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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Topeka West boys basketball coach Rick Bloomquist isn't expecting any one player to take up the scoring slack left by the graduation of Mr. Kansas Basketball Elijah Brooks and his 25 points-plus scoring average.

Senior Xavier Alexander (20) scored a career-high 31 points in Topeka West's 74-62 UKC win at Seaman Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Senior Malachi Berg scored 21 points as Topeka West evened its record at 1-1 with a 74-62 win at Seaman Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

But Charger senior Xavier Alexander did a pretty good Brooks impression Tuesday night at Seaman, scoring a career-high 31 points, including five 3-pointers, as Topeka West evened its record at 1-1 with a 74-62 United Kansas Conference win over the defending Class 5A state champion Vikings (1-1), ending Seaman's 12-game winning streak.

"I'm a lot more focused on winning than scoring,'' Alexander said. "With the guards penetrating to the basket and going inside out, they were giving it to me and I started making more shots.

"I learned from last game because I didn't get to the basket and this time I was trying to get to the basket more. If I drive to the basket then they have to guard me inside and outside.''

No. 7-ranked West, which was coming off a six-point season-opening loss at Basehor-Linwood, also got 21 points and nine rebounds from senior Malachi Berg and 10 points and seven rebounds from senior Sincere Austin while Alexander also grabbed seven boards.

Alexander said it was important for the Chargers to be able to bounce back from last Friday's loss.

"We just needed to get back on track,'' Alexander said. "Last year we lost to Seaman the second game and then we went on a 20-game win streak, so we've got to get back to that.''

Bloomquist said he saw improvement Tuesday night from his Chargers, who have earned back-to-back trips to the 5A state tournament.

"My team had to figure out I knew what I was talking about, what it takes to prepare for a game,'' Bloomquist cracked. "Sometimes when you practice against yourselves and compete against yourselves before the first game you get a false sense of success.

"We had a false sense of success going into Basehor and they spanked us. We came back, but we had no consistency. It was a 50-50 game for us and this game was probably 60-40 and we played much better. They're learning how to play without Elijah and bless their hearts, they all want to be the best they can be to keep this thing going.''

There was an early tie at 2-2 before West scored six straight points and never trailed again.

Topeka West led 19-13 at the end of the first quarter and 37-28 at the half, with the Chargers holding double-digit leads in both of the opening two periods.

Seaman cut its deficit to 42-39 midway through the third quarter but West answered with a 12-0 run and took a commanding 56-43 advantage into the fourth quarter.

 The Chargers led by 21 points (66-45) midway through the final stanza before Seaman cut into the West lead late in the game.

Senior Kaeden Bonner led Seaman with 18 points despite a tough shooting night while juniors Jalen Freeman and Braden Chapman added 10 points apiece and freshman Kae Von Bonner had nine points.

TOPEKA WEST BOYS 74, SEAMAN 62

Topeka West  19 18 19 18 -- 74

Seaman          13 15 15 19 -- 62

Topeka West (1-1, 1-1) --Berg 8-13 5-9 21, Austin 4-12 2-4 10, Alexander 10-16 6-11 31, Reimer 1-3 0-0 2, Noonoo 2-3 0-0 4, Paul 2-4 0-2 4, Chambers 0-0 0-0 0, Foy 0-1 2-2 2, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Duncan 0-0 0-0 0, Dillahunt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-52 15-28 74.

Seaman (1-1, 1-1) -- Parsel 1-2 0-0 3, Freeman 4-8 2-2 10, Thompson 0-1 0-2 0, Kaeden Bonner 7-20 4-4 18, B. Finley 0-6 0-0 0, KaeVon Bonner 3-7 2-2 9, Chapman 4-9 0-2 10, Cochran 0-1 0-0 0, Phillips 2-3 0-0 5, Unruh 1-1 0-0 3, H. Finley 1-3 0-0 2, Bethea 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 24-65 8-12 62.

3-point goals -- Topeka West 5 (Alexander 5), Seaman 6 (Chapman 2, Parsel, Kae Von Bonner, Phillips, Unruh). Total fouls -- Topeka West 15, Seaman 15. Fouled out – none.