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Baldwin’s Jackson Wheeler, Devyn Wadel and Jackson Rood each hold onto a towel as they prepare to check into the state championship game against Rock Creek on March 14 at Hutchinson Sports Arena.
The story is already written now, the ink dried. The Baldwin boys basketball team completed its Cinderella run to winning the 4A state championship, the first in program history.
But to keep their dream alive long enough to become a reality, the Bulldogs had to overcome a series of setbacks, a couple losing streaks and many late-game deficits throughout this season.
The players could have easily allowed doubt to creep into their minds in all those tough moments. But rather than think about throwing in the towel, Baldwin head coach Donald Blanchat tasked his players with clutching that towel tighter than ever. The Bulldogs only loosened their grip enough to hand the towel to the next man up, with each player taking turns in who would join the fight.
When the Baldwin boys were struggling with basic subbing patterns early in the season, the team devised a simple and ultimately effective strategy that centered on accountability among players.
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Baldwin’s Colton Collum, Homer Rice, Jackson Rood and Ethan Smasal hold towels as they prepare to check into a boys basketball game against Wellsville during the regular season.
Baldwin entered the season with lofty expectations, but frustration began to mount early on.
The team started the year 0-2 as senior floor general Cooper Carr missed action recovering from a leg injury, carried over from leading Baldwin boys soccer team to a state runner-up finish in the fall.
The Bulldogs responded with an 11-game win streak, only to be disrupted by a three-game losing streak in late January.
But the team’s small cracks were showing well before those midseason losses.
Early in the season, the players were struggling to grasp on-court assignments after checking into a game. That’s when the team decided to adopt a subbing system that involves players exchanging a freshly rolled sideline towel when they’re checking in and out of the contest.
Baldwin star forward Leo Schoenberger said the purpose of the towel exchange was to keep the team focused on the on-court action. Specifically, players were reminding each other of defensive assignments and other fundamental concepts like crashing the offensive glass with authority.
“It definitely keeps us accountable and locked in,” Schoenberger told Lawrence Sports after the team’s 70-22 victory over Coffeyville on March 4. “We’re trying to make sure everyone’s matched up so that we don’t have a guy who is wide open when subs come in.”
Carr said the towel exchange concept proved effective in “blocking out any confusion” for players who ascended to the varsity rotation after having had lesser roles last season.
“We kind of struggled with guys coming in and not knowing who they were guarding,” Carr said, adding that the exchange alleviated pressure for “guys that have stepped up who never played varsity before.”
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Baldwin’s Colton Collum holds a towel as he prepares to check into the state championship game against Rock Creek on March 14 at Hutchinson Sports Arena.
As it turned out, several of the team’s role players rose to the occasion after being thrust into pressure-packed scenarios during the team’s thrilling postseason run.
Two of the biggest shots in program history were taken by players who had not been prominently featured on the offensive end. Trailing by five in the final frame of the championship clash with Rock Creek, Baldwin guard Kreyton Frost splashed a 3-pointer that trimmed the deficit to 50-48.
For Frost to take a potentially make-or-break three at that juncture of a state championship clash seemed unlikely, as he entered the contest averaging 1.5 points per game. Donald Blanchat was unsurprised by Frost’s confidence, adding that he has “ice water in his veins.”
“It was an unbelievable moment for Kreyton,” Blanchat said.
And while Frost succeeded in knocking down his lone shot of the contest, he also chipped in three rebounds and three assists while playing turnover-free basketball.
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Baldwin’s Jackson Wheeler and Devyn Wadel hold onto a towel as they prepare to check into the state championship game against Rock Creek on March 14 at Hutchinson Sports Arena.
The “One Shining Moment” tag also applies to guard Devyn Wadel, who supplied the Bulldogs with 17 points in the title game. He entered the contest averaging just 3.5 points per game.
Wadel did not have a single double-digit scoring performance until the postseason. He scored 11 points against Coffeyville Field Kindley in the sub-state opener, but went 0 of 2 from the field against Paola in the sub-state final. Wadel found his shooting touch again in the state quarterfinals against Pratt, knocking down a pair of three pointers in the first half.
Wadel maintained his hot hand with three triples in the state semifinals against Atchison, including two during a third-quarter stretch that helped turn a one-possession margin into a double-digit advantage entering the final frame. The Bulldogs ultimately won 65-45.
