Atchison High School boys hoops burning bright this season; still undefeated

(ATCHISON, KS) - Across the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas, the high school boys' basketball team has been playing this season just like their Phoenix mascot looks on fire. At the time of this story, Atchison High is a perfect 19-0 on the year. The team is first in the Meadowlark District and the second ranked team in all of 4A. The best start to a season the school has had in years.

Basically really just our communication, our outside of schoolwork, our individual skill, we use that together and put it together as a really good team," said senior Kael Williams.

"We've been playing with each other since we were in 4th grade with my dad as the coach, so we've been playing with each other for a while," said senior Yogi Purdy.

Head coach Patrick Battle has had some strong Phoenix teams make some deep state runs during his time with the school. His squad this year features a good mix of mostly juniors and seniors with a lot of size and skill.

"I think the number one thing is our kids are so unselfish and share the basketball really well. I think that's it. Defensively we're a work in progress, but we're getting there, so I think we do some good things defensively," said Battle. "We have a lot of diversity with our guys that can do a variety of different things."

That defense was tested this past Tuesday, with Highland Park in town and the Scots taking a multiple possession lead in the 3rd quarter, putting Atchison's undefeated season in jeopardy, the Phoenix didn't fold. The team rallied, made shots late, and got to the free throw line to complete the comeback victory to stay unbeaten.

"We just stayed composed. We worried about our defensive matchups. We have great chemistry as a team, and I just feel like that gets us our W's," saids Williams. "We just played hard. We played hard on and that's what got us to the dub."

Atchison hasn't won a state championship since way back in 1988, but with one week left in the regular season, the Phoenix' veteran group of players that are no stranger of going to state look prepped and ready for a run to try and bring a state championship back to the city.

"We've got some size. We've got a lot of speed. That's the big thing. We're very fast. Highland Park is about as fast as you'll see as far as the team goes, and it's a push when it comes to us against them," said Battle. "So I, I like our speed. I also like the fact that we've got some guys that can hit some big shots in key situations."

"Last 3 years we've been to state with this group, they've all been there," said Purdy. "So we know what it takes to get there, we've had great leaders come in and leave, but we know what it takes."

Atchison now has a tough challenge playing on the Missouri side against the 16-7 Maryville Spoofhounds on Thursday, February 19th at 7:30 pm.