heiman missed the free-throw.

The Kaws pushed the ball up the court and an entry pass to Junior Forward Blake Farmer bounced on the floor. After a brief scramble, Farmer, falling away from the basket banked in the game winning shot with :04 seconds left. Perry applied full court pressure, and when Silver Lake triggered in to their Senior leader Dylan Bern, Connor Morigson stole the basketball and dribbled out the remaining seconds to send Perry back to the state tournament for the second consecutive year....first time that's happened since Connor's grandpa, Floyd, ran the program.
 

Perry, now 20-2 on the year heads to Hutchinson as the #3 seed and will face off vs Larned on Thursday @ 4:45PM. Catch the game on 103.9FM KNZA or CLICK HERE to listen anywhere you are.

Scoring

Perry Lecompton – B. Farmer – 11, C. Mallonee – 10, C. Morgison – 10, P. Stone – 8, C. Anderson – 4, C. Ketron – 3, D. Williams – 1.

                                             1    2    3     4     F  

#1 Perry Lecompton – 16 |  6  |  9  | 16  | 47

           #3 Silver Lake   -   6 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 46