By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's boys basketball team notched yet another in a growing list of impressive accomplishments Friday night.
The Chargers picked up win No. 21 on the season with their 20th straight victory while earning a return trip to the Class 5A state tournament with a 73-59 victory over Andover at West.
"It's this whole program, it's not just these guys but it's last year's team, the year before and the teams that worked to get us to this level,'' Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist said. "To go to state back to back is pretty special for anybody.
"For Topeka West to get there twice in a row and win 20 games back to back says a lot for the kids that we have here, that they believe in what we're doing. They've bought into our system, they bought into our discipline, they bought into everything that we threw at them and this is their reward and I'm so proud of them because they're a great bunch of kids.''
Topeka West's boys basketball team poses with its sub-state championship trophy after Friday's 73-59 win over Andover. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Topeka West, the 5A runner-up last season, took control early against the Trojans and never looked back as senior Elijah Brooks and junior Malachi Berg combined for 47 points.
The Chargers opened up a 19-11 first-quarter lead and pushed their advantage to 33-20 at the half.
West led 53-39 at the start of the fourth quarter and led by a game's biggest 22 points (61-39) with six minutes remaining before Andover (17-5) used its pressure to defense to get as close as 10 points twice over the final 2:50.
That was about the only aspect of West's performance that Bloomquist was disappointed in.
"We didn't handle their press very well, but we can fix that,'' Bloomquist said. "We press each other every damn night in practice and we looked like we'd never seen a press before.''
Brooks had his usual big game for West whille Berg had a career night for the Chargers in most every facet.
Topeka West junior Malachi Berg takes his turn cutting down the nets after scoring 23 points in Friday's 73-59 sub-state win over Andover. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"He was a warrior tonight,'' Bloomquist said of Berg, "and I knew it was coming because Malachi is a great athlete. He just needs to let loose and play and when he does he makes everybody else around him better.''
"I was just doing what coach told me to do,'' Berg said. "There was a lot of good passes from my teammates and that helped a lot.''
Senior Zander Putthoff was the third Charger in double figures with 10 points, including two 3-pointers, while junior Sincere Austin added eight points with a pair of 3s.
Brooks said he is proud that West was able to earn another trip to state.
"You can tell we did all the preparation and the hard work because it just pays off on the court,'' Brooks said. "At the end of the day we know in our minds that we should be going back so having that mindset is just good moving forward.''
Chris Harris, a 6-foot-7 junior, led Andover with 16 points while junior Brandon Redic added 10 points.
Topeka West will compete in next week's 5A state tournament at Emporia's White Auditorium, playing a first-round game on Wednesday.
State pairings will be released at the conclusion of sub-state tournaments.
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 73, ANDOVER 59
Andover 11 9 19 20 -- 59
Topeka West 19 14 20 20 -- 73
Andover (17-5) -- Redic 4 2-3 10, Shetlar 2 0-0 6, Klein 4 0-1 9, C. Harris 7 1-1 16, B. Harris 4 0-0 9, Kim 3 0-0 7, Neal-McFarthing 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 3-5 59.
Topeka West (21-1) -- Austin 3 0-0 8, Brooks 9 6-12 24, Alexander 2 2-4 6, Berg 10 3-4 23, Putthoff 3 2-4 10, Foy 0 0-0 0, Bearman 1 0-0 0-0 2. Totals 28 13-24 73.
3-point goals -- Andover 6 (Shetler 2, Kim, Klein, C. Harris, B. Harris), Topeka West 4 (Putthoff 2, Austin 2). Total fouls -- Andover 17, Topeka West 9. Fouled out – Redic, Neal-McFarthing. Technical fouls -- Andover bench.
