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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

SALINA -- Silver Lake boys basketball coach Shannnn Kruger said a couple of times after Tuesday's game that the Eagles' performance was not a pretty one by any stretch and described it as a grind it out type of game.

 

And the Eagles did just that, knocking off Holcomb 47-37 at the Tony's Pizza Event Center to advance to the Class 3A semifinal.

Silver Lake senior Dayne Johnson scored a game-high 16 points in Tuesday's 47-37 win over Holcomb. [File photo/TSN]

“I prefer the ball to go into the basket,” Kruger said with a smile. “What we can control is our defensive effort and attention to detail and we talk about let’s not hope they miss, let's try to make a miss.

 

"Obviously I'd love to see great defense for us and us play a little more fluid offensively, but a game like that it was sure it was ugly, but we're okay with that.''

“I don’t think we played our best offensive game by far, but we always make our main focus defense and I thought we worked our butts off on defense, on the boards,'' said Silver Lake senior standout Dayne Johnson, who led all scorers with 16 points. "That means when you have a bad offensive game you still stay in the game and win.”

The Longhorns began the game on a quick 5-0 run but Silver Lake went on its own 10-2 run thanks to senior Drew Womack converted two and-one opportunities as the Eagles led by three (10-7).

After Silver Lake went up five (12-7), Holcomb called a timeout with 1:27 left in the quarter. The Longhorns then scored five straight and ended the quarter tied, 12-12.

The second quarter featured both teams struggling to get baskets, combining for just 10 points.

Johnson was quiet in the first half, scoring six points, four in the second quarter and Womack had eight and ended with that total.

Silver Lake took the lead at the half in the low scoring affair, 18-16.

The third quarter was much the same as the first half.

Johnson, who sank 8-10 free throws, helped the Eagles to a 20-19 lead and then Johnson ended an eight-minute field goal drought for Silver Lake with 3:42 left in the third quarter, putting the Eagles up, 22-19.

The Eagles took a seven point lead (29-22) heading into the fourth quarter, thanks to a Camden Kruger buzzer beating jumper in the paint.

Silver Lake scored seven straight to go up 12 (36-24) looking to be in the driver seat until the Longhorns went on a 7-2 run, and Silver Lake called a timeout with 4:02 left in the game.

After that, the Eagles went on another field goal drought but their clutch free throws kept them ahead and took home the victory. Silver Lake went 20-26 from the charity stripe in the game. 

“(Free throws) and rebounding were huge for sure,” Shannon Kruger said.

 

“We always attack the bucket,'' Johnson said. "We’re not afraid of contact and when they call the calls we get to the line and knock them down.''

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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

SALINA -- Rossville's girls had No. 1 Ellinwood on the ropes down the stretch, almost erasing a 15-point deficit in the second half, but the Eagles held off the Bulldawgs for a 55-48 victory.

 

Rossville senior Rylee Dick scored 31 points in Tuesday's 55-48 loss to Ellinwood in a Class 2A state quarterfinal. [File photo/TSN]

 “I knew me being a leader on the court, I had to step up and show my girls that I believed in us and I was going to put in my full effort,'' said Rossville senior standout Rylee Dick. "I try to lead by example every game for all the other girls and I hope that throughout my four years they can take that away from me.”

Rossville jumped out to an early 7-2 lead thanks to a couple of 3-pointers from Dick and freshman Bristol Miller. 

The Eagles brought it to within one as sophomore Brynn Widener converted a four-point play, banking in a three off the left wing to make it 7-6.

 

Ellinwood went on an 8-0 run to lead 10-7 but then Rossville scored four straight to lead 11-10. It was knotted at 13 after Miller kissed one off the glass before the first-quarter buzzer.

“Honestly, that was one of my fears coming in was nerves and being tight, even at sub-state too,'' Rossville coach Derek Dick said. "It was nice to see the ball go through the net early after not scoring much as of late. I was really happy to see that kind of got us going to calm our nerves a little bit. We knew they were going to make a run and we had to make adjustments defensively to negate what they were good at but they were going to make shots.

 

“I’m proud of the girls because when we struggled this season, every game we showed flashes of being really good and teams would make a run like they did and we wouldn’t respond and we did that tonight and we got it down to what two or three? They answered the bell. We had great seniors that all of them played their roles and that’s what I’m proud of.''

 

The back and forth continued for both teams. Junior Nora Burdiek finished off an and-one opportunity to tie it at 16. She ended with nine points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocks. It would be a 20-20 deadlock after Rossville called a timeout with 2:18 left in the half.

 

After that, the Eagles ripped off a quick 8-0 run, forcing the Bulldawgs to call another timeout. Widener knocked down two quick threes to help spark the run.

 

Ellinwood took an 11-point lead (32-21) at halftime as Widener had 16 points in the first 16 minutes.

 

In that first half however, Derek Dick was pleased to see Miller (who finished with seven points) step up into that third scorer for the program with Rylee Dick and Burdiek and pick things up quickly.

