Welcome to Top Sports News

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Due to a clock malfunction, Topeka High got a late start to Thursday's opening game in the Topeka Invitational Tournament at Highland Park.

And the Trojans also had to endure a late finish, being forced to overtime by Shawnee Mission East before the Trojans took command in the four-minute extra session to advance to the semifinals with a 49-43 win over the Lancers.

Topeka High basketball coach Robbie Sanders talks to his Trojans during Thursday's 49-43 overtime win over Shawnee Mission East. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"I feel like I keep repeating it, but these guys have been through so much,'' Topeka High coach Robbie Sanders said. "They've experienced a lot of losing and a lot of bad times and one of the things that we tend to do is when things go bad we start to pout and hang our heads and I'm just trying to speak that life into them and let them know that they are good enough to beat anybody if we show up to play.'' 

The Trojans, now 7-5, will take on Lansing, a 59-57 winner over Shawnee Mission North, in Friday's 5 p.m. semifinal. The tournament schedule has been revamped due to the forecast of inclement weather, with the place games scheduled for Saturday now being pushed back to Monday.

Topeka High will be joined in the semifinals by top tournament seed Topeka West, a 70-50 winner over St. Thomas Aquinas. The Chargers will play Friday's first semifinal at 3:30 p.m. against Wichita Northwest, a 62-49 first-round winner over Highland Park.

After taking a 14-11 first-quarter lead over SM East (6-6), Topeka High trailed 25-19 at the half, 30-27 at the start of the fourth quarter and 41-39 in the final minute of regulation before 5-foot-7 senior Elisha Guest tied the game with a hoop with 14 seconds remaining and the Lancers missed a late shot to send the game to OT.

Guest then nailed a 3-pointer to open the four-minute overtime period and the Trojans led the rest of the way as High outscored East 8-2 to take the six-point victory.

"Elisha, small in stature, heart of a lion,'' Sanders said. "I just love that kid and I grow more appreciation and more fondness for his game every time I see him play.''

Senior Bryson McComas, who also scored in the overtime, led Topeka High with 12 points while Guest added 11 and sophomore Mar'saun Redmond 10 for the Trojans.

Senior Stephen Hloblik scored a game-high 19 points for SM East while senior Quentin Ochs added 10.

In the semifinals Topeka High will face a Lansing team which won its third straight game to improve to 4-6 with a hard-earned 59-57 win over Shawnee Mission North (6-4).

Deacon Manthe, a 6-foot-7 junior, led Lansing with 16 points, all in the second half, while junior Mehki Stephens added 11 points. 

TOPEKA HIGH 49, SM EAST 43 (OT)

SM East         11 14 5 11 2 -- 43

Topeka High 14 5 8 14 8 -- 49

SM East (6-6) –  Lucas 0-4 0-0 0, P. Ochs 3-9 0-0 8, Dillon 1-7 0-0 3, Hlobik 6-9 7-8 19, Konold 1-13 0-0 3, Zubeck 0-1 0-0 0, Q. Ochs 5-7 0-0 10. Totals 16-40 7-8 43.

Topeka High (7-5) – Aldridge 1-5 1-2 3, Guest 3-10 3-4 11, McComas 6-12 0-3 12, Ross 2-4 1-2 5, McFadden 0-1 0-0 0, Redmond 4-4 0-2 10, Luarks 0-1 1-4 1, Humphrey 3-5 0-1 7. Totals 19-42 6-18 49. 

3-point goals – SM East 4 (P. Ochs 2, Dillon, Konold), Topeka High 5 (Guest 2, Redmond 2, Humphrey). Total fouls – SM East 12, Topeka High 11. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.

Junior Prince Lassiter scored 15points in Thursday's 70-50 Topeka West win over Aquinas in the Topeka Invitational Tournament. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Chargers pull away in second half for 20-point win

On paper, Thursday's first-round game in the Topeka Invitational between third-ranked (Class 5A) Topeka West and three-win St. Thomas Aquinas looked like a mis-match.

But West coach Christian Ulsaker was well aware of Aquinas' tradition and the fact that the Saints had played one of the state's toughest schedules, and he knew the Chargers would get tested.

"We talked about it, that that record goes out the window when you play St. Thomas Aquinas,'' Ulsaker said. "They're a very well-coached team and very fundamentally sound and it was a battle for three and a half, four quarters.

"So hats off to them, making it a tough game.''

After jumping out to a 22-13 first-quarter lead, Topeka West, now 10-2, got that test in the second quarter, with Aquinas rallying to take a 35-31 advantage in the second stanza and leading 36-34 inside the final minute of the half before senior Keimani Paul hit a 3-pointer and junior Prince Lassiter converted a traditional three-point play to put the Chargers up 40-36 at the half.

Topeka West then showed its dominance after the break, outscoring the Saints 30-14, including a 17-5 advantage over the final eight minutes to pull away for the 20-point victory.

Lassiter, a 6-6 junior, led a balanced West attack with a game-high 15 points as all five Charger starters cracked double figures.

"Prince, he's a workhorse, and it's not easy to guard him for 32 minutes, I'll tell you that,'' Ulsaker said. 

 Jay'Veon Traylor added 14 points while Paul had 13 and Gad Munganga and Malakyah Duncan 11 apiece.

The Chargers did a lot of their damage from outside the 3-point line, hitting 10 3s on the night, while Lassiter dominated things on the inside.

Senior Nic Sabers led Aquinas with 12 points, including three treys.

West will now play a Wichita Northwest team which advanced with a 62-49 win over host Highland Park in Thursday's final first-round game.

