ShawneeDispatch.com

It was a historic night Friday at the Shawnee Mission North gymnasium - and not just for the home folks.

On a night when Indians' fans paid tribute to the outstanding accomplishments of past North coaches and athletes with inductions into the school's Hall of Fame, the Shawnee Mission Northwest boys basketball team was crowned co-champions of the Sunflower League.

Behind a 23-5 third quarter, Northwest ran past North, 68-36, to win the title and clinch a No. 1 seed in this week's substate playoffs.

The league championship is the second in school history and the first since 1981 when the fathers of current SMNW players Steve Carver, sophomore center, and Scott Fruehling, senior guard, accomplished the feat. The championship was also the first in Northwest coach Ben Meseke's tenure.

"I have a hard time talking about individuals because these guys work so close together," Meseke said. "I hate to talk about these two, while leaving these another two out of it, because it was just a team thing."

The Cougars will play host to No. 8-seeded Olathe Northwest in the opening round of substate at 7 p.m. Thursday. If the Cougars win, their substate final opponent will be announced after results of both games are available.

The key for the Cougars in the regular-season finale was the overwhelming performance of their interior players in the third quarter. After a lackluster second period, Meseke said his staff needed a pep talk.

"Our big men in the third quarter just took over the game," Meseke said. "They did some good things out of halftime because we had some things to say to them. We got a few decibels high, and they responded."

The Cougar front line of Carver, freshman forward A.J. Spencer and senior forward Alex Carder combined for 14 points and six rebounds in the third quarter, and the Cougars led by 25 points at the end of the quarter.

North coach B.J. Hair said his team's play slumped after halftime.

"In the second half they made a concentrated effort to get the ball to A.J. Spencer and hurt us early," Hair said. "We are not a good team at playing catch up. We struggle once we get down."

The pace of the first quarter indicated a game that could be scored in the 80s.

Ryan Arel made a trio of shots from three-point range, and the Cougars led 17-13 in the second quarter.

A 9-2 run midway through the period allowed Northwest to extend its lead to 10 at 28-18, but the Indians slowed the Cougars down the rest of the quarter and went into the break down by only single digits, 30-23.

The Cougars started the second half on a 9-0 run and took control.

The Cougars outrebounded North 9-1 in the quarter, which resulted in putback buckets for Carver and Spencer. Northwest scored 18 of its 23 third-quarter points inside the lane.

Despite rolling an ankle in the first quarter, Arel paced the Cougars in scoring with 20 points, and he added four assists, and three steals. Cooper Mach added 11 points, four rebounds, four assists, and four steals while Carver had eight points and five rebounds. Spencer scored eight points and three rebounds.

The Cougars other scorers were Carder, eight; Schnefke six points; Fruehling 5 points, 5 boards, and 6 assists.