By Jackson Schneider
The Wamego boys won their second game in as many nights on Friday, but they may as well have played a third game. The Red Raiders entered the night at 12-4 on the year, coming off a convincing road win over area rival Chapman.
Friday night, Wamego would head back onto the road, this time against the Concordia Panthers.
Concordia would hold a slim 26-22 lead at the half, as tired legs seemed to labor the Red Raiders, little did they know what was in store for them.
Regulation wasn't enough, thus overtime was in store. One overtime wasn't enough either, or two, or three, or four. Tied at 67, the teams went back out for another helping, tired legs and all.
Nope. Still not enough. The two teams slugged it out to a 72-72 tie after five extra periods.
As the overtimes mounted, so did the Red Raiders' stats. Junior Burk Springer posted a team-high 27 points, with five assists to boot. Ledjor Rowden threw in 17 points and six rebounds. Jake Fritz scored 8, Jackson White 6, and Colin Donahue 4 for Wamego.
Senior Guard Tanner Hecht put together one of the more impressive stat lines you'll see across the state Friday, tallying 22 points, 17 rebounds, and 13 blocks, for one of the rarest forms of a triple-double ever to grace a 4A box score.
FINALLY, after 6 overtimes, 56 total minutes of basketball, and roughly three hours of real-time, the Wamego Red Raiders would emerge victorious with an 84-78 win over Concordia.
The victory marked Wamego's 13th on the season. The Red Raiders will take a deep breath, and perhaps a prolonged ice bath over the weekend before getting back in action Tuesday when they travel to Marysville.
Unfortunately, Concordia is scheduled to play tomorrow afternoon against Phillipsburg. Round up all the electrolytes in Cloud County because they'll need it.