TOPEKA WEST 70, ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 50

Aquinas        13 23 9 5 -- 50

Topeka West 22 18 13 17 -- 70

Aquinas (3-9) – Renze 2-6 0-2 5, Gavin 2-5 2-3 6, Wayland 0-0 2-2 2, Browne 5-6 0-0 10, Sabers 3-7 3-4 12, Merfen 2-3 0-0 6, Bertholf 1-5 0-0 2, McCullough 2-4 1-1 5, NA 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 18-37 8-10 50.

Topeka West (10-2) – Munganga 3-9 2-2 11, Traylor 3-10 6-8 14, Duncan 4-9 1-2 11, Paul 5-8 0-0 13, Lassiter 7-13 1-1 15, Phillips 2-3 2-4 6, Fox 0-0 0-0 0, Ware 0-0 0-0 0, Doby 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 24-53 12-17 70.

3-point goals – Aquinas 6 (Sabers 3, Merfen 2, Renze), Topeka West 10 (Munganga 3, Paul 3, Traylor 2, Duncan 2). Total fouls – Aquinas 20, Topeka West 12. Fouled out – Browne. Technical fouls – none.

Read more …

By Rick Peterson

TopSports.news

Hayden and Rossville's boys and the Silver Lake girls got their midseason tournament week off to a good start with Tuesday night wins.

Senior Cameron Miller scored 23 points in Rossville's 63-54 win over Jefferson West Tuesday night in the Valley Falls tournament. [File photo/TSN]

Hayden's boys opened the Baldwin Invitational with a 62-39 win over Wellsville while Rossville's boys topped Jefferson West 63-54 in the first round of the Valley Falls Invitational and the top-ranked (Class 3A) Silver Lake girls rolled to a 61-28 win over Paola in the quarterfinals of the Burlington Invitational.

Hayden took control of its first game in the round-robin Baldwin event with a 23-4 first quarter and led by a commanding 43-12 halftime margin over Wellsville.

The Wildcats will play Bishop Seabury, a 64-35 first-round loser to Baldwin, at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Rossville advanced to the Valley Falls Invitational semifinals on Friday with Tuesday's win over Jeff West as senior Cameron Miller scored 23 points, Jakoby McDonnell 16 and Jack Donovan 13 against the Tigers.

The Bulldawgs will face Christ Prep at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The undefeated Silver Lake girls rolled past Paola 61-28  to set up a 3:30 p.m. Thursday semifinal against Girard.

Silver Lake's boys dropped an 82-69 quarterfinal Burlington Invitational decision to Paol, falling to 8-3 on the season.

The Eagles will play an 8:15 p.m. consolation game on Thursday against Girard, a 53-27 first-round loser to Sabetha.

Cair Paravel Latin's girls dropped a 54-41 first-round decision to Lyndon in the Flint Hills League Tournament at Emporia's White Auditorium.

Cair Paravel led 14-8 at the end of the first quarter and 25-21 at the half before Lyndon took control with an 18-6 third quarter.

KellyAnn Chada led the Lions with 14 points while London Backman added 11 points and Karsyn Hastert 9.

CPLS will face West Franklin at 3 p.m. Friday. 

    

 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

No. 1-ranked Washburn University men's basketball scored 94 points Wednesday night against Northwest Missouri State, had four players crack double figures and shot 54.4 percent from the field.

But it was the Ichabods' defense that stole the show as Washburn improved to 19-0 overall and 9-0 in the MIAA with a 94-44 home MIAA win over the Bearcats in Lee Arena.

Junior Jeremiah Jones tied a Washburn school record with nine steals in Wednesday's 94-44 MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Junior Jeremiah Jones tied a school record with nine steals, seven in the first half, while the Ichabods limited Northwest Missouri (9-11, 2-7) to a meager 14 first-half points as Washburn took command, 40-14. 

"Defense was great,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "I think JJ had more steals in this game than I had in my entire college career. He was great and I thought we were really connected on that end.

"I thought we did a good job of keeping everything in front and really challenging everything. Just really a team effort and we forced a lot of turnovers (26) as well. From the last time we played them we definitely played a better, more complete game.''

"We came out and we knew if we pressured them early and we trapped them and we contained the ball and kept them out of the paint we knew they weren't going to be able to score,'' Jones said. "Their point guard, No. 4 (Royce Williams) is really, really good and me putting pressure on him throughout the whole game and taking him out of his game, he wasn't confident at all.'' 

The Ichabods controlled the game from the opening tip and never looked back en route to its 24th straight win at home, tying for the second-longest streak in program history, and Washburn now owns the longest winning streak in the nation at 19 with Daemen's 79-61 loss to Gannon.

Washburn jumped out to a 20-8 lead at the midway point of the first half and would turn a 24-12 advantage into a 26-point halftime lead, closing the final seven minutes of the half on an 18-2 run while holding the Bearcats to one of 10 shooting, including zero of seven from 3-point range.

Overall, the Ichabods shot 50 percent (15 of 30) in the opening half while the Bearcats were limited to six of 24 from the field.

In the second half, Washburn doubled up the Bearcats at 56-28 with 13:38 to go and then went on a 20-3 run over the next 5:06 of the game, moving the lead to 74-31 with 8:53 to play.

From that point on, the Ichabods outscored Northwest Missouri 20-13, rolling to the 50-point win.

Sophomore Dillon Claussen scored a game-high 18 points, going 10 of 10 at the free throw line, in Wednesday's 94-44 MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Sophomore Dillon Claussen paced Washburn with a game-high 18 points on a 4-of-5 shooting night from the field while going a perfect 10 for 10 at the free-throw line.

Read more …