THS is closing in on one of its best seasons in program history, made evident by Monday’s 51-35 victory against Bonner Springs.

The victory moved Tonganoxie to 13-3 overall and more importantly that night, 6-1 in Frontier League play. The win clinched a league title, the first for the boys program since 1986 when THS was a member of the Pioneer League. Ken Diskin was the coach then and the Chieftains also won league titles in 1983 and 1984.

But that was 35 years ago and the guys celebrating on the bench weren’t alive at the time. To put in perspective, head coach Phil Jones was 31 when he took over the team before the 2018-19 season, so that last league title still is older than the THS coach.

On Monday, Rylee Beach and Heston Robbins had 15 and 13 points, respectively. Andrew Willson scored 8, Zane Novotney, chipped in 7 and Blake Poje scored 5. Tamar Brown also had 3 in the victory.

Tonganoxie had a 17-10 lead after a quarter and extended it to 34-20 at halftime.

After the game, the team celebrated the league title with a makeshift trophy and the cutting down of the north net at the THS gymnasium, one by one.

It also marked the squad’s ninth straight victory. Tonganoxie’s last loss was in the first round of the Tonganoxie Invitational in mid-January against Holton.

Tonganoxie rolls against Spring Hill, Paola, slips by Hayden

Before Monday’s victory, the Chieftains were busy picking up league road victories and a tough victory at home against a Topeka school.

THS jumped out to a 10-0 lead against Paola on Friday on the road and never looked back on its way to a 59-40 victory.

That big victory came after a 78-65 league victory Wednesday, Feb. 17, at Spring Hill.

The Chieftains jumped back to non conference play Saturday with a game against Hayden. The Wildcats were supposed to visit earlier in last week, but the game was postponed due to inclement weather.

Tonganoxie had been accustomed to winning by big margins in recent games, but Hayden provided a different test. The teams battled in a lower-scoring affair. After an early deficit, Tonganoxie eventually evened the game up and later held on for a 50-47 victory. Hayden had a chance at a last-second shot to tie, but the Chieftains were able to keep the Wildcats from forcing overtime.

The busy schedule of rescheduled games continued after the big game against Bonner Springs. THS had its final home regular-season game of the year Tuesday against Bishop Ward and now prepares for the regular season finale Friday with a road game at former Kaw Valley League foe Lansing. The Lions are 12-8 on the season.

In total, Tonganoxie will have played six games in 10 days.

Tonganoxie is ranked No. 7 in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll, which came out Feb. 16.

The Chieftains will be the No. 2 seed in the Eudora substate next week.

No. 1 Bishop Miege (17-0) will take on No. 4 Baldwin (2-14) in one substate semifinal game and then No. 2 Tonganoxie will face No. 3 Eudora (6-9). THS will have to defeat Eudora a third time this year to advance to play the top-ranked team in 4A in Miege on March 5.

Frontier League standings

League Overall

Tonganoxie 6-1 13-3

Piper 5-2 9-8

Spring Hill 5-2 7-8

Louisburg 4-3 13-5

Ottawa 3-3 7-10

Eudora 3-4 6-9

Bonner Springs 2-6 7-10

Paola 2-5 7-9

Baldwin 0-6 1-14