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By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
A team can only get its first win of the season once, and for first-year coach Geo Lyons and the Topeka High boys basketball team, it couldn’t have come at a better time, with the Trojans getting Lions his first win at his alma mater with a 61-48 win over St. Mary’s Academy Tuesday night.
Topeka High boys basketball coach Geo Lyons talks to his team during Tuesday's 61-48 non-league win over St. Mary's Academy. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
The win for the Trojans came after a 75-73 double-overtime loss to Valley Center on Saturday, which Lyons was glad the players had a chance to put behind them quickly.
“It feels great man,” Lyons said. “We have had a rough 72 hours with what happened to us on Saturday. It was great to get back and playing so soon to get a little bit of normalcy for these kids but this one means a lot and it means, even more, coming off of what Saturday was.”
In 2021-22 Topeka High started 0-4 before finishing the year 4-17, this season they enter the win column the second week of play, improving to 1-2.
After trailing early on it was junior Isaiah Lyons who stabilized the Trojans, knocking down two 3-pointers late in the first quarter to help High take a 14-11 lead.
T-High was held scoreless on offense in the first five minutes of the second quarter, but a full-court defense kept the Crusaders in check for the most part. Lyons and sophomore Jayden Norman combined to score all seven points in the quarter, good for a 21-20 lead at the break.
St. Mary’s scored two quick baskets out of halftime to lead 24-23, but the rest of the quarter would belong to the home team as Topeka High’s defense forced turnovers and provided easy baskets, helping the Trojans go on a 20-2 run after that point to lead by as many as 16.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman girls basketball coach Matt Tinsley knows that tougher games are right about the corner, but back-to-back running clock routs have allowed Tinsley to get his young Vikings a lot of early-season experience.
After opening the season with a 30-point win over Lansing last Friday, third-ranked (Class 5A) Seaman followed that up with 60-26 United Kansas Conference romp past Topeka West Tuesday night at Seaman.
Seaman freshman Maddie Gragg led No. 3-ranked Seaman with a game-high 16 points in Tuesday's 60-26 UKC win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sophomore Anna Becker scored 14 points as Seaman improved to 2-0 with a 60-26 UKC win over Topeka West Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman used 13 players against West, including 11 underclassmen and two freshmen, while eight players cracked the scoring column, including three players in double figures.
"I think early in the year you see what the kids can do, the strengths they can bring to the team, and it's been great getting to play a lot of kids,'' Tinsley said. "Now the rotation will shrink as the season goes on, but it's good to see kids get their head up.
"I wrote up on the board with our keys to the game, I put the number 10. When 10 hands are touching the basketball it's a fun game to watch and I thought we did a good job of sharing the basketball.''
Freshman Maddie Gragg led the Vikings (2-0 overall, 2-0 UKC) with a game-high 16 points while sophomore Anna Becker added 14 points and Brooklyn Gormley 10 while four Seaman players had at least five rebounds.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West boys basketball coach Rick Bloomquist isn't expecting any one player to take up the scoring slack left by the graduation of Mr. Kansas Basketball Elijah Brooks and his 25 points-plus scoring average.
Senior Xavier Alexander (20) scored a career-high 31 points in Topeka West's 74-62 UKC win at Seaman Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
![Senior Malachi Berg scored 21 points as Topeka West evened its record at 1-1 with a 74-62 win at Seaman Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]](/images/aa-images/MalachiBergTW.jpg)
Senior Malachi Berg scored 21 points as Topeka West evened its record at 1-1 with a 74-62 win at Seaman Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But Charger senior Xavier Alexander did a pretty good Brooks impression Tuesday night at Seaman, scoring a career-high 31 points, including five 3-pointers, as Topeka West evened its record at 1-1 with a 74-62 United Kansas Conference win over the defending Class 5A state champion Vikings (1-1), ending Seaman's 12-game winning streak.
"I'm a lot more focused on winning than scoring,'' Alexander said. "With the guards penetrating to the basket and going inside out, they were giving it to me and I started making more shots.
"I learned from last game because I didn't get to the basket and this time I was trying to get to the basket more. If I drive to the basket then they have to guard me inside and outside.''
No. 7-ranked West, which was coming off a six-point season-opening loss at Basehor-Linwood, also got 21 points and nine rebounds from senior Malachi Berg and 10 points and seven rebounds from senior Sincere Austin while Alexander also grabbed seven boards.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's girls basketball team made a big move in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association's Class 5A state rankings after the Vikings' 30-point season-opening win over then-No. 3 Lansing.
Anna Becker and the Seaman girls jumped to the No. 3 spot in the KWCA's first Class 5A regular-season state rankings. [File photo/TSN]
Seaman, which jumped from No. 9 to No. 3, was one of five Shawnee County teams to receive mention in the KBCA's first regular-season rankings, released Tuesday.
Silver Lake held on to the No. 2 spot in the 3A girls rankings.
Senior Bo Aldridge (1) returns for Highland Park, which begins the 2022-2023 season third-ranked in Class. [File photo/TSN]
On the boys side, Highland Park is ranked No. 3 in 5A and Hayden No. 3 in 4A while Topeka West is ranked seventh in 5A.
KANSAS BASKETBALL COACHES ASSOCIATION STATE RANKINGS
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The National Federation of State High School Associations has announced that nine high school coaches from Kansas, including longtime Topeka West tennis coach Kurt Davids, have been named National Coaches Association Sectional Coaches of the Year for the 2021-22 school year.
Davids was named the boys tennis coach of the year for Section 5 (Midwest), which includes Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Topeka West tennis coach Kurt Davids, who was named the Kansas Coaching Association boys tennis coach of the year earlier this summer, has been named the Section 5 boys tennis coach of the year and is now eligible for the national award. [File photo/TSN]
Topeka West tennis coach Kurt Davids (right) received his Kansas Coaching Association state coach of the year award in August from the KCA's Stan Boggs. [File photo/TSN]
Davids was earlier named the Kansas state boys tennis coach of the year, making him eligible for the sectional and national coach of the year awards.
Davids, who has coached West's boys for 29 seasons, led the Chagers to a second-place finish in the Class 5A state tournament this past season while also winning a regional team championship, sharing the city team title with Washburn Rural and finishing second in the Centennial League meet.
West also won the city boys title in 2021 and Davids' teams (boys and girls combined) have posted five top-four state team finishes. He has coached Class 5A state singles and doubles champs.
