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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Of course, Rick Bloomquist never likes to lose, but two things that happened at the end of Friday night's 45-43 loss to Lawrence in the semifinals of the Topeka Invitational Tournament left the veteran Topeka West coach livid.
Senior Malachi Berg scored 15 points to tie for team-high honors in Topeka West's 45-43 Topeka Invitational Tournament semifinal loss to Lawrence at West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka West senior Xavier Alexander scored 15 points Friday night in the Chargers' 45-43 Topeka Invitational Tournament semifinal loss to Lawrence. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
With the game tied at 43 in the final seconds and West on defense, the Chargers had the Lions trapped for several seconds but the pleas for a five-second call from the West bench went unheeded and Lawrence star Zaxton King eventually broke away to score the game-winning basket on a driving layup with about two seconds remaining.
West managed to get a desperation 3-point attempt from Sincere Austin but the shot bounced off as time ran out, giving the eighth-ranked (Class 6A) Lions a spot in Saturday's 1:45 p.m. championship game against Highland Park while sixth-ranked (5A) West will play Wichita Southeast for third place at 12 p.m.
"Those are college officials,'' Bloomquist said of the five-second no call. "I mean they offficiate college basketball and I know we made some mistakes and got behind and so on and so forth, but that doesn't matter. You call the game the way it's supposed to be called and we had not just a five-second call, but an eight to 10-second call that wasn't called and that made a difference in the last-second shot. Let the (game) go to overtime and do the right thing.
"Sure, there's things we've got to fix and things I'm disappointed in. I told the kids, 'We'll use this to jumpstart you for the playoffs.' We've still got a lot to play for and we can't let this identify our season, but boy you talk about frustration when you have a game of this caliber and you can't get officials to make the simple, fundamental call.
"If we lose in overtime, I'm fine, I'm OK. I mean I'm not fine, but I'll handle that. That's my fault, that's my kids' fault. If we miss a free thow that costs us a game, that's our fault. But to have a game lost because of a fundamental officials' call is really hurtful.''
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
After giving up 76 points in Thursday night's one-point overtime loss to Wichita Southeast, Hayden got a lot stingier on the defensive end in Friday's Topeka Invitational Tournament consolation contest, giving up just 33 points over the first three quarters and 45 for the game in a 55-45 win.
"We played defense,'' Hayden coach Dwayne Paul said. "I think you guys have been covering me long enough to know I don't care how many points we score. I want to hold teams under 45 points and that's always our goal.
"When we don't get that I'm not very happy, win, lose or draw.''
Hayden senior star Joe Otting scored 27 points Friday as the Wildcats took a 55-45 win over Shawnee Mission North in the Topeka Invitational Tournament. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Getting a monster 27-point night from senior Joe Otting, who has 55 points in his two tournament games, Hayden evened its record at 5-5 while advancing to Satiurday's 1:45 p.m. fifth-place game to take on citty rival Topeka High.
After the game was tied at 12 at the end of the first quarter Hayden opened up a 30-22 halftime advantage and stretched its lead to 45-33 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Paul was able to use 13 players in the game, with seven Wildcats cracking the scoring column.
And there was no doubt who the star of the game was, with Notre Dame football signee Otting dominating the contest.
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"9By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Coming off a tough overtime loss to No. 10-ranked Lawrence late Friday night, Topeka High had to go back to work about 17 hours later.
And High coach Geo Lyons was thrilled to see his team do just that, with the Trojans rolling to a 63-37 Friday consolation win over Lansing to kick off Day 2 of the Topeka Invitational Tournament at Topeka West.
Topeka High coach Geo Lyons talks to his Trojans during Friday's 63-37 Topeka Invitational Tournament win over Lansing. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Trojans, who played without junior standout Isaiah Lyons (back injury), jumped on top of Lansing 5-0 at the start of the game and went wire to wire for their second win of the season.
"A lot of emotion went into last night's game, so I really wondered how we would respond in such a quick turnaround, less than 24 hours,'' G. Lyons said. "Also, a guy that's kind of been our motor (I. Lyons) down this game, too, you wondered who would step up in big roles today and our guys really stepped up to the plate.''
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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.''
