By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural boys basketball team made sure it wasn't deja vu all over again Tuesday night, with the Junior Blues rolling to a 51-33 home Class 6A sub-state semifinal win over Manhattan to advance to Friday's championship game at Free State.
Rural had been upset by Wichita West on its home floor in last year's sub-state semis, but the 14-6 Junior Blues were never really in danger on Tuesday, scoring the first 9 points of the night and cruising to their third win of the season over the Junior Blues' Centennial League rival.
Senior Jack Hutchinson led all scorers with 17 points in Washburn Rural's 51-33 sub-state win over Manhattan. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
The Junior Blues took an 18-10 first quarter advantage and came within 3/10ths of a second of pitching a second-quarter shutout, outscoring the 9-11 Indians 10-2 to open up a commanding 28-12 lead.
Rural coach Kevin Muff said he did mention the Wichita West loss at the break, reminding the Junior Blues that they couldn't afford to let up the rest of the way.
"We were up 14 against West last year (at the half) and we lost that game, so you remind them that any team's capable of coming back and making a run and you need to come out and start the second half the right way,'' Muff said.
The Junior Blues did that, with Manhattan getting no closer than 13 points in the third as Rural opened up a 43-34 lead and no closer than 18 the rest of the way.''
"I'm proud of the way they came out and responded,'' Muff said. "You play a team three times, No. 1 is very difficult and then on top of it there's a little more pressure in this game than there was the other two, so I'm proud of how they showed composure and I thought we were very unselfish with the ball and were pretty good defensively and really good on the glass. That was probably the biggest key.''
Senior Jack Hutchinson scored a game-high 17 points with three 3-pointers for Washburn Rural while seniors Joe Berry and Davan Brady added 10 points apiece.
Davan Brady scored 10 points as Washburn Rural improved to 14-6 with a 51-33 Class 6A sub-state win over Manhattan. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Sophomore Cameron Carr led Manhattan with 11 points, the only Indian with more than 7 points.
Next up for Rural is an 18-3 Free State team, which advanced with a 53-42 win over Junction City.
The Junior Blues will take a four-game win streak into Friday's 7 p.m. game.
"We're playing our best basketball,'' Muff said. "The last two games I think we've played as good as we have all year, and we should be. To their credit they're peaking at the right time.''
WASHBURN RURAL BOYS 51, MANHATTAN 33
Manhattan 10 2 12 9 -- 33
Washburn Rural 18 10 15 8 -- 51
Manhattan (9-11) -- Braxmeyer 1-6 2-2 5, Perkins 1-6 0-0 3, Reid 0-2 0-0 0, Carr 4-10 1-1 11, J. Wilson 2-6 2-2 7, Hall 1-1 0-0 3, Campbell 0-0 0-0 0, Wilcoxsen 0-0 0-0 0, Delort 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 0-3 2-2 2, Coonrod 0-0 0-0 0, C. Wilson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 10-33 7-7 33
Washburn Rural (14-6) -- Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Brady 5-6 0-1 10, Berry 5-6 0-0 10, Hutchinson 7-9 0-0 17, Patterson 2-5 0-2 4, Bachelor 2-5 0-0 4, Kidd 0-4 0-0 0, Morrow 0-0 0-0 0, Hirshi 0-0 0-0 0, Conklin 0-0 0-0 0, Howard 3-3 0-2 6, Hanks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-39 0-5 51.
3-point goals -- Manhattan 6 (Carr 2, Hall, Braxmeyer, Perkins, J. Wilson), Washburn Rural 3 (Hutchinson 3). Total fouls -- Manhattan 8, Washburn Rural 9. Fouled out -- none.
