His mother, Jean, is from Howard, which is southeast of Wichita. The family rotates every few years among Leavenworth County, about 175 miles away in Moline near Howard and then 1,300 miles away — Jean has a sister in Las Vegas.

Andrew normally joins his family for holiday cheer wherever that may be, but this year he opted to stay home.

The family headed out to Nevada on Thursday and Tonganoxie High’s basketball season opener was Friday. Andrew didn’t want to miss the season opener, which was in front of the home crowd, his senior season, so he passed on the family trip.

While the family was in Nevada, Andrew assembled what he thought to be the first double-double of his career.

“I joked with them and told them if I’m able to make shots like that … you can’t come to any more games,” Andrew said with a laugh.

The THS senior had 19 points and 12 rebounds in a 61-48 victory against Louisburg on Friday, including three three-pointers. Tonganoxie was on target inside and from long-range. THS had a total of seven three-pointers against the Wildcats, as Zane Novotney and Mikey Conroy each had two three’s as well. Fellow senior Zane Novotney also had three three-pointers against the Wildcats. In addition, the Chieftains scored 18 two-point buckets and went 4-for-6 from the free-throw line.

Willson led all scorers with 19 (his career-high of 20 came last year against Atchison) on Friday, but he was quick to credit teammates and coaches for the stat lines.

“I think it was the team’s execution,” Willson said when asked about his performance. “We listened to the coaches and came out and followed the game plan.

“And then obviously with basketball it’s being in the right place at the right time.”

He also appreciated that his family could support him from afar even though they were halfway across the country. Tonganoxie Sports Live broadcast a livestream of the Frontier League contest, so his family was able to watch in real time from the Pacific Time Zone.

“They were able to fire it up,” Willson said about the family watching the game in Nevada.

His mom also captured a moment of them watching the game Friday night.

Tonganoxie is coming off its best season in more than 30 years after going 15-5 and winning a league title last year for the first time since the mid-1980s. That team was senior-laden, but Willson doesn’t think this year’s hot start in the season opener was a fluke, either.

“I’ve always been pretty optimistic about this team, especially this summer,” Willson explained. “We competed against some pretty good teams. This starting five and a few players on the bench, we’ve played 3 plus years together.”

THS played Tuesday at home against Atchison. THS was able hold off a second-half rally from the Phoenix and eventually won, 47-42, improving to 2-0 on the season. Atchison erased an 18-point Tonganoxie lead in the second half, but the Chieftains were able to hold on.

In total, Tonganoxie will play six of its 20 regular-season games in what’s left of 2021: after Tuesday THS will be home Friday against Metro Academy and then on the road this coming Tuesday at Turner, Dec. 17 at Eudora and Dec. 21 at Lansing. THS plays again Jan. 4 against Baldwin.

“I think as a team we really want to go into the break with an undefeated record,” Willson said. “If we can get a really strong push and have two strong weeks, it’s really beneficial going into the long stretch (of winter break).”

He reiterated the importance of a strong start.

“Some of the games early in the season can come back and bite you in the butt,” Willson said.