By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural junior point guard Jack Bachelor probably can't count on shooting the ball every night like he did Tuesday against Topeka High, but he can hope.
Unofficially, Bachelor hit all nine of his shots from the field, including seven 3-pointers, on the way to a career-high 28 points as the Junior Blues improved to 3-3 overall and in the Centennial League with a 56-51 home win over the Trojans.
"I was feeling good in warmups and my teammates were getting me the ball,'' Bachelor said. "We were running the plays good and I've been working throughout the break we had so I came ready to play and shot the ball tonight.''
Junior Jack Bachelor went nine of nine from the field with seven 3-pointers and 28 points as Washburn Rural topped Topeka High Tuesday night, 56-51. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Quincey Kidd scored 18 points, with three 3-pointers, as Washburn Rural improved to 3-3 with a 56-51 win over Topeka High Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
Bachelor led the way as Washburn Rural canned 12 3-pointers as a team, with senior Quincey Kidd adding three treys as part of an 18-point performance and sophomore Griffin Durst scoring six points on a pair of 3-pointers.
Bachelor and Kidd combined for three 3s in the opening quarter as Washburn Rural jumped out to a 14-6 lead and the Junior Blues canned another five treys to lead by as many as 15 points en route to a 31-19 halftime advantage.
"We were just looking for the open man and doing what was working for us,'' Bachelor said.
Rural coach Kevin Muff agreed.
"We've got to continue to get better, but for the most part we were good about getting it swung a couple of times and catching in a rhythm,'' Muff said. "I think rhythm shots are crucial for good outside shooters and we need Quincey to shoot it like that and we need Jack to shoot it because they're good shooters.''
Washburn Rural led by 15 again in the third quarter before taking a 44-33 advantage into the fourth quarter, but Topeka High, which hit 10 3-pointers on the night, made things interesting down the stretch, getting as close as four on two occasions.
Sophomore Bryson Thrasher scored all of his team-high 15 points on five 3s for Topeka High while junior Mason Gomez had nine points on three 3s and sophomore BJ Canady and senior Max Ambrose added seven points apiece.
Topeka High fell to 1-6 overall and 1-5 in the Centennial League with Tuesday's loss, but coach Ty Baumgardner saw a lot of positive things against Rural that his Trojans can build off of.
"We saw some great things, some great things,'' Baumgardner said. "Some guys stepped up. We threw some freshmen in there tonight and they did not hurt us one bit. That second half I couldn't be more proud of them.''
Both Topeka High and Washburn Rural were short-handed Tuesday night, with the Trojans playing without leading scorer Matt Flenoy as well as Isaiah Lyons and Ossie Morales while the Junior Blues were missing post Brock Howard and Jacob Hirschi.
Washburn Rural will be off Friday night while Toeka High will host league foe Seaman.
WASHBURN RURAL BOYS 56, TOPEKA HIGH 51
Topeka High 6 13 14 18 -- 51
Washburn Rural 14 17 13 12 -- 56
Topeka High (1-6, 5) -- Thrasher 5-11 0-0 15, Mays 2-6 0-0 4, Cameron 2-3 0-2 4, Gomez 3-7 0-0 9, Canady 3-7 1-3 7, Ambrose 2-4 2-2 7, Deister 0-1 0-0 0, Esquibel 1-1 0-0 2, Norman 0-1 0-0 0, Baumgardner 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 19-43 3-7 51.
Washburn Rural (3-3, 3-3) -- Kidd 7-15 1-2 18, Bachelor 9-9 3-4 28, Durst 2-3 0-1 6, Conklin 2-5 0-0 4, Hanks 0-1 0-0 0, Morris 0-4 0-0 0, Bowen 0-2 0-0 0, Heim 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-41 4-7 51.
3-point goals -- Topeka High 10 (Thrasher 5, Gomez 3, Ambrose Baumgardner), Washburn Rural 12 (Bachelor 7, Kidd 3, Durst 2). Total fouls -- Topeka High 6, Washburn Rural 11. Fouled out -- none.
