By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
The second-best boys team in the United Kansas Conference standings was pushed all night Friday by the second-worst team in the standings. But Topeka West, ranked fourth in the state in Class 5A, held off a feisty Leavenworth team to win 66-57 at West. The win kept the Chargers in the conference title hunt.
Senior Malakyah Duncan tied for team-high scoring honors with 16 points in Friday's 66-57 Topeka West win over Leavenworth. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Leavenworth rallied to take a lead midway through the second period. That ignited a fire in the Chargers. Topeka West ripped off a 10-0 run to lead 32-23. But that fire burned out quickly. The Pioneers repeatedly clawed back from double-digit deficits throughout the second half.
Having trailed by as much as 13 points, Leavenworth scored seven-straight points late in the fourth period to put a scare in the home team. Pioneer senior Kentravion Tolbert drove to the bucket with 1:46 remaining and was knocked to the deck in the process of scoring in traffic. His free throw made the score 58-55 – way too close for comfort in a game that was supposed to be one-sided.
The Chargers responded by outscoring Leavenworth 8-2 down the stretch. But there wasn’t much to celebrate after the victory.
“Leavenworth is a team that has nothing to lose,” said Topeka West coach Christian Ulsaker. “They’re going to come out and play hard, because a lot of those guys are playing for playing time next year.
“For us, we were a little sluggish. We’ve got to start a little better. That’s kind of been our motto the last couple of games, we’ve got to start with a better tempo. That’s on me as the coach. I’ve got to get them going early on.”
It seemed every time the Chargers started to pull away, they lost the momentum.
“I think (in those moments) we had a little bit of a loss of concentration. Maybe just getting complacent,” Ulsaker said. “We’ve got to learn how to continue those runs, make them a little bit longer. And be more sound on defense.”
Seniors Keimani Paul and Malakyah Duncan scored 16 points apiece to lead the Chargers. Paul, who connected on 7-10 shots from the field, found some positives from the game, particularly the Chargers’ full-court pressure.
“We didn’t let them just run over us. We came out trying to play defense, trying to score,” Paul said. “We like to speed things up. (The Pioneers) couldn’t handle the pressure, so we just stayed up, got the ball back every time we turned it over.”
Topeka West improved to 16-3 on the season, 11-2 in the UKC. Still a game behind the 11-1 Seaman Vikings in the loss column with four games left, the Chargers can’t afford any slipups. Seaman’s lone conference loss was to Topeka West back in December.
The Chargers have just one game next week, a trip to De Soto on Tuesday.
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 66, LEAVENWORTH 57
Leavenworth 14 13 12 18 -- 57
Topeka West 17 17 15 17 -- 66
Leavenworth (5-14, 1-11) – Cheatham 9-14 6-8 25, Tolbert 4-6 1-1 9, Clark 0-3 0-4 0, Brantley 3-11 0-0 7, Alonzo 4-9 1-1 9, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, King 3-6 1-2 7. Totals 23-49 9-16 57.
Topeka West (16-3, 11-2) – Munganga 2-7 2-2 8, Traylor 6-11 0-0 12, Duncan 6-14 4-4 16, Paul 7-10 0-2 16, Lassiter 4-8 0-0 8, Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Ware 1-2 2-2 4, Doby 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 27-55 8-10 66.
3-point goals – Leavenworth 2 (Cheatham, Brantley), Topeka West 4 (Munganga 2, Paul 2). Total fouls – Leavenworth 15, Topeka West 15. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
