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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Silver Lake’s boys and girls basketball teams finished off their appearances in the Burlington Invitational with a pair of third-place finishes.
Silver Lake’s boys edged Independence 48-42 while the Lady Eagles rolled to a 59-33 win over the Bulldogs.
The Silver Lake boys, who improved to 5-5, were locked in a 19-all tie with the Bulldogs at the half, but took a 2-point advantage (30-28) into the fourth quarter and outscored Indy 18-14 down the stretch.
Silver Lake, which won for the fourth time in its last five games, had three double-figure scorers, with sophomore Kamryn Kaniper scoring 16 points with 4 3-pointers while senior Dawson Wyre added 14 and senior Andrew Osterhaus 10 points.
Independence, which fell to 1-9, was led by Easton Ewing's 10 points.
Silver Lake’s girls, 5-4 on the season, broke open their game against Independence with a 22-10 second quarter and turned the contest into a rout with a 22-4 third quarter, opening up a 56-24 advantage.
Freshman Makenzie McDaniel led four players in double figures for the Eagles with 14 points while sophomore Taylor Ross added 13 points and sophomore Lexis Berndt and freshman McKinley Kruger 12 each.
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TopSports.news
Both Emporia State and the No. 7 Washburn Ichabods singed the nets in the first half of Saturday's MIAA men's basketball game at White Auditorium, with the two teams deadlocked 43-43 at the half.
The 10-2 Ichabods cooled off in the second half, however, while the Hornets never did, with Emporia State pulling away for a 91-74 victory.
Emporia State, which improved to 7-6 on the season, shot 59.3 percent from the field in the first half and heated up to 66.7 percent in the second half to shoot 62.7 percent for the game. The Hornets also hit 13 of 21 3-pointers (61.9 percent).
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Wichita Southeast entered the Topeka Invitational Tournament with a 2-5 record and left as the tournament champion.
The 5-5 Buffaloes rode a hot first half to their third straight victory in Saturday's tournament final, building a 17-point halftime advantage over Lansing and holding off the 7-3 Lions down the stretch.
Lansing, coached by former Highland Park coach Jason Jones, rallied after the break, getting back in the hunt with a 16-9 third quarter.
The Lions gave themselves to pull out the win with 23 points in the fourth quarter, but Southeast hit 14 of 19 free throws overall in the final period to hang on.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West still has to be stinging from Thursday's 1-point first-round Topeka Invitational Tournament loss to Shawnee Mission North, a team that entered the tournament with just one win.
But after seeing their chances at the tournament championship go out the window, the 8-2 Chargers did the next best thing, winning back-to-back games, including Saturday's 69-62 win over Hayden, to post a fifth-place finish.
"We've got goals,'' Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist said. "We talked about that and we want to continue. We want the second half of the season to be better than the first half.
"Somebody told me that to win in March you've sometimes got to lose in January and there's a lot of truth to that.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Highland Park's boys basketball team is still searching for the consistency the Scots will need to become a Class 5A contender this season, and that issue crept up again Saturday in the second half of the Scots' Topeka Invitational Tournament seventh-place game against Topeka High.
Fortunately for Highland Park, the Scots had played well enough in a 33-16 first half to give them enough of a margin to hold off the Trojans for a 54-43 victory in High's auxiliary gym.