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Rick Bloomquist's talented Topeka West boys basketball team is back at full strength and that could spell bad news for the Chargers' Centennial League opponents.
Topeka West has been without junior standout Elijah Brooks for all or part of six games due to a foot injury.while another junior starter, Zander Putthoff, missed part of a game with an ankle injury.
But both players are healthy again and both played key roles Friday night as Topeka West rolled to a 71-53 league win at Seaman, with Brooks scoring 21 points while Putthoff adding 14 points and hit 4 3-pointers.
“This is the first time in a long time we’ve been healthy 100 percent,” Bloomquist said. “That was as good of an amoeba defense as we’ve played in a long time here at West. Offensively, we shared the ball a lot, had great spacing and penetrated when we should have. ... It was all pretty good.”
Seaman hit its first seven shots of the night, but Topeka West, 10-2 overall and 7-1 in the league, still led 22-17 at the end of the opening quarter.
The Chargers used a 14-7 second quarter to boost their advantage to 36-24 at the half and West led 54-35 at the start of the fourth.
All five Topeka West starters cracked double figures, with Marque Wilkerson adding 13 points and Trevion Alexander and Sincere Austin 10 each.
“They’ve got so many weapons,” Seaman coach Craig Cox said of West. “When they get on a roll and their confidence gets up, it’s really difficult to combat that. Between them getting to the rim and knocking down threes, there’s not much you can do.”
Seaman junior Mateo Hyman scored a game-high 22 points with 4 3-pointers. JuniorTy Henry added 11 for the Vikings, who fell to 5-7 overall and 4-5 in the league
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 71, SEAMAN 53
Topeka West 22 14 18 17 -- 71
Seaman 17 7 11 18 -- 53
Topeka West (10-2, 7-1) -- Wilkerson 5-9 2-3 13, Brooks 10-14 1-1 21, Austin 4-8 1-2 10, T. Alexander 2-8 6-8 10, Putthoff 5-7 0-0 14, X. Alexander 1-3 0-0 3, Lowery 0-0 0-0 0, Mehrens 0-0 0-1 0, Lira 0-0 0-0 0, Peterson 0-1 0-0 0, Cooper 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-51 10-15 71.
Seaman (5-7, 4-5) -- Hyman 9-16 0-1 22, Henry 5-11 0-0 11, Stallbaumer 3-6 0-0 7, Kobuszewski 3-5 1-1 9, Davis 1-2 0-0 2, Gormley 0-0 0-0 0, Brewer 1-2 0-0 2, Stuewe 0-3 0-0 0, Finley 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-46 1-2 53.
3-point goals -- Topeka West 7-18 (Putthoff 4-6, Wilkerson 1-1, Austin 1-4, X. Alexander 1-3, T. Alexander 0-3, Brooks 0-1); Seaman 8-23 (Hyman 4-10, Kobuszewski 2-4, Henry 1-5, Stallbaumer 1-2, Stuewe 0-1, Finley 0-1). Total fouls -- Topeka West 6, Seaman 15. Fouled out -- none.
