Eudora High senior Mitchell Ballock (24) puts a move on Baldwin defenders Tanner Jackson (33) and Jeremy Williams (1) on Monday, Dec. 19, 2016 at Eudora.

During the first week of the season, Eudora High’s boys basketball team held two-a-day practices starting at 6:15 a.m.

On a few of those days, Mitchell Ballock asked his coach, Kyle Deterding, if he could open the gym a bit earlier.

At first, Deterding didn’t really know why Ballock wanted to be in the gym so long before practice started.

But there was Ballock at 5 a.m., putting up shots in the gym alone and going through his own workout. By the time his teammates arrived, he was sitting around and stretching just like everybody else.

“Most of us don’t even realize he’d already been there working out for an hour before they even showed up, which is really kind of cool,” Deterding said. “A lot of people do that just for the show part of it, but he wanted to be done before anybody else even got there so people wouldn’t even know he was in there.”

Opponents tried every type of defense to slow Ballock down during his senior season. None of it worked. The 6-foot-5 left-handed guard averaged 25.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.

Ballock, signed to play at Creighton, was the school’s only returning starter, and he led the Cardinals to a 19-3 record and a share of the Frontier League championship. Eudora lost to eventual Class 4A-I state champion Bishop Miege in the sub-state title game.

“I never would have guessed in a million years that we had as much success in the win-loss column,” Deterding said.

There are countless other stories about Ballock’s work ethic. After some games, he stayed in the gym for hours to continue working on his shot.

Deterding remembers when Ballock’s mom, LaDonna, would drop him off at the school when he was in the seventh grade around 6:30 a.m. Ballock, the youngest in his family, would use the team’s shooting gun for an hour, then ride the bus over to the middle school.

Ballock started dunking in the sixth grade, so it was easy to see his talent on the basketball court. Throughout his high school career, he was ranked as one of the top recruits in the nation.

But not many people saw his dedication behind the scenes.

“When your best player is your hardest worker, it really makes things easier on the coaches,” Deterding said.

As a freshman, Ballock introduced himself to high school basketball with 40 points in his varsity debut. Teaming up alongside his older brother, Andrew, he led Eudora to its first state championship in 2014.

By the end of his career, Ballock was the school’s all-time leader in points and blocks, earning the prestigious Gatorade Kansas Player of the Year award.

“He was obviously our best scorer, best passer, best rebounder,” Deterding said. “Great leader, vocal leader, leader by example. He was the entire package. It was really cool.”