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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University star senior point guard Tyler Geiman was named to the 2022 All-MIAA men's basketball first team as well as the MIAA's All-Defensive team on Tuesday by the MIAA office.
Also earning honors were Jalen Lewis, who was named third-team All-MIAA, and Michael Keegan, who was named the MIAA Freshman of the Year.
Geiman was named first-team All-MIAA after leading the Ichabods with in scoring with a 15.5 scoring average, 6.2 rebounds per game and a 6.6 assist average.
He also led the Ichabods in minutes per game (34.8) and steals per game (1.3).
Geiman finished tied for 10th in the league in scoring, seventh in rebounding, first in assists and assist to turnover ratio, tied for 11th in steals and fifth in minutes played.
Geiman was named to the all-conference first team for the second time, joining Brady Skeens, Will McNeill, Ewan Auguste and Dan Buie as the only Ichabods to be named multiple times to the MIAA's top postseason team.
Geiman was also named to the MIAA All-Defensive team for the second time in his career.
Overall, it was Geiman's third time earning All-MIAA honors after earning honorable mention accolades in 2018-19 as a sophomore.
Lewis earned third-team All-MIAA honors after averaging 13.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists while playing 31.2 minutes per game.
Lewis was an honorable mention All-MIAA pick last season. Lewis finished 22nd in the MIAA in scoring and was ninth in the MIAA in 3-pointers per game and 21st in minutes per game.
Keegan joins Javion Blake as the only two Ichabods to be named the MIAA Freshman of the Year.
Keegan averaged 9.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists and registered a team-high 26 blocks while starting 26 of 28 games.
He finished 13th in the MIAA in rebounds per game, sixth in blocks and 20th in steals per contest.
Former Manhattan star Trevor Hudgins was named the MIAA player of the year.
The Ichabods will open the MIAA Tournament on Friday at 6 p.m. facing Emporia State in Kansas City, Mo. at the Municipal Auditorium.
2022 All-MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
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By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
After finishing the regular season as the No. 3 seed in Class 6A West, Washburn Rural girls basketball earned a home matchup against 14th seed Garden City to begin postseason.
The Junior Blues continued where they left off in the regular season, picking up a 61-27 first-round victory over the Buffs.
In tournament play advancing is all that matters and even with the win coach Kevin Bordewick still sees some areas to clean up moving forward.
“(We were good) in spurts, I don’t think we were real consistent all the way through,” Bordewick said. “We just have to be more consistent with everything we do.”
The win moved Washburn Rural to 19-2 on the year and sets Rural up to host No. 11 Manhattan, who the Junior Blues beat twice in the regular season, in Friday's 7 p.m. sub-state final.
“At this point in the season everybody has the same record,” Bordewick said. “Even though we have beaten a team it doesn’t matter because everybody starts over.”
The first quarter was slow paced for both teams offensively. The difference came in Washburn Rural’s three 3-pointers in the quarter coming from three players to build a 13-5 lead.
A floater from Junior Blues sophomore Zoe Canfield put them up by double figures shortly into the second quarter.
Eleven of the Buffaloes' 15 first half points came from junior Alileen Becerril-Landeros, who knocked down two 3-pointers in the second quarter.
“We knew number eleven could shoot 3s, and she made three of them in the first half. We just have to go out and guard her and I don’t think we did a real good job at that,” Bordewick said.
Washburn Rural continued to score from the outside, with three more 3-pointers in the quarter.
The final two started an 8-0 run which was capped off with a layup from junior Brooklyn DeLeye just before halftime to put the Junior Blues up, 34-15.
“I thought we ran fast break really well, especially in the second. I thought we just got the outlet and took off. And I think when we attack we are a little bit better,” Bordewick said.
After a few early turnovers the offense for Washburn Rural ramped up in the third quarter, scoring 22 points.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Juan’Tario Roberts and Bo Aldridge’s combined 51 points were exactly what Highland Park's boys needed to earn a 78-65 Class 5A sub-state semifinal decision over St. Thomas Aquinas Tuesday night at Hi Park.
Aldridge’s 27-point night and Roberts’ 24 points helped the 17-4 Scots post the double-digit win over the Saints.
Highland Park will be back at home Friday for a 7 p.m. sub-state championship game against Piper.
Aldridge averaged 19 points during the regular season but believes his production on Tuesday night was more about his mental state rather than his physical state.
“My mindset was just really making sure our seniors' season doesn’t come to an end quickly,” Aldridge said. “That has been my mindset outside of winning state. We’ve experienced state before and it’s a great place to be, but we need to prepare and take every step towards winning and making it to state.
“Coach Mike (Williams) has also prepared us for anything and everything that comes our way and I definitely plan to be making it to state.”
Williams knows what steps to take towards winning. Williams and the Scots’ had an 80-percent winning percentage this year. Now the Scots want to have a perfect record from here on out.
“(Aquinas) has amazing size and they come from an amazing league,” Williams said. “We knew we were going to have our hands full with them. We have always played against size and we’ve been the smaller team more times than not.
“We have created a tenacity and grit over the course of the year to get us over those situations where we are smaller.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball standouts Hunter Bentley and Abby Oliver earned All-MIAA honors on Tuesday afternoon, with senior Bentley earning a spot on the all-conference third team and sophomore Oliver receiving honorable mention.
