Washburn Rural's Jack Hutchinson scores 2 of his 23 point against Emporia. (Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN)
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural’s boys basketball team enjoyed one of its best offensive performances of the season in Friday night’s home Centennial League matchup with Emporia, shooting 57.5 percent from the field as senior standouts Jack Hutchinson and Joe Berry combined for 38 points.
But while Rural coach Kevin Muff was pleased with the Junior Blues’ 63-point output, he wasn’t necessarily happy with fact that his team allowed 55 in a 63-55 league win.
“We’ll take 63, but we’ve got to be better defensively,’’ said Muff, whose team improved to 7-3 overall and 6-1 in the league. “We can’t let teams get the ball where they want to get it and move it how they want to move it.
“I told the team tonight, we’re 10 games in. We’re over halfway done with our season, so it’s time.“
Washburn Rural, which lost two of three games in last week’s Basehor-Linwood tournament, came out hot Friday night, opening up a 19-11 first-quarter advantage after leading by 10 late in the quarter.
But Emporia (6-5, 3-4) was within 6 at the half (28-22) and got as close as 40-39 with 1:56 left in the third before trailing 45-41 at the start of the fourth.
Emporia got no closer than 3 the rest of the way and Rural finally put the Spartans away with a 10-1 run, opening its biggest lead of the night at 59-47 with 40 seconds remaining.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Emporia,’’ Muff said. “I thought they had a solid game plan coming in, where to get the ball, get open shots when they needed to and (Charles) Snyder was good
“But if we can’t guard any better than what we’re guarding right now, rotation and communication, whether it’s zone or man, we’re going to have trouble. I felt like I had to fabricate a lot of stuff on the sideline, just to get us going.’’
Hutchinson was outstanding for the Junior Blues, tying Snyder for game-high honors with 23 points while connecting on 5 of 7 3-pointers.
Berry was also solid for Rural, finishing with 15 points and hitting 6 of 10 shots from the floor, while sophomore Jack Bachelor came up big late, scoring all 9 of his points over the final 3:40.
Junior Jacob Ortega added 10 points for Emporia while seniors Hunter Hines and Chance Gilpin chipped in with 9 and 8 points for the Spartans, who shot 58 percent from the floor.
WASHBURN RURAL BOYS 63, EMPORIA 55
Emporia 11 11 19 14 -- 55
Washburn Rural 19 9 17 18 -- 63
Emporia (6-5, 3-4) -- Kirmer 1-4 0-0 3, Ortega 4-5 0-0 10, Gilpin 3-6 0-0 8, HInes 3-3 2-4 9, Snyder 10-19 2-3 23, Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Leeds 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 22-38 4-9 55.
Washburn Rural (7-3, 6-1) -- Bachelor 3-5 2-3 9, Williams 2-5 2-2 7, Berry 6-10 2-2 15, Hutchinson 9-11 0-0 23, Howard 0-1 0-0 0, Kidd 0-2 2-2 2, Brady 2-4 0-0 4, Patterson 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 23-40 9-11 63.
3-point goals -- Emporia 7 (Ortega 2, Gilpin 2, Kirmer, Hines, Snyder), Washburn Rural 8 (Hutchinson 5, Bachelor, Williams, Berry). Total fouls -- Emporia 14, Washburn Rural 9. Fouled out -- none.
