On Tuesday Derby faced the Salina South Cougars in a game dedicated to Carter Roberts, a seven-year-old boy who died on Sunday after a battle with brain cancer.

“It was amazing. Before the game everybody knew we were playing for something bigger,” Derby senior Tyler Brown said. “The way we played was affected by how we honored Carter. His dad actually came into the locker room and told us to win by 30, which was kind of crazy that we actually went out and beat Salina South by 50. I just thought it was really cool, it was a really good night in memory of him,”

After a close loss in Newton on Feb. 9, the huge win over the Cougars was another example of the ups and downs of the season.

“I mean, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs this season for sure,” Brown said. “We’ve had our moments in the season where they’re high, like we got all the highs and lows and there’s just times where we just have lapses.

“Like the Newton game. We should have won that game by a lot and we just, as a team, we had a lapse and couldn’t get it done. But then (against Salina South), we played great. We were flowing really well on the floor and everything was just clicking.”

Derby (12-5) faces the Campus Colts (7-10) in Haysville on Friday, the last away game of the regular season. And it’s against the Panthers’ biggest rival.

“Well, Salina South beat Campus last week, so if we play the way we should, it should be an easy game we should handle, I believe,” Brown said.