Preps Notebook: Eudora, Baldwin boys to square off at state; LHS alum Zeke Mayo earns All-Summit First Team honors

The No. 4-seeded Eudora and No. 5 Baldwin boys basketball teams are slated to collide in the first round of the state tournament on Wednesday in Salina. Rocketing through the Frontier League, the pair of substate champions now turn their attention toward a Class 4A state title.

In the last meeting on Jan. 6, Baldwin (18-4) topped the Cardinals (18-4) 73-54 at home. Losing just twice since then, Eudora will have to keep a current nine-game winning streak intact to bring home a banner – that job starts with the Bulldogs.

The Cardinals topped Wamego by 17 in last Friday’s substate championship game. Up next, 16th-year Eudora coach Kyle Deterding expects a finely tuned Baldwin squad.

Baldwin senior Caleb Carr will test a Eudora defense that’s held opponents to under 40 points in four of its last five games. Deterding considers Carr, who netted 16 points last Friday against Holton, one of the best guards in the state.

“I’m not sure they have a weakness,” Deterding said. “They have several different shooters and a big kid that can score inside. They’re a pretty well-rounded team.”

The Bulldogs, now having won four in a row after defeating Holton 65-47 in last Friday’s substate championship, are peaking at the right time, according to third-year coach Donald Blanchat.

Senior Cole Parker and junior Logan Sullivan are two Cardinals that’ll be on Blanchat’s radar. Parker dropped 18 points and Sullivan added 14 in Eudora’s substate championship win.

“These guys have played against each other for so long that we can probably go down the roster and pick out who’s going to guard each other right now,” Blanchat said. “I think we both know what we’re going to do to each other and it’s going to come down to who goes out there and executes better. We’re just going to have to disrupt them in the same way they’re going to disrupt us.”

The winner of Wednesday’s game will meet either No. 1 Hugoton (20-2) or No. 8 Clay Center Community (9-13) in the semifinal round. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m. at Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina.

Zeke Mayo listed on All-Summit First Team

Lawrence High alum and South Dakota State sophomore guard Zeke Mayo saw his name added to the All-Summit League First Team last week.

Mayo, currently averaging 18.2 points and 6.3 rebounds through 36 minutes per game, broke into double figures (14 pts) in the Jackrabbits’ 63-55 win over No. 10-seeded Omaha in the Summit League men’s basketball championship quarterfinal.

No. 2 SDSU (19-12, 13-5 Summit) will meet North Dakota State in the semifinal round on Monday with tipoff slated for 8 p.m.

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