East defeats defending state champion Bishop Carroll 75-63

The Bishop Carroll Golden Eagles had won 15 straight games before falling to Southeast at the buzzer last week.

And after also losing to Southeast, Wichita East coach Joe Jackson did not take preparation for Carroll lightly.

“We had the longest film session I had ever done in my life after the Southeast game,” Jackson said. “That was more of a focus on things we had to be doing better. We played hard, but I didn’t feel like we played up to our standards.”

Jackson said after that film session, his team had a “complete turnaround” in its performance against Carroll, the defending state champions. Indeed, as the Blue Aces handed the Golden Eagles their second straight loss, 75-63.

“Knowing that they were defending state champions, we came out hungry and wanting to win,” junior forward Amos Alfred said. “We came out playing like a team.”

The game started close, with Carroll leading by just two after the end of the first quarter. But East started chipping away at Carroll’s lead with an 8-1 run early in the second quarter.

The rest of the second quarter was a blur of back-and-forth lead changes, with East managing a four-point lead at the half. East’s ability to do the dirty work, marked by gritty rebounds and steals, netted the lead at intermission.

In the third quarter, East’s lead grew to double-digits after senior guard Jaylen Randle hit four third-quarter threes.

“The first couple of games I had a lot on my mind,” Randle said. “But it feels good to be completely focused. As soon as I hit one, the momentum just kept going.”

Randle wasn’t the only Blue Ace to light it up from three, either: East sank 15 three-pointers in the 12-point win.

“We played extremely well as a team, moved the ball well,” Randle said. “Nobody was being selfish.”

Jackson said his squad’s team-first mentality starts with his players believing in the vision the coaching staff has for the program.

“We talked to our guys about, ‘We don’t want them to buy in, because that means that we’re selling something’ — we don’t want to sell them anything,” Jackson said. “We want them to believe in what we do.”

Jackson said the win over Carroll should validate his players’ belief and hard work.

“We’ve got guys that truly believe in what we do, and that’s what it’s truly all about,” Jackson said. “The effort’s going to be there; they’re going to play hard and they’re going to play for each other.”