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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Basketball has taken Mark Turgeon a lot of places and given him a great deal of success over the past four decades.
And on Saturday basketball brought Turgeon back to Topeka and Hayden High, where it all started, with the Wildcats' 1982-83 team that posted a perfect 25-0 record on the way to the Class 4A state championship part of the 2022 Hayden Hall of Fame class.
Mark Turgeon (right) visits with Hayden athletic director Bobby Taul, an assistant coach during Turgeon's Wildcat playing career, before Saturday night's Hayden Hall of Fame induction ceremony. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I can't remember when I was here last,'' said Turgeon, who helped lead Hayden to back-to-back state titles as a junior and senior. "I came back for a football game a couple of months ago, I was in town for a Chiefs game, but I can't remember the last time I was in this building. It's been a long time.
"I think I was back for our 15th reunion, it might have been 10, but I think it was 15 and we're coming up on 40 here so it's been awhile.''
Turgeon, who played on a Final Four team at Kansas before embarking on a successful coaching career, said being back at Hayden with his former teammates and coaches tugged at his heartstrings.
"It's good to be back,'' he said. "We got together last night as a group and just to see everybody and be together and just talk about the good times, it's a lot of fun.
"It started at the Most Pure Heart playgrounds, we had a lot of good competition there. and then being at Hayden, it's the only place I ever wanted to go to high school growing up, and being a part of it and being on the basketball team, my dad played here and my brother played here and my uncle played here so it was important to me. I started coming to games when I was probably three or four years old, so it was a lot of fun just to be a part of it.''
Turgeon said that the closeness that the Wildcats had as a team continues to this day.
"Our bonds will never be broken because we were so close and went through so much together,'' he said. "A lot of us went to Most Pure Heart together and then we added (Chris) Gomez and Tommy Meier and they just blended right in.
"We just were really close, we really cared about each other and I think that's why we were able to do what we did because it was more than just basketball for us. It was about just being great friends.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden coaching legend Ben Meseke was inducted into the inaugural Hayden Hall of Fame class in 2021 as an individual.
And Meseke was back at Hayden Saturday night for the induction of his entire 1982-82 boys basketball team, which made the occasion extra special.
Hayden's 1982-1983 boys basketball team, which posted a perfect 25-0 record en route to the Class 4A state title, was inducted into the Hayden Hall of Fame Saturday night. [Submitted photo]
Former Hayden state champion and Washburn Univerity national champion Tom Meier (right) jokes with former Wildcat teammates during Saturday night's Hayden Hall of Fame induction ceremony. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"It's amazing,'' Meseke said. "I don't use this lightly, but we, and when I say we I mean the whole (Hayden comnunity), we were so blessed to have these kids who were not only tremendously talented, but just great kids to work with,'' said Meseke, who coached a total of 12 state championship teams at Hayden.
The '82-'83 Wildcats were the first-ever city team to post a perfect 25-0 record en route to the Class 4A state championship and are widely regarded as of the state's all-time great teams.
"You'll see on the highlight film, the last play of the state tournament, Tommy (Meier) got the rebound and I think four of the five guys touched the ball and it went the length of the floor and I don't know if the ball touched the floor or not and we scored at the buzzer.'' Meseke said. "They were just so close like that.
"I didn't have to worry about attitudes or cussing or none of that stuff that sometimes you do have to be concerned about. They were just great guys.''
Members of the team included Charlie Appelhanz, Gary Fangman, Chris Gomez, Mike McGreevy, T. Meier, Wes Meier, David Proctor, Rob Reilly, Chris Reyer, Mark Thompson, Mark Turgeon and Gavin Wittman as well as Meseke, assistaht coaches Bobby Taul and Jerry Simecka and manager Jerry Volz. Simecka was also inducted as part of the 2022 Hall of Fame class as an individual.
Meier and Reilly went on to help Washburn University win the NAIA National championship while Turgeon went on to play in the Final Four for Kansas, but Meseke said that what made the '82-'83 team so special was the way the Wildcats operated as a team.
"I had a juco coach come up to me during the (Topeka Invitational Tournament) and he said, 'Coach, I'm going to tell you right now, if you're interested, I will give a full ride -- food, dorm, books, the works -- to your starters, to all five,'' Meseke said.
"I said, 'Well, there's a couple of them that I think want to go a little higher but I will tell the others about your offer,' and he said, 'I either get all five or none.' He said, 'They're like a well-oiled machine and if you take one of them out of there it's not quite the same.' And he was right.''
In addition to the '82-'83 team, Hayden inducted Father Tim Haberkorn for Alumni Achievement, Jerry Simecka for Staff Achievement andTim Morrisey for Contributor Achievement during Saturday's Hall of Fame festivities.
Hall of Fame inductee capsules:
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn women's basketball team held a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter, but cold-shooting second and third quarters proved costly for the Ichabods in a 58-43 MIAA loss to Emporia State Saturday afternoon at Lee Arena.
