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No. 3 Washburn men's basketball to host Pittsburg State Wednesday night
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Junior Jeremiah Jones (22) is one steal away from tying Washburn's single-season record entering Wednesday's game against Pittsburg State. [File photo/TSN]Washburn is 26-1 overall, 16-1 MIAA, clinched the regular-season conference title and will be the No. 1-seed in the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City, Mo. and will have its opening game in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 5, at 6 p.m. against the winner of the No. 8/No. 9 game.
Pittsburg State is 15-12, 9-8 MIAA, after falling to Fort Hays State 65-56 on last Saturday in its home finale.
Wedneday's game is the only regular-season meeting between the Ichabods and the Gorillas this season. With a win over the Gorillas, Washburn will record its 28th consecutive home win, tying the 28-game streak from Nov. 19, 1993 to Feb. 8, 1995.
The Ichabods have the No. 1-ranked scoring offense in the MIAA, putting up 86.9 points per game, and also have the No. 1-ranked scoring defense, allowing 62.2 points a game.
The Ichabods have recorded 32 20-win seasons in program history and six under Ichabod coach Brett Ballard in his nine seasons, receiving four NCAA postseason berths and coaching the 2024-25 squad to only the program's second 30-win season in school history.
Washburn is second in NCAA Division II in scoring margin at plus 24.7 points per game and is ranked third in field goal percentage at 51.3 percent.
Junior Jeremiah Jones leads the nation in total steals with 81 and is ranked third in steals per game at 3.00. Jones has pulled within one steal of tying the Washburn single-season steals record of 82 set by Will McNeill during the 2012-13 season.
Senior Sam Ungashick has scored 953 collegiate points with 594 coming at Washburn after scoring 359 in his lone season at Benedictine as a freshman before joining the Ichabods.
Washburn women takes aim on 20th win against Pittsburg State Wednesday night
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn senior Payton Sterk is coming off a season-high 31-point performance with seven 3-pointers in last Saturday's win at Rogers State. [File photo/TSN]
Trojans survive last-second shot, clinch winning regular season with 56-55 win
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
By his own admission, Topeka High's Elisha Guest has been struggling with his 3-point shooting recently, and the 5-foot-7 senior guard got off to another tough start Tuesday night at Washburn Rural.
Topeka High celebrates Tuesday's 56-55 win at Washburn Rural. [Photo by Doug Walker/TSN]
But after that game-opening miss, Guest caught fire, scoring a game-high 25 points with seven 3s to lead Topeka High to a 56-55 win over the Junior Blues while High was able to clinch a winning regular-season record.
"My first shot was an air ball as everybody saw, but then I think I hit two or three in a row and I got rolling after that,'' Guest said.
"It's great to get it back. I've been struggling from the 3-point line but the rest of the team, they've kept my head up so I was able to hit a lot this evening.''
Topeka High's win was not secure until Rural senior John Hoytal's potential game-winning shot at the buzzer bounced around and out, but all that mattered to first-year High coach Robbie Sanders was that the Trojans found a way to pull out the victory after a five-point home loss to city rival Topeka West a night earlier.
"I told these boys that just look at my face and look at me from the beginning of the season until now, I've got a lot more gray hair and a lot less hair, but I'm happy we were able to find a way,'' Sanders said. "I think last night, even though we lost there were a lot more positives than negatives and just competing the way we did against Topeka West gave us a lot of confidence going into today.
"We started off strong and we had some lapses, but we were able to make enough plays in the end.''
Topeka High, now 12-11 overall and 5-5 in the league after winning just one game last season, led much of Tuesday's game, including an 18-9 advantage at the end of the first quarter and a 21-11 edge early in the second stanza.
But Washburn Rural (11-10, 4-5) battled back to take a 30-29 lead on a Brooks Ballard 3-pointer to end the first half and the game was tied 43-all at the start of the fourth.
Rural led 49-46 with five minutes remaining after a Zach Wright basket, but Topeka High scored seven straight points to go up 53-49 on a Jalen Aldridge trey and went in front 56-52 on a Guest 3.
Hoytal hit a 3-pointer to pull Rural within a point with 43.2 seconds left and Dominic Nimz came up with a steal with 20 seconds remaining to give the Junior Blues a change to pull out the win.
Washburn Rural missed a shot with 2.7 seconds on the clock, but Topeka High turned the ball over with two ticks left and Hoytal got a good look on his last-second miss.
Topeka High senior Bryson McComas backed Guest with 15 points while Aldridge had nine.
"It was a must win and 'E' really stepped up today, Bryson made some plays, Ajalon (Ross) got us started off hot after not being able to play yesterday because of illness,'' Sanders said. "I'm just happy with the guys.''
Washburn Rural senior John Hoytal scored 20 points in Tuesday's 56-55 loss to Topeka High. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Hoytal led Rural with 20 points while Ballard added 11.
Washburn Rural will close out its regular season Friday at home against Manhattan while Topeka High will await the postseason pairings.
"We could potentially have a home game if things shake our way tonight and Friday,'' Sanders said. "If not we could potentially go to Wichita, but I think all the games and the teams that we could face will be pretty good competition but winnable games for us.''
TOPEKA HIGH BOYS 56, WASHBURN RURAL 55
Topeka High 18 11 14 13 -- 56
Washburn Rural 9 21 13 12 -- 55
Topeka High (12-11, 5-5) – Aldridge 2-6 3-4 9, Guest 9-14 0-0 25, McComas 5-12 3-4 15, Ross 2-4 0-0 5, McFadden 0-2 0-0 0, Carter 0-0 0-0 0, Wilkerson 0-0 0-0 0, Redmond 1-1 0-0 0, Luarks 0-1 0-0 0, Campbell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-40 6-8 56.
Washburn Rural (?-?, ?-?) – Nimz 1-1 2-2 4, Ballard 5-11 0-0 11, Hoytal 7-11 4-5 20, Chooncharoen 1-3 0-0 2, Schmidt 2-5 0-0 4, Wright 3-5 0-1 6, O'Connor 3-6 1-1 8, Bradley 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-44 7-9 55.
3-point goals – Topeka High 12 (Guest 7, Aldridge 2, McComas 2, Ross), Washburn Rural 4 (Hoytal, Ballard O'Connor). Total fouls – Topeka High 10, Washburn Rural 10. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.
