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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West junior basketball standout Elijah Brooks was convinced the Chargers could have won Friday night's Class 5A state semifinal game against De Soto even if he hadn't been able to play.
Fortunately, West didn't have to cross that bridge, with the 6-foot-3 Brooks bouncing back from a knee inury in the fourth quarter of the Hays quarterfinal victory to not only play, but star as the 21-2 Chargers punched their ticket to Saturday's 6 p.m. championship game against 22-2 Maize with a 61-57 win over the Wildcats.
"I was happy I got to play, but at the same time I knew my guys could pull out the W even if I wasn't able to play,'' Brooks said. "They were going to play their heart out regardless if I played or not.
"The support that we have for each other, we know that we're going to keep fighting regardless of what happens.''
Elijah Brooks drives to the basket for 2 of his game-high 24 points in Friday night's 61-57 Topeka West 5A semifinal win over De Soto. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
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TopSports.news
WICHITA -- Topeka High junior standout NiJaree Canady is a team player and happy to do whatever her team needs.
What the Trojans needed in Friday’s Class 6A state girls semifinal at Koch Arena was a big performance out of their 6-foot post player and Canady delivered, scoring 29 points and grabbing 14 rebounds as High advanced to Saturday’s 6 p.m. state title game with a 54-37 victory over Dodge City.
The 23-1 Trojans will face 22-0 Shawnee Mission Northwest for the state championship, with the Cougars advancing with a 59-45 win over Olathe West.
NiJaree Canady
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The immediate benefit for Washburn University's men's basketball team from Tyler Geiman's highly-publicized nearly three-quarters-court 3-pointer last Saturday night in Marysville, Mo. was an MIAA Tournament championship and the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Division II Championships.
But the buzzer-beater that gave the Ichabods a dramatic 69-68 win over Northwest Missouri could be the gift that keeps on giving in terms of recruiting and exposure.
"Without question,'' said Washburn coach Brett Ballard, whose team will face Missouri Western Saturday night in the NCAA Central Region Tournament. "I think that for us that positive publicity can certainly help us in recruiting. You know a lot of people are aware of Washburn because we've got a great basketball tradition here, but certainly outside of this region it helps us, and even within the region.
"I think that notoriety and just the attention that has brought to our program, and even to Tyler Geiman and how much better he's gotten and what a season he's having, I think that whether its high school coaches or AAU programs or kids we're trying to recruit or their parents, they get Washburn in their head a little bit and that can be a positive, for sure.''
![Tyler Geiman's game-winning 3-pointer that gave Washburn the MIAA Tournament title last Saturday night could provide long-term benefits for his school and the Ichabod basketball program. [File photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]](/images/aa-images/TylerGeimantriple-double.jpg)
Tyler Geiman's game-winning 3-pointer that gave Washburn the MIAA Tournament title last Saturday night could provide long-term benefits for his school and the Ichabod basketball program. [File photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
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Topeka West's Elijah Brooks makes a dunk against De Soto during the 5A State semi-finals in Emporia. (Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN)
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- It wasn't easy, and very little has been in Rick Bloomquist's nine-year rebuilding project with Topeka West basketball.
But what the Chargers lacked in artistic flair in Friday's Class 5A state boys semifinal against De Soto they made up for with pure grittiness, pulling out a 61-57 victory at White Auditorium to advance to the boys state championship game for the third time in school history.
"It was gut ball,'' Bloomquist said after the Chargers improved to 21-2 with their 15th straight victory. "It wasn't a basketball game, it was a gut ball game. It's one of those deals where they may question what we do in practice, but they figure it out after awhile and appreciate a little gut ball every once in a while.
"It's a situation where we think we have them prepared, we really do. I've got a great coaching staff, I've got great support, I've got kids that believe in what we're doing and it was just flat gut ball tonight.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's boys basketball team is coming off the program's biggest win in more than a decade.
Now the goal for the Chargers is to finish off their amazing 2020-21 ride with the school's first boys state title.
Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist (left) talks with Hays coach Alex Hutchins after West's 52-49 Class 5A quarterfinal win Tuesday night. [Submitted]
"The whole thing right now is to do what we did to get here, but work a little harder today in practice,'' West coach Rick Bloomquist said before Thursday's practice. "We want to stay focused, keep our nose down, don't get our heads inflated. It's not a party, it's still a basketball game and we just have to control our emotions right now.
"Like I've been telling them all year, their biggest weakness was their emotional IQ. Now our IQ's getting tested, so that's big key for us right now.''
