By Kyle McCaskey

If tasked with playing defense on Conner Frankamp and one cannot feel his breath, he is not close enough. 

“He’s unbelievable. I thought we did a pretty decent job on him. He didn’t have a lot of easy looks,” said Brett Flory, Derby head coach. “You just have to tip your cap to him, obviously. We were trapping him at every opportunity, running two guys at him every opportunity, and he still put on a show.”

Frankamp, a junior guard for Wichita North and Kansas University commit, lit up Derby’s defense for an astonishing 48 points this past Saturday in the fifth place game at the McPherson Tournament of Champions. 

Yet patience paid off for Derby (9-2), as the Panthers survived with a 66-61 victory.

The stunning speed and shiftiness of Frankamp rattled Derby early. Mixed with a molasses offense, the Panthers were behind 10-5 after one quarter and 26-15 late in the second.

“Early on, despite everything you tell kids, they can’t really understand until they’re out there and see it first-hand. There was a little bit of that,” Flory said. “Also, though, early, we were just terrible offensively.”

The Panthers trimmed the deficit to 27-24 at halftime. A productive third quarter ended with a tie at 41 following a steal and layup by Kyler Steadman.

Knotted at 46, Derby made its move. Taylor Schieber drilled two consecutive 3-pointers to give the Panthers a 52-46 advantage.

“I missed a couple shots at the beginning, but then I started hitting some and it gave me some confidence,” Schieber said.

A 62-53 lead with 90 seconds left appeared comfortable for Derby, but Frankamp nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to bring North within three. Down 64-61 with 21 seconds left, Frankamp missed two opportunities to tie the game, however, and the Panthers preserved a victory.

“It’s hard to guard him because he has so many counters. He has so many moves, he just gets right past you,” Schieber said. “He’s going to get his 30 or above points every game. You just have to stop everybody else.”

Schieber led Derby with 17 points. Josiah Ray added 14 points and 10 rebounds. 

The win salvaged fifth place for Derby after a lackluster showing to open the tournament against Shawnee Mission East on Thursday. The Panthers trailed by two at halftime, but the Lancers revved up to blow out Derby 79-50. 

Derby defeated Maize 56-45 on Friday to set up the meeting with North. Steadman scored 24 points to lead the Panther victory.

Blue Valley West defeated host McPherson in the championship game of the tournament. Frankamp, unsurprisingly, was named the Most Valuable Player after averaging 38 points a game. Steadman was Derby’s lone representative on the all-tournament team.

The Panthers will return to McPherson on Tuesday for a head-to-head matchup with the Bullpups.

 

Derby 66, Wichita North 61

Jan. 21 at McPherson

1   2   3   4   Final

Derby 5  19 17 25    66

North 10 17 14 20    61

Derby: Schieber 17, Ray 14, Steadman 12, Chambers 9, Conley 6, Osborn 6, Dinsmore 2

North: Frankamp 48, Kinder 6, Bernard 3, Henderson 2, Shockley 2

 

Derby 56, Maize 45

Jan. 20 at McPherson

                 1   2   3   4   Final

Derby         9  14 20 13    56

Maize        12 10 11 12    45

Derby: Steadman 24, Ray 9, Osborn 7, Chambers 6, Dunham 6, Dinsmore 2, Hunter 2 

Maize: White 11, Shaw 9, Sturgeon 8, Eleeson 6, Hall 6, Strunk 3, McBroom 2

 

Shawnee Mission East 79, Derby 50

Jan. 19 at McPherson

                 1   2   3   4   Final

Derby        12 16  6  16    50

SM East     15 15 19 30    79

Derby: Steadman 21, Chambers 11, Schieber 4, Osborn 4, Ray 4, Conley 3, Littleton 2, Dinsmore 1

Shawnee Mission East: Wentz 32, Schneider 17, Hiett 9, Tuttle 8, Hanna 5, Simpson 5, Schoegler 2, Marak 1

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