But Wadel was just warming up.
He drained two of his five 3-pointers in the final frame of the state championship game. The sweet-shooting southpaw’s fifth and final 3-ball put Baldwin up 61-58, a lead they would never relinquish.
Despite his lights-out shooting performance, Wadel said he wasn’t as sharp as he’d like to have been during the pregame shootaround. But still, he felt like he was locked in for the marquee matchup from the moment he stepped onto the court, handing off his towel to senior guard Ethan Smasal when Wadel checked into the game midway through the opening quarter.
“I knew when I came into the game that this is what I do,” Wadel said. “Sometimes it just clicks, and it clicked for me (in the championship game).”
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Baldwin’s Jackson Wheeler holds onto a towel as he heads to the bench during the state championship game against Rock Creek on March 14 at Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Carr and Schoenberger are the clear go-to scorers for the Bulldogs. The duo combined for a season average of 39 points per game. But Carr was limited to just two points in the first half against Rock Creek, before ultimately pouring in 11 points over the final 16 minutes.
Baldwin’s bench obviously needed to help pick up the offensive slack early in this contest, which those players did as Baldwin outscored Rock Creek 24-10 in that category.
Sophomore forward Jackson Wheeler provided a spark for the Bulldogs in the semifinals over an athletic Atchison squad, tallying a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
In the championship game, the towel exchange came full circle when Wheeler fouled out early in the fourth quarter and Frost stepped into the spotlight. With six minutes remaining, Frost collected a pass from Carr and calmly connected from long range as Baldwin mounted its comeback.
And with those fourth quarter heroics, both Wadel and Frost established their places in program lore.
“It’s not just one guy,” Carr said. “It’s a bunch of guys who bought in, who are going to do their job when it’s time to step up.”
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Baldwin’s Tucker Flory, Devyn Wadel, Jackson Wheeler, Colton Collum and Kreyton Frost watch Leo Schoenberger go up for a dunk attempt during a boys basketball game against Wellsville in the regular season.
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Baldwin’s Leo Schoenberger led the Bulldogs in scoring during the postseason with an average of 19.0 points per game. Schoenberger averaged 20.2 points per game during the regular season and set the team’s single-season record for scoring with his 565 points scored this season.
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Baldwin’s Cooper Carr averaged 16.2 points per game during the postseason. Carr also led the team with 4.8 assists per game. Carr finished his career with program’s all-time record in points, free throws made, assists and steals.
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Baldwin’s Devyn Wadel averaged 8.6 points per game during the postseason. Wadel hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the team’s 66-60 win over Rock Creek in the 4A state championship game.
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Baldwin’s Jackson Wheeler averaged 6.6 points per game during the postseason. Wheeler made the victory-sealing block in the final minute of the team’s 50-48 win over Pratt in the state quarterfinals.
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Baldwin’s Colton Collum averaged 4.4 points per game during the postseason. He scored 10 points in the team’s 66-60 win over Rock Creek in the 4A state championship game.
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Baldwin’s Kreyton Frost averaged 1.5 points per game during the regular season. Frost’s only points in the postseason were in the 4A state championship game, knocking down his lone 3-point attempt in the fourth quarter to cut the team’s deficit to just one possession before ultimately winning 66-60 against Rock Creek.
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Baldwin’s Jackson Rood averaged 1.0 points per game during the postseason. Rood served as a defensive specialist for the Bulldogs, earning the seventh most minutes on the team during the postseason.
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Baldwin’s Ethan Smasal averaged 1.0 points per game during the postseason. Smasal served as a defensive specialist who earned the sixth most minutes on the team and delivered eight rebounds, three steals and a block during the postseason.
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Baldwin’s Homer Rice hit a 3-pointer during the team’s 70-23 win over Coffeyville Field Kindley in the sub-state opener.
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Baldwin’s Gavin Brittingham scored four points in the Bulldogs’ 70-23 win over Coffeyville Field Kindley in the sub-state opener.
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Baldwin’s Tucker Flory hit a 3-pointer during the team’s 70-23 win over Coffeyville Field Kindley in the sub-state opener.
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Baldwin’s Cooper Carr lifts up the state championship trophy as the team jumps in for a celebration after the Bulldogs won the 4A state championship game against Rock Creek on March 14 at Hutchinson Sports Arena.
