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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After building a commanding 14-point halftime lead, Washburn Rural's boys basketball team let Hayden back in the game in the third quarter before regaining control down the stretch in a 46-36 Centennial League win Friday night at Hayden.
Washburn Rural, which improved to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the league, rode a stifling defensive effort to a 22-8 halftime advantage over the Wildcats, but Hayden turned the tables in the third quarter, using a 19-8 scoring edge to get back within three points (30-27) at the start of the fourth quarter.
Senior Jack Bachelor went eight of eight at the free throw line in the fourth quarter and finished with 15 points in Washburn Rural's 46-36 win at Hayden Friday night. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN]
Hayden senior Joe Otting scored a game-high 18 points Friday night in the Wildcats' 46-36 Centennial League loss to Washburn Rural. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN]
The Wildcats got no closer, however, as the Junior Blues scored all 16 of their fourth-quarter points at the free throw line to pull away for the 10-point win.
"I think third quarter we kind of let them bring the aggression to us and we kind of played on our heels a little bit,'' Washburn Rural coach Alex Hutchins said. "A couple of times this year defensively we like to reach and put our hands on people and put them at the free throw line. I feel like we spent most of the third quarter playing defense and boxing out for free throws.
"But the guys did a really good job of responding and kind of flipping that script in the fourth quarter.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Not a lot from the Washburn Rural girls' second-half performance at Hayden Friday night is likely to make the Junior Blues' highlight reel as things got a little ragged over the final two quarters
But it didn't matter, as the No. 7-ranked (Class 6A) Junior Blues had already put the Centennial League game out of reach by halftime in a 56-32 romp past the Wildcats.
Washburn Rural senior Brooklyn DeLeye splits Hayden defenders Avery Grunert (3) and Lauren Sandstrom (5) during Friday's 56-32 Rural Centennial League romp at Hayden. DeLeye led all scorers with 17 points. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural junior Zoe Canfield (left) had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds in Friday's 56-32 Centennial League win over Hayden. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN
Washburn Rural, which improved to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the league with its fourth straight win, scored the final nine points of the first quarter to take a 19-10 lead over the Wildcats and then outscored Hayden 20-4 in the second quarter to take a commanding 39-14 advantage at the half.
Hayden (3-3, 0-2) actually outscored defending state champ Rural by an 18-17 margin after halftime as the Junior Blues committed 15 of their 18 turnovers in the second half.
"I think overall it was a good win, coming in here and playing, and they're a really good team,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "I was just wanting us to be more intense on both ends.
"I thought in the first half we were and I thought we had a decent lead at halftime. No matter what we talked about at haltime, which is not what got done, I thought we had this mentality of we can coast and you can't coast against any team, let alone a team like Hayden and I thought they outplayed us in the third and fourth quarter.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topekan Tyrell Brown knew he was stepping into a special opportunity when he joined the Texas Christian University football staff a year ago.
But the Topeka West and Washburn University product couldn't have envisioned just how special his first season with the Horned Frogs would be, with TCU set to play Georgia for the national championship Monday night in Inglewood, Calif.
Topeka West and Washburn University graduate Tyrell Brown will cap his first year on the TCU football staff in Monday's national championship game in Inglewood, Calif. [Submitted photo]
Topeka West and Washburn product Tyrell Brown celebrates TCU's 51-45 College Football Playoff semifinal win over Michigan. [Submitted photo]
The Horned Frogs, whose only loss in a 13-1 season came against Kansas State in the Big 12 Conference championship game, earned their chance to play for the national championship with a 51-45 win over Michigan and Brown said he's been overwhelmed with the response from his friends and former teammates back home in Topeka, which started as soon as the College Football Playoff semifinal game ended.
"Oh yeah, my phone started blowing up,'' Brown said. "I told my girlfriend I had over 200 texts when I eventually got back to the locker room. I’ve appreciated all the love from everyone back home in Topeka -- the texts, calls, messages.
"They’ve all meant so much to me because those are the people who supported me from Day One, so thank you to everyone who has reached out and know that I appreciate it.''
