As time ran out on Smoky Hill’s season last year in a Great 8 defeat to eventual champion Denver East, Kevin Sylla sat on the bench and stewed. The 6-foot-8 big man, who hardly saw the floor as the Angels rallied to beat the Buffaloes, was furious at himself.
At over 250 pounds, Sylla was out of shape, and his weight affected his ability to contribute meaningful minutes.
“I felt a lot of anger,” Sylla recalled. “I wasn’t mad at anybody else but myself, because that was the only person I could be mad at. When I was on the floor (last season), I would run and get tired quickly. I wasn’t my best self and I hated the fact I was sitting on the bench watching my team lose, and I couldn’t change that.
“I didn’t like that feeling at all, so I just wanted that feeling to never happen again.”
With that motivation in mind, Sylla went to work in the offseason. Between daily workouts, morning runs, a better diet, and lots of pick-up games, he dropped 45 pounds.
Now this season, weighing in at 207, he’s the centerpiece of a reloaded Smoky Hill team that again has the makeup for another deep Class 6A tournament run. Despite losing their two best players — point guard Ricky Mitchell graduated, while 6-foot-8 sophomore center Kai McGrew transferred to Indiana — it looks like the Buffaloes (12-3) haven’t lost a step.
It wasn’t just Sylla who got a fire lit under him from the way last season ended, when foul trouble limited Mitchell’s time on the court against Denver East and Smoky Hill saw its lead slip away late.
“We feel like we were a possession or two away from winning the state title, because if you watch (Denver East)’s other two games there, we were the only team at the Denver Coliseum that was competitive with Denver East,” explained Smoky Hill head coach Anthony Hardin.
While the Angels dispatched Mountain Vista in the Final Four (by 19 points) and Fossil Ridge in the championship (by 21 points), the Buffaloes were left to wait for next season in their pursuit of the program’s first state title.
Now that next season is here, Hardin believes the Buffaloes’ athleticism and depth have them set up well. Seven players have led Smoky Hill in scoring in games so far this season, with 6-foot-6 sophomore point guard Carter Basquez headlining along with Sylla. Basquez is averaging 12.9 points, 4.6 assists and 4.8 rebounds, while Sylla is putting up team highs with 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds.
Beyond those two, Smoky Hill also features junior point guard Lorenzo Contreras, junior guard Kaylan Graham, junior guard Damian Dirden and senior sixth man Torian Ray Gasaway, whom Hardin describes as “the most mature kid on our roster.”
“We’re athletic one through 10 on the roster, the whole team flies around and dunks, but we’re also skilled where our guards are big guards who would be bigs on other teams,” the eighth-year Buffaloes coach said. “They’re 6-5, 6-6, 6-7 guards for us who can shoot the ball well, handle the ball, defend other guards. We can get other teams in bad matchups in that way.”
After starting as a freshman and emerging as the state’s top player in the Class of 2026, Basquez has focused on becoming more of an outspoken leader this winter.
” A lot of it is mental for me,” said Basquez, who has offers from Howard and Metro State so far. “Last year, I wasn’t a very big leader. I was more quiet. This year, I’m trying to change that, and I’ve definitely become more vocal in telling my teammates when they’re wrong and when they’re right. I’m trying to lift them up at all times.”
Smoky Hill stacked its schedule in order to be prepared for the rigors of the state tournament. The Buffaloes are ranked No. 2 in the latest Class 6A RPI, and their opponents’ winning percentage of .672 is the highest of any team in the classification.
After starting their season with an exhibition game against No. 4 ThunderRidge — Smoky Hill lost by one point after missing a lay-up at the buzzer — the Buffaloes were defeated by Valley Christian (back-to-back Arizona state champions), Roosevelt (a top-ranked team in Oregon) and Boulder Creek (a perennial power in Arizona).
Post-winter break, they’ve picked up notable victories over No. 3 Valor Christian and No. 7 Eaglecrest, coming back both times to win. They faced a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter against Valor Christian before winning 70-68 on Jan. 8, and fell behind by 15 points early to Eaglecrest before Sylla’s dominance in the paint helped them make up that margin and cruise to a 70-53 win on Jan. 17.
“We’ve been starting off slow instead of stepping on the gas right away,” Sylla said. “It’s basically like playing with our food. We’ve got to stop doing that.”
Sylla scored the buzzer-beating layup against Valor Christian off a drive-and-dish from Contreras. It was a moment that underscored the big man’s growth from last season to this one, but with the Centennial League title still up for grabs and the state tournament on the horizon next month, Sylla remains unsatisfied.
“The buzzer-beater definitely felt good, and it kind of felt like a reward (for my offseason work),” Sylla said. “But I just know the job’s not finished yet.”
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