By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's Zander Putthoff has suffered through a tough 2021-2022 basketball season, fighting both physical ailments and at times, his shot.
But when his team needed him the most the 6-foot-4 senior came to the rescue Tuesday night, scoring 17 points with five 3-pointers and hitting the game-clinching free throws with 11.9 seconds remaining as Topeka West wrapped up its second straight Centennial League championship with a 55-50 win at Highland Park.
Topeka West Zander Putthoff scored 17 points with five 3-pointers and canned two game-clinching free throws as the Chargers wrapped up their second straight Centennial League title with a 55-50 win at Highland Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"Every game's a championship game right now,'' Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist said. "Every game's a playoff game and we've got to look at it that way and I'm really proud of the way we hung in there with this team (Highland Park) right here.
"They're very athletic, they're very coachable, they're very good players and we were very fortunate to win.''
Topeka West, which posted its 17th straight victory to improve to 18-1 overall and 14-1 in the league, fell behind by 10 points (28-18) midway through the second quarter before Putthoff, who had hit a trey early in the game, connected on three 3-pointers over the final 3:13 of the half to cut the Chargers' deficit to a manageable 30-27.
"Zander's been in a slump and I talked to him the other day and I said, 'You can still shoot it. I still have faith in you, I still believe in you, you're still my shooter,' and he proved that tonight,'' Bloomquist said.
Putthoff then opened the second half with his fifth 3-pointer to pull Topeka West even for the first time since late in the opening quarter.
"It's been a big mental game, but I think I stayed faithful through the storm and I knew everything was going to work out,'' Putthoff said. "I'm just staying patient and it's paying off.''
Putthoff cooled down from that point on, but found teammate Xavier Alexander at the end of the third quarter for a trey that put the Chargers in front 42-41 at the start of the fourth and wrapped up the West win with his two late free throws.
In addition to its 10-point advantage in the first half, Highland Park (15-4, 12-3) led by seven twice in the third quarter.
The Scots still led 48-47 with 3:56 remaining after a hoop by junior Bo Aldridge, but junior Malachi Berg answered to put the Chargers in front to stay and senior Elijah Brooks and Berg added buckets tp put West up by a game's biggest 53-48 advantage with 30 seconds remaining.
Highland Park senior Juan'Tario Roberts takes the ball to the hoop for two of his game-high 18 points in Tuesday's 55-50 loss to Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Highland Park senior Juan'Tario Roberts, who scored a game-high 18 points, got the Scots back within three points with 19.5 seconds left, but Hi Park didn't put West into the bonus until there were just 11.9 seconds remaining and Putthoff calmly canned both charities to put the game away.
"I looked over at Elijah and he's telling me, 'Get the ball, get the ball,' so I know they wanted me up there just as much as I wanted to be up there,'' Putthoff said. "It's just second nature.''
Brooks added 12 points for the Chargers while Sincere Austin had nine points, Berg seven off the bench and Alexander six points on two 3s.
Aldridge added 13 points for the Scots while junior Jahmir Kingcannon scored 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers.
While disappointed with the loss, Highland Park coach Mike Williams said the Scots' ceiling is still high heading into postseason.
"We're a good team,'' Highland Park coach Mike Williams said. "We're a really, really good team. We've got a really, really good group in our locker room right now, a resilient group in our locker room.
"Our team deals and puts up with a lot of different things that other groups don't have to deal with to show up on Tuesday and Friday nights to play this game that we love. And our goals are still in front of us.''
Highland Park will close out its regular season at home Friday against Washburn Rural while Topeka West will play at Topeka High.
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 55, HIGHLAND PARK BOYS 50
Topeka West 14 13 15 13 -- 55
Highland Park 17 13 11 9 -- 50
Topeka West (18-1, 14-1) -- Austin 3-7 1-1 9, Brooks 5-10 2-2 12, Alexander 2-4 0-0 6, Putthoff 5-12 2-2 17, Bearman 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Foy 2-2 0-0 4, Berg 3-5 1-1 7. Totals 20-38 6-6 55.
Highland Park(15-4, 12-3) -- Adams 1-3 0-0 3, Aldridge 6-13 0-0 13, Richardson 2-5 0-0 4, Kingcannon 4-10 0-0 10, Roberts 7-12 2-2 18, Clemons 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 21-45 2-2 50.
3-point goals -- Topeka West 9 (Putthoff 5, Austin 2, Alexander 2), Highland Park 6 (Kingcannon 2, Roberts 2, Adams, Aldridge). Total fouls -- Topeka West 8, Highland Park 12. Fouled out – Richardson.
