Eagles taking their lumps

Inexperienced Veritas boys squad falls to 0-4 as Wichita Christian earns sweep

? Veritas Christian owns a strong basketball tradition, but this season’s boys squad still is searching for its first win after falling 82-38 to Wichita Christian on Friday night at the Eudora Community Learning Center.

“It’s tough. … We’re used to a winning a pretty high percentage of our games,” Veritas coach Doug Bennett said. “We don’t like it, and we’re going to do our best to continue to work hard and get better.”

Early on, one could tell the game would become a lopsided affair. Wichita started with an 8-0 run en route to a 31-9 advantage by the end of the first quarter.

“They never let up,” said sophomore Taylor Zook, who led Veritas with 13 points.

Wichita rolled to a 46-17 halftime lead. During the break, Bennett told his team he wanted to win the second half.

But Wichita had too much size, athleticism and shooting range. The Warriors featured a balanced attack as Josh Robinson, Joseph Wolfenberger and Tim Cole had 18, 16 and 15 points, respectively.

Veritas (0-4) did not sink a three-pointer all game, but the Warriors rained in seven of them.

“I don’t know if they were just extremely on tonight or if they’re that good at the three, but they sure looked like they knew what they were doing,” Bennett said. “They’re strong inside and out. It’s just really tough to defend.”

Seniors Josh Masrud and Micah Barclay scored 10 and 11 points, respectively, for the Eagles, but could not keep pace with the Warriors, who spread their scoring among several players.

“That’s a very good team,” Bennett said. “They’ve got six or seven very solid basketball players.”

The Wichita Christian girls also defeated the Veritas girls, 51-31, prior to the boys’ game. Veritas girls coach Kevin Shelton, however, saw a lot of promise in his girls’ performance against a team that has finished first or second in the Kansas Christian Athletic Association the last several years.

“I’m not negative for this game tonight,” Shelton said. “I’m proud of how we played against them.”

Veritas, which displayed shaky ball-handling early in the season, had a season-low 13 turnovers and even led after the first quarter, 14-10. Both served as silver linings for Shelton.

“We won that first quarter,” he said. “They were not able to get the ball where they normally get the ball on offense.”

Like death and taxes, the Eagles received their typical exemplary performance from junior Kristie Tiegreen, who scored 16 points and had 14 rebounds. The power player had her work cut out for her, going against a Warriors squad that had three players 5-foot-11 or taller.

“They had a lot of big girls,” Tiegreen said. “I just did the best I could.”