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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
No. 8-ranked Lawrence scored the first nine points in overtime to finally subdue upset-minded Topeka High, 61-52, in Thursday night's final first-round game of the Topeka Invitational Tournament.
Junior Bryson Thrasher scored a game-high 23 points in Topeka High's 61-52 overtime loss to Lawrence in Thursday's opening round of the Topeka Invitational Tournament at Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But even though the Trojans fell to 1-9, Topeka High coach Geo Lyons walked out of the Topeka West gym confident that better days could be just around the corner for his team after Thursday's gutsy effort against the 7-2 Lions.
"We've got some tears flowing in the locker room right now and I told them, 'I like my locker room,' because that means it meant something,'' Lyons said. "If it means something like that, if you're hurting after that game, that loss, then we can work with that, so I feel good. I've got goosebumps right now with my locker room.
"We did so many great things tonight and I told the boys, 'We're not an easy out, everybody has had to bring their best effort to beat us' .''
Lawrence led 13-12 at the end of the opening quarter and held a slim 26-22 lead at the half before Topeka High rallied to take a 42-41 advantage into the fourth quarter when junior Bryson Thrasher canned a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Coming off a 15-point United Kansas Conference loss to Piper, Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist was paying close attention to see how his Chargers would bounce back in Thursday's Topeka Invitational Tournament opener against UKC foe Lansing.
Bloomquist liked what he saw, particularly in the second half, as the Chargers advanced to Friday's semifinals with a 55-32 win over the Lions on West's home court.
Senior Sincere Austin scored a game-high 18 points as Topeka West bounced back from a loss to Piper with a 55-32 win over Lansing in the opening round of the Topeka Invitational Tournament Thursday at Wesst. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"It was a really good bounce-back win,'' Bloomquist said.
Topeka West, which shook up its lineup a bit against Lansing, was a little sloppy in the first half, but still led 14-7 at the end of the first quarter and the Chargers took a 26-17 lead to the locker room at the half.
The second half was all Topeka West, with the Chargers outscoring the Lions 29-15 en route to their second win of the season over Lansing.
West senior standout Xavier Alexander did not start and didn't enter the game until the second quarter but his Charger teammates took up the slack.
"We were absolutely horriible against Piper and when a team like we have plays that bad, you've got to be concerned and there's got to be changes and there's got to be drastic changes,'' Bloomquist said. "We went the drastic change route and that's a gamble by a coach because it can go the other way, too, but these kids believe in each other and believe in what we're doing so they battled through it
."The second half was a lot better for a lot of different reasons.''
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
In a game that went back and forth for all 36 minutes, Wichita Southeast landed the final and most important blow, with senior Mason Le hitting a driving layup as time ran out to give the Golden Buffaloes a 76-75 overtime win over Hayden in the first round of the Topeka Invitational Tournament Thurday at Topeka West.
Hayden senior Jake Muller scored with just 10 seconds remaining in OT to put the Wildcats up 75-74, but Southeast, which improved to 5-6, raced upcourt to get the game-winning hoop from Le, who finished with 27 points for the Buffs.
Senior Joe Otting scored a game-high 28 points in Hayden's 76-75 overtime loss to Wichita Southeast in the first round of the Topeka Invitational Tournament Thursday at Topeka West. [File photo/TSN]
While Hayden, ranked No. 10 in Class 4A, had plenty to feel good about in its performance against a 6A school, particularly on the offensive end, Hayden coach Dwayne Paul also pointed to several negatives in the one-point loss.
"Did they play hard? Yeah, but that's fake fight, fake toughness,'' Paul said. "Toughness is when you need your team do what's most important at its highest moment. Everything that we went over in practice the last couple of days was not great. Yeah, we made some shots, but no one should ever lose a game scoring (75) points. You shouldn't lose a game scoring (75) points, so it's soft.
"We got outplayed this game but all hats off to Wichita Southeast.''
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
If things go as Highland Park plans, Thursday's opening game of the Topeka Invitational Tournament may be the only time the Scots play a mid-afternoon game until at least Class 5A state tournament time.
But the sunshine round didn't seem to bother top-ranked Highland Park, which rolled to a semifinal berth with a 67-36 first-round win over Shawnee Mission North at Topeka West.
Highland Park senior standout Bo Aldridge slams home a dunk in the Scots' 67-36 win over Shawnee Mission North in Thursday's first round of the Topeka Invitational Tournament at Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Highland Park senior Quentin Adams comes up with a steal in Thursday's 67-36 first-round Topeka Invitational Tournament win over Shawnee Mission North. Adams had nine points in the win. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN
"Obviously coming out first game and getting a win, that's the most important thing and you want to play a certain kind of way as well, too,'' Highland Park coach Mike Williams said. "So you get a 30-point win at 3:15, an odd time to play at, I can't complain much about it.
"We got the first game out of the way and hopefully we can keep it rolling going into the weekend.''
With Thursday's win Highland Park advanced to the 8:30 p.m.semifinal on Friday to face Wichita Southeast, a 76-75 overtime winner over Hayden.
Highland Park, which improved to 7-0, scored the first six points of the game and never trailed against the Bison, who fell to 1-8 on the season.
The Scots built a 15-5 first-quarter advantage and took a commanding 35-20 lead at the half and a 55-26 cushion at the end of the third quarter before forcing a running clock when Highland Park went up 57-26 early in the fourth stanza on a bucket from senior Aydren Drew-Gregory.
Highland Park 6-foot-5 senior standout Bo Aldridge scored 11 points in the first quarter on the way to a game-high 22-point game and also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural sophomore wrestler Madison Davison and Topeka West junior bowler Dason Tidwell have been selected by the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency as the Rising Stars of the Week.
The Dan Key Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the 2022-2023 school year.
Here’s a brief look at the accomplishments of Davison and Tidwell last week:
Madison Davison
MADISON DAVISON, Washburn Rural
Davison entered last week's Newton Tournament of Champions with a sub.-500 record and was the No. 16 (bottom) seed in the 145-pound weight class.
In the first round Davison pulled off a major upset, pinning the No. 1 seed from Garden City.
Davison then went on to pin the No. 2 and No. 4- seeded wrestlers, going 4-0 on the day with four first-period pins to win the 145-pound title and help lead Washburn Rual to the team championship by a 220-166 margin over Garden City.
Dason Tidwell
DASON TIDWELL, Topeka West
Tidwell played fourth individually in last week's 19-school Free State Invitational at Royal Crest Lanes in Lawrence, bowling a 697 series.
The highlight of the tournament for Tidwell was a 299 game in the second game of his individual series. Tidwell also bowled games of 213 and 185 and helped West advance to the semifinals of match play.
Tidwell bowled a 562 series in Tuesday's Topeka High quadrangular and had a 595 series in Wednesday's Topeka West quadrangular.
