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Marque Wilkerson glides in for a basket having scored 25 points against Washburn Rural (Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN)
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Marque Wilkerson and his Topeka West teammates made sure that Tuesday's Centennial League basketball showdown between boys co-leaders West and Washburn Rural wasn't much of a showdown after all, with the Chargers taking over sole possession of the league lead with a 63-46 romp past the Junior Blues at West.
Washburn Rural scored the first 2 points of the game, but the rest of the night belonged to the Chargers, who improved to 11-2 overall and 8-1 in the league with their fifth straight win as Wilkerson, West's 6-foot-2 senior point guard, led the way with a game-high 25 points.
Junior Elijah Brooks joined Wilkerson in double figures with 11 points while senior Trevion Alexander and sophomore Sincere Austin added 9 and 8 points for the Chargers, No. 7-ranked in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Class 5A rankings.
Veteran Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist said he was pleased with the way his team imposed its will on the Junior Blues, No. 8-ranked in 6A, from the start.
"We've talked about that, that we have to do it from the start and we also have to do it when (teams) make a run,'' Bloomquist said. "When they make a run at us we ought to do that as well.
"We have to understand that every game we play now is a big game. This was the first and obviously to start it with one of the better teams in the league is kind of worrisome without a doubt. This (West) team worries me all the time, but they're so much to watch when they're on a roll.''
West scored the final 5 points of the first quarter to take a 15-8 lead and led by 15 late in the first half before taking a commanding 31-18 advantage to the locker room at the half.
Topeka West went on to lead by much as 16 in the third quarter and 25 in the fourth before Rural (8-4, 7-2) scored the final 8 points of the game.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Football's National Signing Day is Wednesday, Feb. 3, with multiple Shawnee County athletes expected to sign college letters of intent on Wednesday or in the near future.
Six Hayden players are expected to sign Wednesday, including Wildcat tight end/defensive end Trey Pivarnik and defensive end Jayden Rainer with Washburn.
Wildcat defensive back Ja'mier Garrett, linebacker Jordan Rainer and lineman Tim Wells are expected to sign with Butler Community College while receiver/defensive back Geivonnii Williams is headed to Independence Community College.
Hayden star Desmond Purnell, a running back/defensive back, signed earlier with Kansas State.
Rossville receiver Bo Reeves plans to sign with Central Missouri of the MIAA while linebacker Kaiden Brown is headed to Baker University after the duo helped Rossville win the Class 2A state championship last fall.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Kai Allen
KAI ALLEN, Silver Lake
A 138-pound senior, Allen won his fourth straight Mid-East League individual wrestling title to lead Silver Lake to the team championship last Friday at Wabaunsee. Allen, one of seven league champions for the Eagles, has posted three straight top-three finishes in the Class 3A-1A state tournament, including a state championship in 2019 and a runner-up finish last season.
Dylan Birkenbaugh
DYLAN BIRKENBAUGH, Seaman
Birkenbaugh bowled a 737 three-game series to earn his second individual title of the week, putting together games of 225, 265 and 247 as Seaman won the boys title in the Emporia quadrangular at Flint Hills Lanes by a 2,894-2,578 margin over Derby. Birkenbaugh also won the individual title in the Hayden quad at West Ridge Lanes with a 628 series as the Vikings won by a 2,445-2,185 margin over Topeka West.
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By TIM BISEL
TopSports.news
The only Kansas State men’s basketball coach to win a conference championship in four-plus decades now has a losing conference record during his Manhattan tenure.
That isn’t a surprise. That’s Bruce Weber.
Weber knows how to succeed. He just doesn’t know how to sustain. His track record is clear: He has rises and falls, dips and spikes that are as drastic and expected as temperature fluctuations in Kansas.
When he followed Bill Self at Illinois, Weber was wildly successful his first two seasons, winning back-to-back Big Ten championships in 2004 and 2005 and reaching the NCAA championship game in ’05. Three years later, his Illini had gradually slipped to 16-19 overall and 5-13 in the Big Ten.
Weber rebounded, of course, going 24-10 and finishing second in the conference in 2008-09 before starting another slide that culminated with his 2012 dismissal following a 17-15 season.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Silver Lake and Rossville went one-two in the team standings in Friday's Mid-East League boys wrestling tournament at Wabaunsee while combining to win nine individual championships.
League-champion Silver Lake had seven wrestlers capture league championships, including Devin Dultmeier at 120 pounds, Justin Rakestraw at 132, Kai Allen at 138, Chase Root at 152, Daigan Kruger at 170, Triston VandeVelde at 182 and Preston Gillen at 195 pounds.
Kai Allen
