By Kyle McCaskey

As Senior Nights often go, Derby’s Kyler Steadman and Garrett Dinsmore had dreadful starts this past Friday against Hutchinson.

In the first 10 minutes, the pair combined to miss their first six shots. Hutchinson pounced to a 25-14 lead, and it was turning ugly fast. 

But if you thought this year’s Derby squad would give up and live to fight another day, well, you do not know Steadman and Dinsmore.

“I wasn’t going to lose my Senior Night. It wasn’t happening,” Steadman said. “I just got it in my head that these guys were going to lift me up and we were going to get this thing done together.”

Steadman hit his first shot with a little more than five minutes to play in the second quarter. A few seconds later, Dinsmore was diving all over the court, carelessly giving up his body just to force one turnover. 

“If we don’t make that play, we could be down who knows what at halftime and not feeling very good about ourselves,” said Brett Flory, Derby head coach. “It was the biggest play of the half hands down. That’s the most important thing Garrett brings, is energy, hustle and that willingness to compete.”

By early in the third quarter, Steadman tipped in his own miss to tie the game at 39. By midway through the fourth, Steadman completed a 3-point play at the line to push Derby ahead 58-46 in what became a comfortable victory.

To finish it off, Steadman tossed a lob to Josiah Ray, who completed a mid-air layup as the Panthers claimed a 69-54 win.

The victory clinched the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League Division I title outright for Derby (15-4, 11-0).

“I wouldn’t want to have it with any other team than the one we have in there now. They are great guys. We really are a family,” Steadman said. “We still want to make that mark in history, because no Derby team has gone through league undefeated. We have (Salina) South on Friday. I know they’ll be headhunting for us.”

Steadman finished with 24 points. After a 0-for-4 start from the floor, he made 8-of-12 the rest of the night. Ray added 14 points and 11 rebounds. 

“That was the first time all year, as a group, that I felt in the second half we were tough,” Flory said. “That’s a great sign, because if this group can be tough – and Kyler sure was a catalyst for that in this game – we can really do some special things, I think.”

The Panthers had no trouble dispatching Campus on Feb. 14. Derby led by as much as 32 in the fourth quarter of a 73-47 triumph.

Ray filled the stat sheet with 20 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and two blocks. Taylor Schieber added 16 points, while Steadman produced 15.

“We’re really excited that we’ve had all three of us come out and play really well every single game,” Ray said. “We want to keep that going the rest of the season. Luckily we’ve got some guys behind us that can play, too.”

Derby visits Salina South on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. start time. Sub-state competition begins the following week. 

 

Derby 69, Hutchinson 54

Feb. 17 at Derby

                    1   2   3   4     Final

Hutchinson    16 19  9  10     54

Derby           12 19 15 23      69

Hutchinson: Munds 12, Higgins 11, Boyd 8, Roehm 8, Turner 7, Bowen 3, Wilkens 3, Ackley 2

Derby: Steadman 24, Ray 14, Schieber 11, Dunham 6, Chambers 5, Conley 5, Osborn 4

 

Derby 73, Campus 47

Feb. 14 at Derby

                  1   2   3   4     Final

Campus      6  13 16 12      47

Derby         17 21 21 14      73

Campus: Vaden 14, Myers 10, Kuiper 7, Saucedo 5, Pike 4, Chavez 4, Hyde 2, Sparks 1 

Derby: Ray 20, Schieber 16, Steadman 15, Dunham 8, Conley 5, Dinsmore 5, Chambers 2, Rogers 1, Littleton 1

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