By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After building a commanding 14-point halftime lead, Washburn Rural's boys basketball team let Hayden back in the game in the third quarter before regaining control down the stretch in a 46-36 Centennial League win Friday night at Hayden.
Washburn Rural, which improved to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the league, rode a stifling defensive effort to a 22-8 halftime advantage over the Wildcats, but Hayden turned the tables in the third quarter, using a 19-8 scoring edge to get back within three points (30-27) at the start of the fourth quarter.
Senior Jack Bachelor went eight of eight at the free throw line in the fourth quarter and finished with 15 points in Washburn Rural's 46-36 win at Hayden Friday night. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN]
Hayden senior Joe Otting scored a game-high 18 points Friday night in the Wildcats' 46-36 Centennial League loss to Washburn Rural. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN]
The Wildcats got no closer, however, as the Junior Blues scored all 16 of their fourth-quarter points at the free throw line to pull away for the 10-point win.
"I think third quarter we kind of let them bring the aggression to us and we kind of played on our heels a little bit,'' Washburn Rural coach Alex Hutchins said. "A couple of times this year defensively we like to reach and put our hands on people and put them at the free throw line. I feel like we spent most of the third quarter playing defense and boxing out for free throws.
"But the guys did a really good job of responding and kind of flipping that script in the fourth quarter.''
Sophomore Amare Jones, senior Jack Bachelor and sophomore Kaden Ballard all hit a pair of free throws as Rural opened the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run to take a 36-27 advantage with 4:56 remaining and Hayden (3-3, 0-2) got no closer than six points the rest of the way.
"Our third quarter we got away from the scouting report and did stuff we knew we weren't supposed to be doing but fourth quarter we locked in, we knew what we had to do and got some stops which led to the free throw game,'' Bachelor said.
Bachelor went eight of eight at the charity stripe over the final 6:05 to finish with 15 points while Jones added eight points and Ballard and junior Griffin Durst six points apiece.
"I really do want the ball at the end of the game,'' Bachelor said. "I actually did struggle at the beginning of the year with some free throws but I've got back on track a little bit the last couple of games. I do want the ball in my hands at the end of the game, I'll be honest.''
Hayden senior Joe Otting led all scorers with 18 points and also grabbed seven rebounds, but no other Wildcat had more than six points.
Hayden had connected on 11 3-pointers in Tuesday's 59-52 league loss at Emporia but the Wildcats only had three treys against Rural's man-to-man defense and none until junior Cooper Colboch connected with 5:46 left in the third quarter.
"They've got shooters and they're confident,'' Hutchins said. "That's the biggest thing we talked about with their guards coming in is it's clear that their coaching staff has enpowered them and instilled a lot of confidence and they feel perfectly comfortable shooting it any time they catch so that was a big part of the scout, trying to contest as well as we could.''
Washburn Rural will travel to Topeka High next Tuesday for a Centennial League tilt while Hayden will play a league game at Junction City.
Topeka High dropped a 69-59 league game to Emporia on Friday while Junction City beat Manhattan, 53-46.
WASHBURN RURAL BOYS 46, HAYDEN 36
Washburn Rural 12 10 8 16 -- 46
Hayden 6 2 19 9 -- 36
Washburn Rural (5-2, 2-0) -- . Hirschi 0-5 2-2 2, Bachelor 3-7 8-8 15, Durst 2-5 2-6 6, Heim 1-1 0-0 2, Jones 2-4 3-4 8, Morris 1-3 0-0 3, Ballard 1-3 4-6 6, Bettis 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 12-33 19-26 46.
Hayden (3-3, 0-2) -- Padilla 2-4 1-3 6, Colboch 1-5 0-0 3, Muller 0-10 1-2 1, Ham 0-2 1-2 1, Otting 6-11 6-10 18, Cameron 2-4 0-1 4, Foster 0-0 0-0 0, McGibboney 0-1 0-0 0, Deister 1-3 0-0 3, Charvat 0-0 0-0 0, Ridley 0-1 0-0 0, Gonzalez 0-1 0-0 0, Grace 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-43 9-18 36.
3-point goals -- Washburn Rural 3 (Morris, Bachelor, Jones), Hayden 3 (Padilla, Colboch, Deister). Total fouls -- Washburn Rural 17, Hayden 20. Fouled out – Bettis. Technical fouls -- none.
