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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Topeka West had plenty to play for in Saturday's Topeka Invitational Tournament game, getting what is now a rare opportunity to face city and USD 501 rival Topeka High while also getting a chance to pick up a second straight tournament win.
Sophomore Keimani Paul had a breakout 21-point game in Saturday's 55-30 Topeka Invitational win over Topeka High. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
And veteran West coach Rick Bloomquist also dangled a little extra motivation in front of his Chargers, who went out and turned in an impressive 55-30 win over the Trojans to claim the consolation title (fifth place) while improving to 6-4 on the season.
"It hopes that they knew Sunday was open for a practice if things didn't work out the way we wanted them to,'' Bloomquist said. "That was probably the biggest motivation that we were going to get it out of them one way or another.
"I said, 'You prove to me today that you want to play the game the way it's supposed to be played all the time or we'll just keep on teaching on Sunday.' Well, guess what, sometimes those motivations are much-needed.''
Topeka High (5-7) led 3-0 and 8-4 in the early going, but West rallied for an 11-8 first-round lead and boosted its advantage to double-digits (28-17) at the half.
West opened up a 17-point advantage (44-27) by the start of the fourth quarter and limited the Trojans to just three points over the final eight minutes while closing out its 25-point win.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Sophomore Imani McGlory scored a game-high 29 points with seven 3-pointers to lead the way as Topeka West's girls rolled to a 55-36 home United Kansas Conference victory over Leavenworth.
Sophomore Imani McGlory scored a career-high 29 points with seven 3-pointers in Topeka West's 55-36 UKC win over Leavenworth Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
McGlory, who also canned three 3s in limited time in the junior varsity game was joined in double figures by senior Rebecca Bearman, who had 14 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter as Topeka West improved to 4-5 overall and 3-5 in the UKC.
Topeka West will compete next Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Capital City Classic at Seaman.
ROSSVILLE BOYS ADVANCE TO TITLE GAME
Rossville's boys will play for the championship in the Oskaloosa Invitational at 4:30 p.m. Saturday after a 57-38 semifinal win over Jefferson County North Friday night.
Rossville and Jefferson North were tied at 10-10 at the end of the first quarter but the Bulldawgs outscored North 47-28 the rest of the way to take the 19-point win.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
After winning its first five games by an average of 54 points, third-ranked (Class 5A) Highland Park finally got its first semblance of a test in Friday night's Topeka Invitational Tournament semifinal, and that was just fine with Scots coach Mike Williams.
Highland Park junior Ja'Corey Robinson goes in for a dunk in Friday's 67-52 semifinal victory over Shawnee Mission North. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Highland Park, the defending Topeka Invitational champion, earned a shot at a second straight title with Friday's 67-52 win over Shawnee Mission North and Williams said the semi-close game gave the Scots a welcome chance to work on game situations.
"Situations, you can practice them until you're blue in the face, but it isn't nothing like running into it in a game and having to respond,'' Williams said. "And not just the situations, but the adversity, the pressure and how we deal with things.
"That stuff comes out in close games. It doesn't come out in blowouts and we don't get to see that a lot of times.''
Highland Park, now 6-0, trailed the Bison on multiple occasions in the first half -- the last time at 18-15 early in the second quarter -- but the Scots ended the half with an 8-0 run to take a 30-21 halftime lead and SM North got no closer than six points in the second half.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
No basketball team enters a tournament with the goal of playing for fifth place.
But now that the pairings are set for the final day of the Topeka Invitational Tournament, Topeka High coach Geo Lyons can't help but be excited about the opportunity to face city and USD 501 rival Topeka West in Saturday's 11:45 a.m. consolation final.
Antwan Simms (35) scored 13 points to lead a balanced attack in Topeka High's 66-49 win over Hayden on Friday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
After a first-round loss to Wichita Northwest, Lyons' Trojans bounced back with a 66-49 consolation win over Hayden at the Bueltel Activity Center while Topeka West rebounded from an opening-round loss to Shawnee Mission North with a 54-46 win over Lawrence.
"Even on a Saturday, with the leagues the way they are and us not facing them any more, I think it's going to be a great basketball game with us and West,'' said Lyons, a former Topeka West assistant.
