By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- The undefeated Highland Park boys basketball team exorcised the demons of semifinals past Friday in White Auditorium, holding off Piper to advance to Saturday's Class 5A state championship game with a 60-55 win over Piper.
Highland Park coach Mike Williams celebrates Friday's 60-55 Class 5A state semifinal win over Piper in White Auditorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Highland Park, which will playing in a state championship game for the first time since 2014, will face defending state champion Kapaun Mt. Carmel, a 55-43 semifinal winner over Andover, in Saturday's 6:15 p.m. title game after getting past last year's runnerup, Piper, in the semis.
"I cried on the sidelines,'' Highland Park coach Mike Williams said. "We had just been here so often and felt pain. I'm just happy for the kids. We put so much work in and I'm hard on the guys, but I just want them to win. And we aint done yet. We've still got more to do.
"We set out to win a state championship. That's what we've been focused on from Day 1. Despite the noise, despite the league talk, who we play, who we don't play, are our guys good enough? We hear it all year long and we were focused on getting to this game and getting over the hump and bringing a state championship back to not just Highland Park, but bring a state championship back to Topeka.''
Highland Park, now 24-0, had dropped semifinal heartbreakers to the eventual state champs the past two seasons -- 55-54 to Andover in 2023 and 67-64 to Kapaun in overtime last season -- before getting over that hump Saturday.
"I felt like we played great,'' said Scot senior star Ja'Corey Robinson, who scored 26 points with 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocked shots and 3 steals. "I feel like we played good defensively, rebounded well and didn't allow them to get too many offensive rebounds.
"I also felt like we've got to make more free throws down the stretch. Other than that we played great.''
And now the Scots will be trying to cap their amazing 2024-2025 campaign with Highland Park's first state title since 2009 while becoming only the third team in city history to post a perfect season.
"It's our last high school game, so we've got to lay everything out there,'' Robinson said.
Piper (20-4) led 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4 early on, but senior Mikey Williams hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Highland Park in front 10-5 at the 3:09 mark of the opening quarter and the Scots never trailed again.
Highland Park led 12-7 at the end of the first stanza and led by nine (16-7) early in the second before holding on to take a 27-23 margin to the locker room at halftime.
Piper got within a point (32-31) with 4:18 left in the third quarter but Highland Park answered with five straight points, including a Robinson three-point play to take a 37-31 lead with 3:34 left in the quarter.
The Scots went on to take a game-high 46-35 advantage with 45 seconds left in the quarter on a Mason Jones hoop but the Pirates cut their deficit to 46-39 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Highland Park still led 54-44 with 3:19 left but Piper went on an 11-1 run to pull even at 55 with 1:15 left before Hi Park scored the final five points of the game.
The Scots broke the tie with two Jamon Wilson free throws and made it a two-possession game with two Robinson free throws with 46.7 seconds left before sophomore Joseph Kingcannon added another charity.
Senior Ja'Corey Robinson scored 26 points in Friday's 60-55 Class 5A state semifinal win in White Auditorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
After being held to seven points in a first-round win over Andover, Robinson was the most dominant player on the court Saturday.
"I know I wasn't scoring as much the first game but I stayed in the game with nine assists and I was being productive a different way,'' Robinson said. "I wasn't letting the not scoring affect me but I made sure I came out here and didn't let this team get over on us and made sure we fought.
"We're tired of losing this semifinal game. We just want to get a championship.''
Williams added 18 points with three steals.
Derrick Jackson led Piper with 18 points while Phillip Moore added 13 points before fouling out.
HIGHLAND PARK BOYS 60, PIPER 55
Piper 7 16 16 16 -- 55
Highland Park 12 15 19 14 -- 60
Piper (20-4) -- Moore 5-15 3-3 13, Vogel 0-1 0-0 0, Brooks 4-8 0-3 8, Jackson 6-12 4-4 18, Sayles 1-1 1-2 3, Walton 2-3 0-0 6, Crawford 1-2 3-4 5, Labat 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 20-43 11-16 55.
Highland Park (24-0) -- Wilson 1-4 2-2 4, Hales 0-2 0-0 0, Kelley 1-3 2-2 4, Williams 6-14 4-11 18, Robinson 10-17 4-5 26, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 2-4 0-0 4, Kingcannon 1-5 2-4 4, Montgomery 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 14-24 60.
3-point shots -- Piper 4-15 (Jackson 2-6, Walton 2-3, Moore 0-2, Brooks 0-2, Vogel 0-1, Crawford 0-1), Highland Park 4-13 (Williams 2-7, Robinson 2-4, Hales 0-2). Total fouls -- Piper 18, Highland Park 17. Fouled out -- Moore, Brooks, Jones. Technical fouls -- Walton.
CLASS 5A BOYS STATE BASKETBALL
Friday's semifinals
Highland Park 60, Piper 55
Kapaun Mt. Carmel 55, Andover 43
Saturday's games
2 p.m. -- Piper (20-4) vs. Andover (20-4)
6:15 p.m. -- Highland Park boys (24-0) vs. Kapaun Mt. Carmel (21-3)
