Manhattan High girls’ basketball opened the playoffs with a successful bird hunt Tuesday night.

The No. 4-seeded Indians advanced to the sub-state final with a dominant 67-21 win over No. 13 seed Lawrence Free State.

“We came out and took care of business,” head coach Scott Mall said. “We played good defense. Right from the start, we knew we had to focus. And then offensively, I thought we did really well, we did a good job of doing different things and making the most of them.”

The regular season saw Manhattan secure a share of the Centennial League title. The start of the new season — the postseason — brought a wire-to-wire win with a running clock late.

“You want to get the win, that’s the important thing,” Mall said. “And it’s especially nice to get the win without it coming down to the wire or anything. That’s always nice, hopefully that makes us feel good, but also save some energy for Friday, because we’ll need it because Wichita East is very, very talented.”

Manhattan carded 11 scorers, led by Evie Banks, who scored 16 points. The sophomore also broke the program’s single-season record for 3-pointers, while senior Delaney Larson climbed into the top four in all-time assists and scored 10 points.

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Manhattan High girls’ wrestling took another step forward in elevating the program on Saturday.

Behind two individual state champions and seven total medalists, the Indians placed fourth at the Class 6A state tournament at AdventHealth Sports Park, continuing a rise that has transformed the program in just a few short years.

Leading the charge were senior Alayna Slifer at 135 pounds and junior Sophia Hoeme at 140, who each stood alone atop their divisions by night’s end.

For Slifer, it was a fitting final chapter.

The senior captured her second straight state championship, recording her fourth pin of the tournament in the title match. In total, she spent just 5 minutes, 32 seconds on the mat across four matches.

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Led by a quality start by Lincoln Sheffield and a three-run home run from Ty Smolinski, Kansas State baseball rallied to defeat Columbia, 5-2, Saturday afternoon at Tointon Family Stadium.

“Good weekend,” said eighth-year head coach Pete Hughes in a statement. “It’s all about winning the series, and I thought we won a series against a really good Columbia team that’s going to win a lot of games this year, which was no surprise to me.”

Down 2-0 headed into the bottom of the second, Smolinski belted a three-run homer to score the deciding run and lift K-State to its first series win of the season. With Saturday’s win, K-State improved to 8-4, marking the second-best record through the first 12 games of the season in the Hughes era.

“It was a grinding series win, and I’m proud of our guys,” Hughes said. “We were undermanned on the mound, and that’s what good teams do — you pick each other up. We had a lot of kids stand out in doing that for us. We needed a great start today since we were light in the bullpen, and we got that from Lincoln Sheffield. That’s what you expect to get out of your senior strike-thrower and ultimate competitor.”

Sheffield (3-0) surrendered just two runs over 6 2/3 innings for his first quality start of the season. After allowing both runs in the opening frame, the left-hander retired 19 of the next 23 batters he faced and allowed two runners to reach scoring position. The Flowood, Mississippi product finished his third start of the year holding Columbia (1-5) to six hits with a season-high eight strikeouts.

Read the rest at The Mercury!

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Junction City played spoiler on Manhattan High boys’ basketball senior night, defeating the Indians 73-54 in their final regular-season home game Friday night.

Manhattan fell to 13-7 overall and 5-3 in Centennial League play, while the Bluejays improved to 11-9 and 3-5.

Junction City was led by the dynamic duo of Brody Beckman and Lovell Autry, who scored 31 and 25 points, respectively. The Bluejays were also 19-19 at the charity stripe.

“We ran into a buzz saw, but on some level, we kind of helped him be a buzz saw,” Manhattan head coach Benji George said. “And that’s not to take anything away from Junction City. A couple games in row now, we just haven’t been there defensively. And we put ourselves behind the eight ball.”

Manhattan honored seniors Will Carpenter, Sawyer Newton, Tim Washington and Vince Doering prior to tipoff. Carpenter led the Indians with 15 points, Newton added 11, Doering finished with eight and Washington scored four.

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Kansas State women’s basketball senior guard Tess Heal will be held out of competition due to an NCAA violation, the school announced on Saturday.

“We have been in communication with the NCAA in regards to this situation. She is currently going through the reinstatement process, and we are thankful for the NCAA’s prompt responses in this matter,” said K-State head coach Jeff Mittie in a statement.

Heal has been a huge part of K-State’s recent success, as the Wildcats have won two and three of the last four.

In Big 12 action, Heal is shooting 60.7% from the field, 47.4% from beyond the arc and 91.7% from the foul line with 116 points scored. Heal is the only player in the nation in the 60/40/90 club (min. 100 points scored) in their respective conference play.

K-State faces Kansas on Sunday at 12 p.m., in Allen Fieldhouse.

The game will air on FS1 and can be heard online at kstatesports.com, and on the flagship stations of K-State women’s basketball in Manhattan, Sunny 102.5 and 1350 KMAN.

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Full Show

Segment 1 – Manhattan boys’ basketball coach Benji George because all-time leader in win at Dodge City

Segment 2 – Rock Creek sweeps tournament titles at 12th annual Thunder Classic / Wamego at SIT

Segment 3 – Wabaunsee Girls win Flint Hills Shootout / Riley Co. at Trojan Classic

Segment 4 – Twin Valley League Tournament results

The post Scoreboard Saturday – 1/24/26: Benji George becomes Manhattan boys’ all-time winningest coach appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

We chat with new K-State defensive backs coach Jeremiah Johnson and KU beat writer Henry Greenstein ahead of K-State vs. KU on Saturday.

Hour 1

Seg 1 – Darryn Peterson’s status unknown for Saturday
Seg 2 – KU beat writer Henry Greenstein from Lawrence Journal World

Hour 2

Seg 1 – K-State defensive backs coach Jeremiah Johnson interview
Seg 2 – K-State selected for Players Era Tourmanet
Seg 3 – Rumors around Travis Kelce’s decision
Seg 4 – Ask Us Anything

The post The Game – 1/22/26 appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

Manhattan High opens Centennial League with sweeping Topeka High. We interview Riley County coaches Kelsey Nelson and Jacob Claycomb after hosting Jeff West. Wamego girls coach Brian McIntosh preview matchup against #1 Wellington.

Seg 1 – Manhattan sweeps T-High / Centennial League
Seg 2 – Riley County interviews / Big East and Flint Hills League
Seg 3 – Wamego girls coach Brian McIntosh / NCKL
Seg 4 – Twin Valley League

The post Scoreboard Saturday 1/10/26: Manhattan sweeps Topeka High, Riley County’s Kelsey Nelson and Jacob Claycomb appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

Toby Hammes sports@themercury.com

Manhattan High girls’ basketball used a fast start and a flurry of 3-pointers to down Dodge City 64–23 on Friday night.

Junior forward Jelena Depusoir tied senior Delaney Larson for the team-high with 10 points, and Depusoir added 15 rebounds to secure her second straight double-double.

“She’s been huge,” head coach Scott Mall said. “Two double-doubles in a row is big for us, and we need that. We’re not a really big team, but she just finds a way to always be in there.”

The Indians improved to 4–1 after a jam-packed start to the season, continuing a trend of early energy that has helped them take control of games from the opening tip.

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Manhattan tips its seasons at the Hays City Shootout. We’ll hear from Wabaunsee coaches Jared Schultz and Tim Klein. Plus, scores from all five of our leagues.

Segment 1 – Manhattan girls to play for Hays City Shootout championship

Segment 2 – NCKL and Big East League scores

Segment 3 – Interview with Wabaunsee coaches Jared Schultz and Tim Klein

Segment 4 – Twin Valley League scores

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