In her fifth season at WU, Bentley is now a four-time All-MIAA selection after receiving honorable mention in 2019 and 2020 and landing on the second team last season.
The former Bishop Miege standout has turned in another impressive season as she leads the Ichabods in scoring (14.5 points per game/eighth in the MIAA), field goal percentage (44.6 percent/sixth in the MIAA), assists (2.6 average), steals (1.3 average), 3-pointers made (48/ninth in MIAA) and minutes played (32.8 average/eighth in MIAA).
Bentley has led Washburn in scoring in 19 games and has had seven games with 20 or more points.
Bentley has played in every game since her freshman season for a program-record 142 games played and 113 starts.
Her name is etched all over Washburn's record book as she ranks sixth in scoring with 1,607 career points as well as fourth in steals (201), fifth in rebounds (752), fifth in free throws made (317), fifth in 3-pointers made (172) and is first in career minutes played logging 4,278).
Off the court, Bentley is a four-time MIAA Academic Honor Roll member, a three-time MIAA Scholar Athlete, a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, and was a finalist for the 2020-21 MIAA Female Winter Student-Athlete of the Year award.
Oliver, a former Wabaunsee standout, is making her debut on the All-MIAA list.
This season, she is second on the team in scoring with 9.2 points per game and adds 4.6 rebounds per game.
Out of her 128 total rebounds, she has grabbed a team-leading 55 offensive boards.
She is also sixth in the league in total blocks with 29.
Oliver has recorded 14 double-figure games and scored a career-high 20 points at Emporia State in the regular-season finale. Oliver has been named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll twice.
The Ichabods will begin MIAA postseason play on Wednesday at noon as the No. 9 seed taking on No. 8 seed Pittsburg State at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
2022 All-MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's boys basketball team entered Tuesday's Class 5A sub-state semifinal against Eisenhower as a huge favorite.
After all, the Chargers were playing on their home court, entered the game with a 13-win advantage over their opponents and started the night with a gaudy 18-game win streak.
But none of that did anything to calm veteran Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist's nerves.
"This game scared me,'' Bloomquist said after the Chargers advanced with a 78-46 romp past Eisenhower. "I've been doing this long enough that I've been on the other end.
"I've been part of upsets both ways. We don't know these people, they don't know us and they're coming up here with everything to gain and nothing to lose and that's the way they played. I was nervous about this game because the first game of sub-state is always a tough game. You always want to get this one out of the way.''
The Chargers, now 20-1 with 19 straight victories, helped put Bloomquist's mind at least a littie bit at ease with a 27-point opening quarter to take a 14-point advantage over the Tigers and led 46-31 at the half, 64-42 after three quarters and forced a a running clock over the final five minutes.
With the victory Topeka West, the 5A state runner-up a year ago, advanced to Friday's 6 p.m. sub-state final to host Andover, a 59-48 semifinal winner over Bishop Carroll.
Eisenhower, which finished its season 6-15, led just once in the game, at 3-2, and the Chargers used a 9-0 run to take a 27-11 advantage on a hoop from senior star Elijah Brooks late in the opening quarter before junior Jaden Roth scored at the buzzer to cut Eisenhower's deficit to 27-13.
Topeka West led by 18 points (46-28) late in the half and took a 15-point lead to the locker room at the break as Brooks scored 20 first-half points and junior Sincere Austin added 14.
West outscored the Tigers 18-11 in the third quarter to push its advantage to 22 points at the start of the fourth quarter and cruised the rest of the way.
Brooks finished with a game-high 27 points and 11 rebounds while junior Malachi Berg added 16 points, Austin 14 and senior Zander Putthoff with 12 points, including three 3-pointers.
Senior Owen Rush led Eisenhower with 13 points (three 3-pointers), but was the lone Tiger with more than seven points.
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 78, EISENHOWER 46
Eisenhower 13 18 11 4 -- 46
Topeka West 27 19 18 14 -- 78
Eisenhower (6-15) -- Roy 1-3 0-0 3, Libel 3-9 0-0 6, Rush 5-12 0-2 13, Friend 1-6 0-0 3, Omli 1-2 1-2 3, Dexter 1-3 0-0 3, Roth 2-2 0-0 4, Conyers 2-3 0-0 4, Rackley 0-2 0-0 0, Purkey 3-7 0-0 7, George 0-0 0-0 0, Blue 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-49 1-4 46.
Topeka West (20-1) -- Austin 5-10 2-4 14, Brooks 12-16 3-4 27, Alexander 1-7 0-0 2, Berg 6-7 4-7 16, Putthoff 4-11 1-2 12, Robinson 3-3 0-2 6, C. Foy 0-1 0-0 0, Sowell 0-2 0-0 0, J. Foy 0-1 0--0 0, Noonoo 0-0 1-2 1, Reimer 0-0 0-0 0, Bearman 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-58 11-20 78.
3-point goals -- Eisenhower 7 (Rush 3, Dexter, Roy, Friend, Purkey), Topeka West 5 (Putthoff 3, Austin 2). Total fouls -- Eisenhower 14, Topeka West 8. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- Aiustin, Conyer.