Washburn (3-4 overall, 0-2 MIAA) jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead to begin the game, with Emma Chapman making a pair of layups during the opening run, but Emporia State (5-1, 1-0 MIAA) ended the first quarter on a 5-0 scoring run to trim the deficit to 9-8.
Washburn freshman Natalia Figueroa scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Ichabods in Saturday's MIAA loss to Emporia State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Lady Hornets took their first lead of the game 47 seconds into the second quarter with a jumper by Tre'Zure Jobe.
Washburn went back in front with five unanswered points, but Emporia State rattled off a 10-0 run in a 3-minute, 22-second span to go up, 20-14. Chapman converted on an old-fashioned three-point play, but the Lady Hornets hit a jumper with 22 seconds left to take a 22-17 lead into the halftime break.
In the third quarter, the Emporia State offense outscored Washburn, 23-7, to take a commanding 45-24 lead into the fourth quarter.
ESU shot 58.33 percent from the field (7 of 12) and went 8 of 11 from the free throw line and held the Ichabods to just 2 of 16 from the floor (12.5 percent) and 1 of 2 at the charity stripe. Emporia State held a 45-24 lead to going into the fourth quarter.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Rossville's girls basketball team opened its 2022-2023 season in impressive fashion, rolling to a 58-30 road victory at Atchison.
Rylee Dick had a big night in her first high school game, scoring 24 points with four 3-pointers while Bulldawg junior standout Emma Mitchell added 17 points.
Rossville took command with a 15-4 opening quarter and then hit Atchison with a 27-6 lick in the second quarter to take a big 42-10 lead to the locker room at the half.
The Bulldawgs, who were 11-10 in 2021-2022, cruised the rest of the way, emptying their bench in the second half.
HAYS GIRLS 37, WASHBURN RURAL 33 -- Washburn Rural struggled to get its offense untracked Friday night, with tournament host Hays taking advantage of a big second quarter to upset the top-ranked Junior Blues 37-33 in the semifinals of the Hays Shootout.
Junior Zoe Canfield led the Junior Blues (1-1) with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, but Washburn Rural only had four players crack the scoring column. Senior Brooklyn DeLeye added eight points while sophomores Kate Hinck and Tenly Bunck scored six points apiece.
Hays (2-0) and Rural were deadlocked at 8-8 after the opening quarter, but Hays used a 14-6 second quarter to take a 22-14 halftime lead.
Rural cut its deficit to a point (29-28) by the end of the third quarter, but Hays held off the Junior Blues down the stretch, holding an 8-5 scoring edge over the final eight minutes.
Carly Lang scored 11 points and Molly Martin 10 for Hays, which will play for the championship Saturday. Washburn Rural will play for third place.
BASEHOR-LINWOOD BOYS 58, TOPEKA WEST 52 -- Topeka West was in the hunt for the entire game at Basehor-Linwood, but the Chargers were unable to get over the hunt as the No. 10-ranked (Class 5A) Bobcats prevailed over the No. 9 Chargers, who were making their debut in the United Kansas Conference, by a 58-52 margin.
Basehor-Linwood led 15-7 at the end of the first quarter, but West cut its deficit to 22-21 at the half and the game was tied at 34 entering the fourth quarter.
Washburn University signee Tyson Ruud led Basehor-Linwood with 24 points.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights looked like a defensive juggernaut in the first half, but the lack of made shots and non-offensive capitalization haunted the T-Birds at the end of a 59-46 loss to United Kansas Conference foe De Soto Friday night at Heights.
Sophomore Jaret Sanchez led Shawnee Heights with 14 points in Friday night's 59-46 season-opening loss to De Soto. [File photo/TSN]
Class 5A No. 7-ranked De Soto was a tough opening draw for the Thunderbirds as De Soto made it to last year’s Class 5A State Championship game, losing to Seaman.
Shawnee Heights coach Ken Darting knew the quality of an opponent that De Soto was coming into Friday night’s season-opening conference matchup.
“When De Soto decided they needed to go get a bucket, they just went and got it, and we don’t have that,” Darting said. “That doesn’t bother me. You are what you are. We came out and just got in them. We held this team to 25 points in the first half tonight when they were the state runner-up last year. But we got 16. You’re not going to beat a state-level team when you only score 16 points in a half. We can’t score.”
Darting also acknowledged that some of his team competed how he wanted it to despite not being pleased with the overall performance.
“We had five or six kids that just broke their rear, and they’re dead tired,” Darting said. “But we had selfishness tonight. We wanted to fight with each other instead of the other team. It was not a good performance, and we must fix that.”
Although the Thunderbird defense was imposing, the Shawnee Heights offense was sluggish. Shawnee Heights could only score six points in the opening quarter, but luckily, the defense held De Soto to 10 points.
