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Something had to give in Tuesday night's Class 5A boys state quarterfinal between Hays and Topeka West, with the Indians and Chargers starting the night with a combined 43 straight victories.
And in a game that was tight throughout, it was Rick Bloomquist's Chargers that kept on rolling, overcoming an injury to standout Elijah Brooks to end Hays' 30-game winning streak with a 52-49 win on the Indians' home court.
Rick Bloomquist's Topeka West boys are headed to the Class 5A semifinals after a 52-49 quarterfinal win over previously-unbeaten Hays. [Submitted]
With its 14th straight win Topeka West earned a 7 p.m. semifinal date Friday night with De Soto at Emporia's White Auditorium. The 20-2 Chargers are the No. 2 seed while 19-3 De Soto is the No. 3 seed.
Topeka West lost Brooks, who had 14 points, to an injury early in the final fourth quarter with the game hanging in the balance, but the Chargers, in the state tournament for the first time since 2010, found a way to get the job done.
"When Elijah went down, we could have quit, we could have rolled over,” Bloomquist said. “We could’ve played dead, we could have said, 'Woe is me', but they played harder
“I love that team. I love those boys. I love what they did tonight."
Hays, which ended the season 22-1 after advancing to the 5A final four a year ago, held an 18-16 lead at the end of the first quarter and 32-29 at the half before the Chargers used a 10-6 third quarter to take a slim 39-38 advantage into the fourth.
Neither team could get any kind of separation the rest of the way until Chargers sophomore Xavier Alexander canned a huge 3-pointer with less than two minutes remaining to put West ahead to stay, 50-47.
“Xavier came in, hit a dagger,'' Bloomquist said. "And he was kind of in my doghouse, and he just shook it off. Because he knows he can do it."
After losing back-to-back games in mid-January to Highland Park and Shawnee Mission North, West's improvement over the second half of the season showed Tuesday night according to Bloomquist.
"We had a bump in the road in the middle, but to win in March sometimes you got to lose in January,'' he said. "You always talk about learning from your losses -- that's a cliche that we use a lot -- but you have to apply what you learned. Tonight we applied just about everything.
"We took care of the ball much better, we did a lot of things better against a very well-coached, athletic team. We did a lot of good things that throughout the season we made mistakes with.''
Brooks, a junior, was one of three double-figure scorers for the Chargers, who got 16 points apiece from seniors Marque Wilkerson and Trevion Alexander.
Topeka West senior Marque Wilkerson scored 16 points as the Chargers advanced to the Class 5A semifinals with a 52-49 win at Hays. [Submitted]
Jace Linenberger, a 6-foot-6 junior, led all scorers with 24 points, but Hays got just 2 points from 6-6 senior Dalyn Schwarz, who was hobbled through most of the game after suffering an early-game injury.
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 52, HAYS 49
Topeka West 16 13 10 13 -- 52
Hays 18 14 6 11 -- 49
Topeka West (20-2) -- Wilkerson 6 3-4 16, Brooks 7 0-0 14, Austin 0 0-0 0, T. Alexander 7 1-1 16, Puthoff 0 2-2 2, X. Alexander 1 1-3 4, Mehrens 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 7-10 52.
Hays (22-1) -- Krannawitter 1 0-0 3, Kiefer 2 0-0 7, Nunnery 2 2-2 7, Linenberger 10 4-5 24, Schwarz 1 0-0 2, Dale 2 0-0 6, Oakley 0 0-0 0, Weimer 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 6-7 49.
3-point goals -- Topeka West 3 (Wilkerson, T. Alexander, X. Alexander), Hays 5 (Dale 2, Nunnery, Krannawitter, Kieffer). Total fouls -- Topeka West 8, Hays 12. Fouled out — Wilkerson.