"Those are my guys over there. I have the utmost respect for coach Bloom (Rick Bloomquist) and coach (Marco) Hunter. When he started I was an assistant coach over there, so he and I go back and then coach (Dwayne) Anthony, that's my buddy. I'm so happy that I get to play coach Bloomquist.''
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
A solid win over a respected Class 6A program was just what the doctor ordered for Rick Bloomquist's Topeka West Chargers.
After a recent 46-point loss to De Soto and a tough 49-47 loss to Shawnee Mission North on Thursday, Topeka West bounced back to claim a much-needed 54-46 win over Lawrence in Friday's Topeka Invitational Tournament consolation game.
Topeka West junior Jalen Foy scores the final basket of the game in Friday's 54-46 Topeka Invitational Tournament win over Lawrence, part of Foy's 17-point night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"This was a key game,'' Bloomquist said. "I didn't sleep last night, understanding how this game was going to have an impact on this season. I've seen it happen, I've seen it happen both ways, I've been a part of it both ways.
"It springboards you into the second half of the season or you just dump it and I was really worried about that, but by the same token as critical as I've been of my kids, my players, they're pretty resilient to me and you can't walk away from that. I've never seen a kid drop his head, drop his eyes. They're buying in and tonight was a buy-in game. We bought into the changes we need to make.''
With Friday's win the Chargers improved to 5-4 on the season while advancing to Saturday's 11:45 a.m. fifth-place game to face city and USD 501 rival Topeka High.
Topeka West trailed 16-15 at the end of the first quarter, but never lost contact with the Lions, who fell to 1-9 on the season.
The Chargers outscored Lawrence 7-3 in a low-scoring second quarter to take a 22-19 halftime advantage.
West opened up a 36-26 lead late in the third quarter on a hoop from senior Johnny Young and took an eight-point advantage into the fourth.
The Chargers never trailed the rest of the way, but the Lions got as close as a point (40-39) with 5:30 left and was within four points (50-46) with 29.6 seconds remaining before Young hit a pair of throws and junior Jalen Foy scored on a layup to close out the wrest win.
Foy led Topeka West with 17 points, including three 3-pointers, while Young added 13 points and sophomore Keimani Paul 11 points.
Topeka West senior Johnny Young (left) defends Lawrence's Jaylen Parks in Friday's 54-46 West win. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Young was inserted into the West starting lineup on Friday after playing sparingly over the course of the season.
"If there was a player of the game, it's him,'' Bloomquist said. "I texted him late last night, about 11, 11:30 and said, 'I'm starting you.' Drastic things need drastic changes sometimes and that was drastic because he was a minute, two-minute guy.''
Lawrence senior star Zaxton King led all scores with 26 points, but was the lone Lion with more than six points.
On Saturday Topeka West will face a Topeka High team that took a 66-49 consolation win over Hayden on Thursday.
Lawrence will take on Hayden in Saturday's 10 a.m. seventh-place game.
TOPEKA WEST 54, LAWRENCE 46
Topeka West 15 7 14 18 -- 54
Lawrence 16 3 9 18 -- 46
Topeka West (5-4)-- Young 5 3-4 13, McGee 2 0-0 4, Paul 5 0-0 11, Foy 7 0-0 17, Noonoo 2 1-2 5, Duncan 1 0-0 3, Chambers 0 1-2 1, Ford 2 1-2 5. Totals 22 5-8 54.
Lawrence (1-9) -- Parks 2 0-0 6, King 7 9-12 26, Johnson 1 0-0 3, Fineday 2 0-0 4, Galbreth 1 2-4 4, Ramirez 0 1-2 1, Roman Nose 1 0-0 2, Foster 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 12-18 46.
3-point goals -- Topeka West 5 (Foy 3, Duncan, Paul), Lawrence 6 (King 3, Parks 2, Johnson). Total fouls -- Topeka West 14, Lawrence 11. Fouled out -- none.
RESULTS FRIDAY
Topeka West 54, Lawrence 46
Topeka High 66, Hayden 49
Highland Park 67, Shawnee Mission North 52
Wichita Northwest 81, Lansing 46
GAMES SATURDAY
10 a.m. -- Lawrence vs. Hayden.
11:45 -- Topeka West vs. Topeka High.
1:30 -- Shawnee Mission North vs. Lansing.
2:45 -- Highland Park vs. Wichita Northwest.
