Former Topeka High coach Pat Denney leads Shawnee Mission North past Topeka West in the Topeka Invitational Tournament
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's boys basketball team enjoyed a lot of early success this season, and Rick Bloomquist is concerned that his Chargers might have let that success go to their heads.
After opening the 2020-21 season with six straight victories, West has suddenly hit a roadblock, with the Chargers losing in overtime to Highland Park last Friday before falling 60-59 to Shawnee Mission North in Thursday's opening round of the Topeka Invitational Tournament at Topeka High.
"We've got some individual issues that we need to address, that we're going to address,'' Bloomquist said. "We've got changes we need to make because we've gotten fat and sassy and they've got to understand that you can't play with a big head.
"I think we're just a little pig-headed and big-headed.''
Topeka West entered the Topeka Invitational as the No. 1 seed, while SM North was just 1-7 at the start of the night, but the Indians, coached by former Topeka High coach Pat Denney, took the fight to the Chargers much of the night.
North led 19-15 at the start of the first quarter and 31-28 at the half, shooting 60 percent in the first half (12 of 20) while West connected on just 11 of 36 first-half attempts (31.4 percent).
Topeka West got a 3-pointer from sophomore Xavier Alexander to put the Chargers in front 46-42 at the end of the third quarter, but SM North opened the fourth quarter with a 13-0 run to take a 55-46 lead and West was in chase mode the rest of the night.
West took advantage of six straight missed free throws from the Indians to get within a point on a Marque Wilkerson basket and had a chance to pull out the win on its final posssession, but Trevion Alexander missed a shot as time ran out.
Denney, who returned to The Dungeon for the first time as a visiting coach, admitted that Thursday's win was a big one from himself and his team.
"They sat me on the wrong side. Maybe that was the secret all these years,'' Denney joked. "This was big for these kids because we had played a hell of a schedule, but one thing I'll tell everybody is that we come to practice and these kids work extremely hard and keep getting better.
"This was definitely a step in the right direction.''
Wilkerson had a big 27-point night for Topeka West while T. Alexander added 17 points and X. Alexander 8 points, but only three other Chargers scored, combining for 7 points.
Junior James Shepherd led North with 19 points, while junior Logan Oberle added 17 points and 16 rebounds.
SM North moved into a 4 p.m. Friday semifinal against Wichita Southeast, a 55-54 winner over Highland Park, while Topeka West will play Highland Park in a 4 p.m. consolation contest in High's auxiliary gym.
SHAWNEE MISSION NORTH 60, TOPEKA WEST 59
SM North 19 12 11 18 -- 60
Topeka West 15 13 18 13 -- 59
SM North (2-7) -- Hines 4-10 0-3 9, Shepherd 6-10 5-7 19, Manning 2-5 0-2 4, Oberle 6-9 5-8 17, Cole 2-2 0-0 4, Cullen 0-0 0-0 0, Macon 1-2 0-0 3, Murphy 0-1 0-0 0, Salvino 2-2 0-1 4, Gray 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-43 10-21 60.
Topeka West (6-2) -- Wilkerson 11-18 5-9 27, T. Alexander 7-16 3-8 17, X. Alexander 3-9 0-1 8, Putthoff 0-5 0-0 0, Mehrens 1-3 0-0 3, Lira 0-0 0-0 0, Peterson 0-1 2-2 2, Austin 0-0 0-0 0, Lowery 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 23-56 10-20 59.
3-point goals -- SM North 4 (Shepherd 2, Macon, Hines), Topeka West 3 (X. Alexander 2, Mehrens). Total fouls -- SM North 19, Topeka West 19. Fouled out -- none.
