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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Cair Parave Latin's boys basketball team picked up its 15th straight win Friday on Senior Night, improving to 18-2 with a 73-34 home victory over Heritage Christian.

 

“It’s obviously super fun,'' CPLS senior Caleb Cleverson said. "I think with this group of guys, I couldn’t pick a better group to do it with. At a Christian school, we talk about God is the middle term and we’re united as a team with God in mind, so when the first five go out there, we are pursuing Christ.”

 

“It was kind of a weird game,'' Lions coach Chip Kueffer said. "I thought our kids did well. I felt like they did some things fundamentally sound like they should. It’s tough because you want to stay sharp and when things are going well in games like this, it’s really easy to develop some bad habits, get away with one handed passes, jump to pass or take some sloppy shots, but I think we did a pretty good job in spurts of trying to stay disciplined.”

 

Senior Lucas Marichal continued his stellar season, especially his 3-point shooting, hitting two in the first quarter, pushing CPLS in front 5-4. The team would go on a 9-0 run, leading 13-4. Marichal pushed that lead to 10, 18-8 and pushed the Red Lions to a 22-12 advantage after one.

 

“We had all the pieces but I don’t think we knew we could play to this level that we’ve been playing at and we’ve played some really good teams this year,'' said Marichael, who finished with a game-high 20 points. "I think we’ll be very well prepared down the road.''

 

CPLS put up 23 points in the second quarter from a variety of players, thanks to another 12-0 run. Cleverdon knocked down a triple at 29-12. Then at 31-12, the Eagles called timeout with 4:27 before halftime.

 

Senior Drew Fay, who chipped in 11 points, capped off the 12-0 run with a bucket down low to put CPLS in front, 34-12.

 

CPLS then ran away with the game late in the second quarter, taking a commanding 45-16 lead while holding Heritage Christian to four points in the quarter.

 

In the third quarter, CPLS jumped out to another big run of 10-0. Fay got an and-one opportunity, missed the free throw but sophomore Blain Durbin, who provided 19 points, grabbed the rebound for the putback as the Lions opened up a 39-point cushion, their biggest of the game (55-16).

 

Kueffer did pull the seniors with over five minutes left in the third quarter but they returned to begin the fourth quarter before they were eventually pulled once again.

 

The Lions led by 43 at one point with the running clock in effect (73-30).

 

“If you come out and watch some pretty poor basketball you kind of get out of it but I don’t think our guys or their team did that,'' Cleverdon said. "Both of us were playing really hard and fighting for every point so I think it was pretty easy for us on the bench to stay locked in.''

 

“I think we’re having fun, there’s a lot of season left,'' Kueffer said. "We have big dreams, big aspirations. I think we’re treating people the right way. One of our advantages is we don’t have one guy, we’ve got five or six that can lead the charge.

 

"Basketball is a crazy sport that’s why March is Madness because anybody can beat anybody. We have to stay disciplined and sharp.''

 

CAIR PARAVEL 73, HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 34

Heritage Christian 12 4 11 7 – 34

Cair Paravel           22 23 21 7 – 73

 

Heritage Christian (9-6) – Freerksen 2 0-0 5, June 2 0-0 4, May 2 2-4 6, Perry Cruz 7 5-5 19.

Cair Paravel (18-2) – Gossard 1 0-0 2, Turcato 1 2-2 5, Congdon 1 0-0 2, Hastert 4 0-0 9 Marichal 7 3-4 20, Durbin 9 12 19, Cleverdon 2 0-0 5, Fay 5 1-2 11, Bond 0 0-3 0.

 

3-point goals – Heritage Christian 1 (Freerksen), Cair Paravel 6 (Marichal 3, Hastert, Turcato, Cleverdon). Total fouls – Heritage Christian 8, Cair Paravel 11. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.

Details

Created: 13 February 2026

By RICK PETERSON                                                                                                          

TopSports.news

Seaman girls bowling standout Leah Crawford and Hayden junior boys wrestling standout Caleb Menke have been selected by the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency as the Rising Stars of the Week.

The Dan Key Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the bulk of the 2025-2026 school year.

Here's a brief look at the recent accomplishments of Crawford and Menke.

Leah Crowford, Seaman [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]

LEAH CRAWFORD, Seaman

Crawford shot a 661 three-game series last Friday at Gage Bowl to capture the girls individual title in the third annual Topeka Shawnee County bowling championships.

Crawford rolled games of 224, 211 and 226 to take individual honors by 36 pins as Seaman rolled to its third straight city team championship by a 3,293-2,970 margin over Washburn Rural.

As a freshman Crawford placed 12th in the city meet.

Caleb Menke, Hayden

CALEB MENKE, Hayden

Menke, a 175-pounder, recently reached the 100-win milestone in a meet at Royal Valley, a rare accomplishment for an underclassman.

Menke followed that up with the 175-pound championship in last Saturday's Centennial League tournament at Washburn Rural.

Menke posted a 5-0 record on the day, including a 55-second pin and a 15-0 technical fall.

 

 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Coming off back-to-back double-digit Centennial League road losses, Washburn Rural girls basketball got back on track in a big way Friday night, going wire to wire at home for a 56-14 league rout over Junction City.

Senior Ella Hirschi scored a game-high 12 points on four 3-pointers in Friday's 56-14 Centennial League win over Junction City. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

Now 12-6 overall and 3-3 in the league, Rural completed a regular-season sweep over the Blue Jays, who fell to 2-15 overall and 0-6 in the league. The Junior Blues took a 36-point win (68-32) win at Junction City in their Centennial opener.

"I thought we were a lot better defensively this time,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "I thought everybody that played did a really good job on defense.

"We're trying to work on some things like stopping drives a little bit better. I still think we can box out better (on rebounds). We're not as strong as we need to be and getting a low base and keeping them away and getting on them a little bit faster.''  

Washburn Rural led 15-7 at the end of the opening quarter and then put the Blue Jays away with a 16-2 second quarter.

The Junior Blues continued to roll in the third quarter, outscoring Junction City 15-5 to open up a 46-14 lead and force a running clock over the final eight minutes.

Washburn Rural pitched a 10-0 shutout in the fourth quarter to close out the 42-point win.

Washburn Rural freshman Brynn Anderson (15) and senior Josie Carlgren (23) celebrate a big play in Friday's 56-14 Centennial League win over Junction City. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

Washburn Rural senior Hallie Walker (10) scored nine points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds in Friday's 56-14 Centennial League win over Junction City. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

Senior Ella Hirschi connected on four 3-pointers to score a game-high 12 points for Washburn Rural while freshman Brynn Anderson also cracked double figures with 10 points, senior Hallie Walker finished with nine points and seven rebounds and senior Josie Carlgren and freshman Kamryn Smith chipped in with eight points apiece.

"It was pretty even across the board,'' Bordewick said.

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