By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden opened Tuesday night's Centennial League opener short-handed, with senior Jacob Padilla still out with an injury, and the Wildcats suffered another big blow 39 seconds into the second quarter when senior Dom Ridley went down with an injury to his jaw.
Emporia, which had sweated out a six-point victory (50-44) over the Wildcats in early December, took advantage in a big way, rolling to a 58-42 win at Hayden.
Hayden senior Dom Ridley is tended to by athletic trainer Mike Flynn after suffering an injury early in the second quarter Tuesday night as Wildcat coach Trey Brown looks on. Emporia went on to take a 58-42 win at Hayden. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"Well, to be honest, their two best players weren't playing,'' Emporia coach Lee Baldwin said when asked to explain the difference between the earlier Emporia-Hayden game and Tuesday's 16-point win. "Obviously, without Padilla and then Ridley getting hurt in the second quarter, that's a huge difference.
"That's their two best players, so I would be lying if I said that didn't make a huge impact. To me, that's the No. 1 reason right there, but we did play well, no doubt about that.''
No. 6-ranked Hayden (Class 3A) led 5-2 and 6-4 early on but Emporia (5-2) rallied for a 14-9 first-quarter lead.
Hayden got within three on a Ridley 3-pointer to open the second quarter, but after the Wildcat standout guard was forced out of the game Emporia went on to lead by as many as 14 point late in the half before taking a 31-21 advantage to the locker room at the break.
Hayden got within four points (37-33) with 55 seconds left in the third quarter on three free throws from freshman Mason Becker, but Emporia answered with a three-point play of its own to take a 40-33 lead into the fourth.
The Wildcats got as close as six early in the final period but the Spartans put the game out of reach with a 12-0 run.
Junior River Peters led Emporia with a game-high 21 points while senior Sheldon Stewart added 11 points and four other Spartans scored between four and eight points.
Sophomore Kade Mitchell, driving to the basket, led Hayden with 10 points in Tuesday's 58-42 Centennial League loss to Emporia. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sophomore Kade Mitchell led 4-2 Hayden with 10 points while Becker had eight off the bench and senior Carter Charvat and sophomore Connor Hanika combined for 15 rebounds.
Hayden will be back at home Friday for a Centennial League contest against Washburn Rural.
Rural is still looking for its first win but took undefeated Junction City down to the wire in a 51-48 road loss.
Rural fell to 0-6 while Junction City, No. 6-ranked in 6A, improved to 7-0.
EMPORIA BOYS 58, HAYDEN 42
Emporia 14 17 9 18 -- 58
Hayden 9 12 12 9 -- 42
Emporia (5-2, 1-0) -- Stewart 5-8 0-0 11, Jacob 3-7 1-1 7, Rios 2-2 0-1 4, Seeley 2-5 1-2 5, Peters 8-15 4-4 21, Bech 1-2 0-2 2, Trelc Crowell 0-0 0-0 0, Spellman 0-1 0-0 0, Seidl 0-0 0-0 0, Harrington. Totals 23-45 10-15 58.
Hayden (4-2, 0-1) -- Colboch 1-7 0-0 2, Charvat 2-3 0-2 4, Ridley 1-4 2-4 5, Mitchell 3-8 2-4 10, Grace 1-3 0-0 2, Heinen 0-1 0-0 0, Deister 1-8 1-2 4, Becker 2-6 4-6 8, Hanika 0-0 0-0 0, Kidd 0-0 0-0 0, Kuta 2-4 0-0 5, Zweisler 1-1 0-0 2, Banks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-45 9-18 42.
3-point goals -- Emporia 2 (Stewart, Peters), Hayden 5 (Mitchell 2, Ridley, Deister, Kuta). Total fouls -- Emporia 16, Hayden 16. Fouled out – none.
