By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
The Topeka West Chargers entered Tuesday night coming off a four-point United Kansas Conference defeat at Kansas City-Piper Friday and would get off to a sluggish start against 8-9 Lansing.
Senior Malakyah Duncan led four Topeka West players in double figures Tuesday with 22 points as the Chargers rallied for a 74-69 UKC win over Lansing. [File photo/TSN]
But the Chargers came to life in the second half to pull out a 74-69 home victory over the Lions.
Junior Prince Lassiter would get Topeka West going with the first basket of the game, followed by a Gad Munganga 3-pointer to make it 5-0 Chargers.
But Lansing would answer to tie it up at 5 and the two teams would end the first quarter tied 15-15.
Lansing would come out of the quarter break on a run, going up 22-19, but West senior Keimani Paul would get a basket to take the lead 23-22. Lansing would take the lead back before Paul hit a 3 to make it 28-26.
The Lions then outscored West 11-4 to take the lead into halftime, 37-32.
As the first half belonged to the Lons the second half would be all Chargers.
"We didn't really execute in the first,'' Topeka West coach Christian Ulsaker said. "You can tell in the third quarter we went out and we really got transition going.
"The third and fourth quarter, we really tried to push the tempo and use athleticism to our advantage.”
The Chargers would scratch and claw their way back in the third as they would go on a 6-0 run to make it 41-40, but the Lions would answer with a run to go back up 47-43.
Down 53-50, Paul would throw down a huge one-handed dunk to get West within a point.
“I mentioned to him for the last 10 to 12 games, he's been, and this might not be a very crucial word, but he's been steady,'' Ulsaker said. "I mean, he's just been the staple for our program the last 10 or 12 games.”
“That dunk got our energy up and that's what we needed,'' West senior Malakyah Duncan said. "We needed that energy. We just used that and just took it.”
Duncan would follow the dunk with a layup and the and-one to take the lead at the third-quarter buzzer, 55-54.
“He's the point guard who gets us going,'' Ulsaker said. "So when he's kind of having an off night it makes it difficult for us, but you can definitely tell he turned it on in the third and fourth quarter.”
Lassiter would come back in the game with four fouls on him but would pick up No. 5 early in the fourth, but Duncan would take the lead and run with it as he would score 11 of his team-high 22 in the fourth quarter.
“I knew that without Prince, we had to take control and just go out there and know we gotta get it,” Duncan said.
The Lions were led by Mehki Stephens with a game-high 26 points.
TOPEKA WEST 74, LANSING 69
Lansing 15 22 17 15 -- 69
Topeka West 15 17 23 19 -- 74
Lansing (8-9 6-5) -- Mehki Stephens 8-16 7-11 26, Manthe 6-13 4-4 `16, Wilson 4-4 4-8 12, Mattingly 0-2 4-4 4. Heim 1-2 0-0 2, Stephens 1-1 0-0 3, Anderson 1-1 0-0 3, Boden 1-4 0-2 3, Hayes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-44 19-29 69.
Topeka West (15-3 10-2) -- Duncan 7-12 8-10 22, Paul 8-12 1-2 18, Traylor 3-6 6-7 14, Lassiter 5-10 0-0 10, Munganga 1-5 0-0 3, Ware 2-3 2-2 6, Phillips 0-1 1-2. Totals 26-49 18-23 21.
3-point goals -- Lansing 6 (Stephens 3, Boden, Anderson, Stephens), West 4 (Traylor 2, Munganga, Paul). Total Fouls -- Lansing 16, Topeka West 21. Fouled out -- Lassiter.