Brown, who played football and basketball at West, graduating in 2010, and wide receiver at Washburn, landed his position as assistant director of human performance at TCU after stints on the strength and conditioning staffs at Washburn, the University of Kansas, Troy and Middle Tennessee State.
"The strength and conditioning field is a relationship-based business – people hire people that they trust and that they know will get the job done,'' Brown said. "You are constantly aiming to add value day in and day out. I have been going to strength and conditioning conferences since I was an intern at Kansas in 2017 actively networking.
"I had gone to a Hammer Strength Conference in Atlanta during 2019 while I was a graduate assistant at Troy University, which is where I was fortunate enough to first meet coach Kaz Kazadi who I now work under here at TCU. We developed a relationship and stayed in touch, so when he was hired by TCU he had an opportunity available on his staff and he called me up and offered it to me . I said, 'Yes sir,' and left Middle Tennessee State and moved to Forth Worth a year ago this week.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Thursday's MIAA contest was one of the lowest scoring wins in Washburn University men's basketall history, but the game also ranked as one of the Ichabods' all-time best defensive effforts as WU picked up a much-needed 55-47 come-from-behind victory over Central Missouri at Lee Arena.
After dropping four of their previous five games, including a 15-point loss at Central Oklahoma last Saturday, and playing without injured junior standout Connor Deffebaugh (ankle), getting a win was all that mattered for Brett Ballard's Ichabods, no matter what the formula was.
Sophomore Andrew Orr scored 20 points, 14 in the second half, in Washburn's come-from-behind 55-47 MIAA win over Central Missouri Thursday night at Lee Arena. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Former Hayden standout Levi Braun scored 10 points, including three 3-pointers and a four-point play, in Washburn's 55-47 MIAA win over Central Missouri Thursday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Thursday night that formula was holding the Mules to under 50 points and 29.4-percent shooting while Washburn played its best basketball down the stretch in the eight-point triumph.
The 102 combined points in the game tied the program record in the shot clock era for the fifth-fewest combined points, matching a total ironically enough with Central Missouri in the same score on Dec. 31, 2010. The 55 points scored by the Ichabods was the second-lowest in program history in the shot clock era for points scored in a win and the 47 points scored by the Mules was the 10th-lowest points allowed in an Ichabod win.
"For sure it feels good,'' Ballard said. "It was an ugly game but we really grinded it out and I'm really proud of our team. You've got to find a way to win them and especially at home, so I'm really proud of our defensive effort. Things didn't always go right, but we found a way.''
WU 6-foot-8 sophomore Andrew Orr, who scored a game-high 20 points, agreed.
"It really was a team win,'' Orr said. "Everybody contributed and it was one of those things where we all came into it knowing we needed a win and we had the energy to get it done.''
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Defending Class 5A state-champion Seaman is off on the right foot in 2023 after taking a 60-45 United Kansas Conference win over Leavenworth Thursday night at Seaman.
The Vikings, who started the season 1-3, rode big nights from veterans Kaeden Bonner and Aron Davis to the win over the Pioneers.
Seaman senior Kaeden Bonner scored 25 points to lead the Vikings in Thursday's 60-45 UKC win over Leavenworth. [File photo/TSN]
Seaman senior Aron Davis scored 15 points in Thursday's 60-45 UKC win over Leavenworth. [File photo/TSN]
Bonner finished with a game-high 25 points, while Davis contributed 15 points.
“When I started the game my shots weren’t flowing, but I was able to work around that,” Bonner said. “I started driving the ball inside more, which helped me get me back to my game. Aron and I like to feed off of each other. I thought the way we were able to control the game helped us get the win.”
With Davis, sidelined at the beginning of the season with a knee injury, recently returning to action the Vikings are feeling more optimistic about the trajectory of this season.
With the recent winter break, Davis was able to get conditioned physically. Getting David back into shape with no injuries is a terrific sign for Seaman.
“The Christmas break practices helped Aron’s conditioning to where he’s going to be able to play a lot of minutes,” Seaman coach Craig Cox said. “A kid with his talent, we need him on the floor so we can ride those two (Bonner and Davis) and have other guys get better because of them.”