 

“Her doing that really helped us because with both Rylee and Nora, we saw some exotic defenses this year and they weren’t able to handle that third option (Miller) and that was big,'' Derek Dick said. "The younger girls, I tell them my quote is, ‘Hard work always wins,’ and I hope they see her (Rylee’s) hard work and how that paid off. I know they showed that a lot and they know what it takes to get back here.''

 

To begin the second half, RHS dug itself a 15-point deficit (36-21), but Rylee Dick came to the rescue to get the Bulldawgs back in the hunt.

 

“Ironically, enough for us to get back in the game, it was forcing it to her and got us back in the game,” Derek Dick said.

 

Rylee Dick knocked down two more threes, trimming the game to a nine-point deficit (38-29). She nailed five 3s in the game and made all eight of her free throws.

After the Eagles extend the lead back to double digits, Dick scored four straight to make it a 41-34 game. The Bulldawgs kept hanging around, trailing be seven heading into the fourth (46-39).

 

The fourth quarter was Rylee’s show, helping Rossville get within three (46-43) off a fastbreak steal and then two after another triple (50-48). She finished with a game-high 31 points.

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EMPORIA -- After splitting a pair of knockdown, dragout regular-season United Kansas Conference regular-season matchups with Piper, Topeka West basketball coach Christian Ulsaker knew that Tuesday's Class 5A quarterfinal was going to be another fierce battle.

 Senior Keimani Paul scored 28 of his game-high 30 points in the second half and OTs, leading Topeka West to an 86-78 Class 5A state tournament win over Piper Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

But not even Ulsaker could have predicted what transpired at White Auditorium, a double-overtime thriller that had momentum swing after momentum swing and big play after big play before No. 3 seed Topeka West took control in the second extra session to outlast No. 6 Piper, 86-78, and advance to the state semifinals.

"That's what winners do,'' Ulsaker said. "Give (Piper) coach (Steve) Wallace and DJ (Derrick Jackson) and that team all the credit. They didn't want to go home, you could tell, and we didn't want to go home, so it's fun to see two teams battle it out to get a chance at Wichita.'' 

Topeka West, now 23-3 on the season, advances to an 8 p.m. Thursday night semifinal matchup with No. 2 seed Bonner Springs (25-1), which topped Kansas City-Washington, 68-49.

The stage for Tuesday's Topeka West-Piper marathon was set when Topeka West jumped out to an early 10-4 lead, only to see Piper (18-8) battle back to forge ties at 10-10 and 14-14 before before the Pirates ended the opening quarter with a 5-0 run to take a 19-14 advantage.

Piper went up 21-14, its biggest lead of the night, early in the second stanza, but this time it was West that battled back, with the Chargers tying the game at 23 and eventually going in front 28-23 before the game was tied at 28 and 30.

Piper got the final bucket of the half, on a Cooper Crawford dunk, to take a 32-30 lead at the break.

The back and forth affair continued in the second half, with four lead changes in the third quarter before Piper took a 48-45 advantage into the fourth.

Topeka West almost immediately tied the game on a Malakyah Duncan 3-pointer, one of four ties in the period, including a 59-59 deadlock to force overtime.

West went up 58-56 on a Paul hoop before Jasper Phillips hit a free throw to give the Chargers a 59-56 lead with 7.5 seconds left in regulation before Piper star Jackson drained a clutch 3-pointer at the buzzer.

There were four ties and four lead changes in the first OT and West again had a late lead, at 71-69, before Jackson scored with 8.2 seconds left to send the game to a second extra four-minute period.

But this time the Chargers were able to put the Pirates away after scoring the first nine points of the second OT to open their biggest lead of the night at 80-71 with 1:11 left. 

Piper battled all the way back to get within 81-78 with 26 seconds remaining before West ended the game with a 5-0 run.

Senior Malakyah Duncan scored 17 points in Topeka West's 86-78 Class 5A state tournament win over Piper Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Paul scored 28 of his game-high 30 points in the second half and overtimes while Duncan scored 17 points, Prince Lassiter 13, Jay'Veon Lassiter 11 and Gad Munganga 10 points for the Chargers.

"The first half (Paul) was pretty frustrated, 1 for 2 in the first half,'' Ulsaker said. "He was kind of like, 'Give me the ball, give me the ball,' and I just went in there (the locker room) and said, 'I gave your the ball, OK.' You wanted it, we gave it to you and that's what seniors do. They want the big moments.

"Gad had them, Lok (Duncan) had them, Kei had them. That's a team that wants to win a basketball game.''

"I was mad I wasn't getting (many) touches and they were hounding me first half, but I know that I did not want my season to end today, so I got after it,'' Paul said.

"We took control. We knew the shot that (Jackson) hit to turn it into overtime, we knew that wasn't supposed to happen, so we knew we needed to seal the game with free throws, stay poised and mature, and that's what we did.''  

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