‘Special kid’: This NCAA Tournament upset hopeful is led by Lawrence High’s Zeke Mayo

With a 76-68 victory over the Denver Pioneers on Tuesday, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits punched their ticket back to the NCAA Tournament.

One local player has helped lead the way this season.

Lawrence High’s Zeke Mayo, a former co-recipient of the DiRenna Award recognizing the top boys basketball player in the Kansas City area, claimed the Summit League’s Player of the Year accolade last week.

In his junior season for the Jackrabbits, Mayo has averaged 18.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. He hit five 3-pointers in the Summit League championship game to help his team clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“I’m super excited with how I’ve performed this year,” Mayo told The Star. “Obviously, the numbers are similar to last year and having an all-league season (like) last year. I mean, this is something that I’ve worked my entire career towards.”

Between the basketball-centric environment of Lawrence and his father Reggie Mayo’s time as a basketball player at Dodge City Community College and Tennessee Tech, the sport is something that has always been around Mayo.

“My father put me in at a very young age, and it was just something that I felt like I was destined for,” Mayo said. “I played multiple sports growing up, but once high school hit, I just kind of shifted my focus toward basketball. Just understanding that it was my best attribute, just focusing more towards that, I mean, it got me to where I am today.”

Under head coach Mike Lewis at Lawrence High, Mayo averaged 21.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in a decorated senior season, earning Sunflower League Player of the Year and all-state honors from the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association.

“Definitely one of the most hardworking players I’ve ever been around,” Lewis said. “Not only hardworking, but also very coachable. He was very much team-oriented. He put the team before himself, and that was a huge reason why we had so much success while he was leading our team as our all-around best player.

“He worked extremely hard, and he took the extra steps outside of basketball season to continue to make himself better. Just a very special kid and special player.”

A three-star recruit out of high school (via Rivals.com), Mayo’s decision to head to Brookings, South Dakota, came down to one thing — relationships.

“The coaches obviously had a great relationship with their players, and the players obviously had a great relationship with the coaches,” Mayo said. “The community support was incredible, and it just felt like home, honestly.”

Lewis recalled it being “just a really good fit” for Mayo between the South Dakota State community and school itself.

“I know that (SDSU head coach Eric Henderson) was somebody who he really, really counted on and somebody who he had a lot of trust in,” Lewis said. “That mid-major level, that league was a good fit for him — where it was obvious straight out of high school he could immediately make an impact and play, which I know was important to him.”

The signs of an early impact college player were there in high school.

Mayo’s senior season came to an end at the hands of Blue Valley North in the 6A semifinals ... despite Mayo’s 41-point outburst for the Chesty Lions.

The following year, as a freshman, Mayo scored 11 points in an NCAA Tournament loss to Providence. South Dakota State missed last year’s NCAA Tournament after losing in the Summit semifinals, while Mayo scored his season average of 18 points but committed five turnovers.

“Going forward, I think it helped me understand that losses are a part of the game,” Mayo said. “But it’s understanding that you’re always going to get another opportunity to display yourself, display your character, display your team. ... It was just like understanding that this program is known for winning and success.”

And that success continued with Tuesday’s win, bringing South Dakota State back to the Big Dance as a projected No. 16 seed in ESPN’s Wednesday Bracketology update, though that seed line will likely rise as conference tournaments continue, upsets happen and lower-ranked teams force their way into the field.

The Jackrabbits finished their pre-NCAA Tournament slate 22-12, winning both the Summit regular-season and tournament titles. They enter the postseason red hot, winning eight in a row, and some of Mayo’s biggest games came down the stretch:

A 35-point eruption against North Dakota State. A 22-point, 10-rebound double-double in an overtime win at Omaha. Twenty-six more points (and eight rebounds) in a late-season win at North Dakota; he also hit five 3s in that game.

This from a team that was 9-9 in mid-January, shortly after the start of conference play.

“We’re pretty excited with where we’re at right now,” Mayo said. “We picked things up at the right time. ... But we understand the job isn’t finished.”