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Cair Paravel boys hold on for 71-67 Flint Hills League win over West Franklin
By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Cair Paravel Latin boys withstood a furious fourth quarter rally by West Franklin Friday to hold off the Falcons to win on the Lions’ home floor, 71-67.
Senior Jase Pavlik scored 18 points to lead the way as Cair Paravel topped West Franklin 71-67 Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Cair Paravel coach Chip Kueffer and the Lions' bench react to a big play in Friday's 71-67 win over West Franklin. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Lions led by 17 with five minutes remaining, but had to hit free throws in the final couple of minutes to stave off the comeback.
The Lions improved to 4-5 on the season, 2-3 in the Flint Hills League. Cair Paravel had to replace eight players from last year’s squad and coach Chip Kueffer said the learning process is ongoing.
“It helped tonight that we were at home, for sure,” Kueffer said. “The way the game played out says a lot about our youth, because we were playing a lot of young guys, and it says a lot about our leadership. So, we were able to hold onto it. Ideally, you’d like to win that game by 20. But I think we learned more from it because we were able to win a close one.”
Providing leadership, as well as 18 points, Friday was senior guard Jase Pavlik. Juniors Caleb Cleverdon and Lucas Marichal added 12 and 10 points respectively.
Coming off the bench to combine for 20 points were freshmen Chase Hastert with 13 and Blaine Durbin with seven.
“These new guys, they’ve been in the system and they’re very skilled,” Pavlik said. “The thing I like about our team is we’re smart. But we’ve got to learn to play in pressure situations. Coach said we had four turnovers at half, and I think we ended up with like 18. After the game we discussed that we haven’t been in that scenario yet.”
“To lose eight guys at a small school, that’s tough,” the Lions’ second-year coach said. “It kind of feels like my first year again because of the new league, the new schedule, playing a lot of the teams for the first time.
“The kids love each other and that makes it easier, but we’re not playing well yet. Once we get it figured out, I think we can be good.”
Cair Paravel's girls bid comes up short in 36-33 Flint Hills loss to West Franklin
By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Cair Paravel Latin girls battled to the wire in search of their second win of the season, coming up just short at home against West Franklin 36-33 Friday.
Karsyn Hastert led Cair Paravel with 10 points in Friday's 36-33 Flint Hills League loss to West Franklin. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
First-year coach Jaley Barkley praised the Lions' effort and sees improvement from the eight players suited up.
“We’ve played some tough teams but we’ve learned so much these past couple of games,” Barkley said. “This was one of our first games that was close to the end, so just learning to finish those last couple of minutes in the fourth quarter is huge, being able to push with our small team, just being able to figure out how to finish strong.”
The Lions are navigating the Flint Hills League for the first time, with a small roster and limited experience. Barkley had to juggle the lineup in the final minutes after two players fouled out. But she is happy with the chemistry of the group.
“The girls have grown so much and they are great together,” Barkley said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a struggle (to have just eight players). It’s more of a joy just being able to figure out how to work with these eight girls.”
Freshman London Backman (12) scored seven points Friday in Cair Paravel's 36-33 home loss to West Franklin. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Lions were led Friday by 10 points from junior Karsyn Hastert. Freshman London Backman added seven.
No. 1-ranked Ichabod men improve to 17-0 with 121-73 fly-by over Jets
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Looking for an upset over the nation's No. 1-ranked team, Newman came out aggressive in Saturday's matchup with Washburn University at Lee Arena.
Washburn senior Jacob Hanna (5) scored a game-high in Saturday's 121-73 win over Newman while reaching the 1,000 point milestone for his career. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn sophomore Brayden Shorter scored 18 points on six 3-pointers in Saturday's 121-73 win over Newman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But after taking an early lead and drawing Washburn's ire with some hard fouls, that proved to be bad news for the Jets, with the Ichabods turning in a dominant performance the rest of the way in a 121-73 win in Lee Arena.
"I think they poked the bear a little bit,'' Ichabod senior Jacob Hanna said. "They were kind of being a little chippy and getting after us, so I think we did a good job of responding and picking our guys up. We don't try to do too much of that rah rah stuff on the court. We let our play do the talking.''
Sophomore Brayden Shorter agreed.
"They were a little chippy in the beginning and I think it kind of fired us up in the right way and we kind of needed that,'' Shorter said.
"The good thing about our guys is it doesn't take much (to get them going) and I thought they handled that fine,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "And Newman, that's what you want, they came out scrappy.''
The Ichabods went on to hit the 100-point mark with 9:15 to play and led by as many as 55 points en route to improving to 17-0 overall and 8-0 in the MIAA.
Washburn led by as many as 55 points with 7:43 to play in the game and had 11 players crack the scoring column and five with double figures, led by Hanna with a game-high 26 points.
Shorter scored 18 points on six 3-pointers, followed by senior Andrew Orr with 17 points, sophomore Jack Bachelor with 13 and Dillon Claussen with 11 points.
Hanna went 9 of 11 shooting from the field, topping the 1,000-point career milestone, while Bachelor recorded his first double-double with his 13 points and 10 assists and added seven rebounds.
