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Created: 06 January 2026

By JUSTIN BURKHARDT

TopSports.news

Coming off a loss to city rival Topeka High four days earlier, Highland Park's boys bounced back with a big 60-32 Meadowlark Conference win over visiting Kansas City- Schlagle Tuesday night.

The Scots would get off to a hot start, with junior JoJo Kingcannon scoring the team's first 8 points to give his team an 8-4 lead early in the first quarter.

Schlagle would answer with a 6-0 run of their own before the Scots would let them know what the nickname Runnin Scots is all about as they would go on a 25-2 run and go into halftime with a commanding 35-13 lead.

“I thought we were out of position several times in the first quarter. We gave them the lead early on just because we weren’t in rotations the right way,'' Highland Park coach Nate Wallace said. "Once we tightened up, we started buying into sharing the ball, we started sharing it pretty well and pretty often, and it gave us a lot of opportunities to get good looks.”

The third quarter would see the Stallions outscore the Scots 14-9 and leave the Scots with a 44-27 lead going into the fourth.

“We didn’t want to say too much to them coaching wise in the third because we wanted them to figure it out,'' Wallace said. "There is a lot of learning lessons that have to be done, I feel like that was a good, comfortable area to let them try to figure it out and try to get recorrected by themselves, because I am a firm believer in player-led groups, and the one big thing about being a player-led group is you got to take ownership.

"So the third quarter, I sat back and wanted to see and observe a little more if they were going to communicate, if they were going to notice, if the other team was going on a run or not, were they going to slow down, just trying to help grow their basketball IQ’s. And then we talked about it at the end of the quarter, and I feel like we made a stronger force.”

The Scots would outscore the Stallions 16-5 in the fourth to beat the Stallions by 28 points.

The Scots would get huge nights from Kingcannon and sophomore Davion Anderson as Kingcannon would lead all scorers with 21 points on 8-11 shooting and three 3s.

“I put a lot on his plate, I put a lot on his shoulders, he’s been bought in since Day 1,'' Wallace said. "He would do two a days at football and then come into the gym and do basketball. He’s been on varsity for three years now with me being an assistant the last two years.

"I am a firm believer in JoJo, he was a huge part of us last year, and I always knew he can score, and he’s scoring efficiently and that’s what I look for.”

Anderson backed Kingcannon with 15 points, including three 3-pointers.

“I knew from the jump when I got the job and looking at the roster, I was like he is my point guard,'' Wallace said of Anderson. "I told him, 'It is yours to lose.' He’s showing up. He’s staying confident. I tell him all the time as a sophomore, you’re going to make mistakes and I am going to live through your mistakes as a sophomore.”

The Scots have a huge league matchup on Friday as league rival and Class 4A No. 2 and 8-0 Atchison will make the hour trip south to Topeka to face the Scots in a game that has determined the League championship since the Scots entered the league.

“That’s a big breakfast is what we call it,'' Wallace said. "They've got all that you want, They've got bigs, they've got guards, they've got bigger wings and they've got shooters. We are going to stay true to our defensive principles. We are going to make it hard on them and play Runnin Scot basketball, push our way through and see what the outcome is in the fourth quarter.”

HIGHLAND PARK 60, KC-SCHLAGLE 32

KC-Schlagle     11 2 14 5 -- 32

Highland Park 16 19 9 16 -- 60

KC-Schlagle (2-5 1-1) -- Dyer 7-11 1-4 16, White 3-11 2-4 8, Howard 1-3 0-0 3, Frazier 1-1 0-0 2, Jones 0-6 0-2 0, Brown 0-2 2-2 2, Johnson 0-0 1-2 1, Evans 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-35 6-14 32.

Highland Park (2-4 2-0) -- Kingcannon 8-11 2-2 21, Anderson 6-12 0-0 15, Montgomery 3-6 0-0 7, Mitchell 3-5 0-0 7, Drew 2-4 0-0 6, Pollard 1-3 0-2 2, Smith 1-5 0-0 2, Nance 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 24-47 2-6 60. 3-point goals — Schlagle 2 (Howard, Dyer) Highland Park 10 ( Kingcannon 3, Anderson 3, Drew 2, Montgomery, Mitchell) Total Fouls -- Schlagle 12, Highland Park 13.

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Created: 06 January 2026

By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Cair Paravel Latin boys basketball held on to top Wabaunsee in Flint Hills action Tuesday night on the Lions' home floor.

Lucas Marichal led Cair Paravel with 29 points in the Lions' win over Wabaunsee Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]

The Lions started out with their foot on the gas pedal for White Out in The Den against the Chargers, and it took every last second to determine the winner, as Cair Paravel Latin grabbed the win, 54-53.

“We knew we were going to get a really tough assignment,'' Cair Paravel coach Chip Kueffer said. "They’re a tough team, they box out and they get a lot of second-chance points. I don’t think we beat that team in a bar fight, it’s not realistic, they’re tough and have more muscle than we do.

"I think we guarded according to the scouting report pretty well … whether we win by half a point or 40 points, they’re all the same. With the game on the line, you don’t want to be down one with 10 seconds left, you want to be up one and defensively you want to win the game getting a stop. I’m proud of them for finishing.”

Senior Lucas Marichal put CPLS on the board with a 3-pointer and he wasn’t even close to being done scoring the basketball.

He put the Lions up 7-2 off a baseline layup and then sophomore Blaine Durbin also had it going, putting them up 11-6 off a short jumper in the paint, 11-6.

Marichal hit another triple to push the lead to six, scoring 10 points in the quarter and Durbin had eight of the 20 CPLS points, with the Lions leading 20-10 heading into the second quarter.

Cair Paravel Latin built its biggest lead of 14, 26-12 in the second quarter thanks to Marichal driving straight down broadway for a deuce, but then Wabaunsee went on a big run to cut the Red Lions lead down to four before the break.

A 9-0 run thanks to a fast break steal from Carter Falk of Wabaunsee, forced CPLS into a timeout with 2:52 left in the quarter, with the score 26-21 at that point.

Falk would nab another four points to cut the CPLS to two but Marichal was fouled with five seconds before the break and nailed two free throws to put Cair Paravel up 28-24.

Cole Frank of the Chargers had a sweet up and under finishing with the left hand to bring it to 32-30, but then Marichal scored five straight to push the lead back to seven, with another 3-pointer. He then would get the steal, get fed on the fast break for another bucket as CPLS maintained a 41-34 lead.

Then to end the quarter, Drew Fay put up a wild shot to beat the buzzer and banked it to end to put the Lions up by 13, 49-36.

Then it got interesting in the fourth quarter as the Lions' lead evaporated again.

It was 51-44 with under three minutes left and Charger senior Wyatt Gerht scored at the cup bringing Wabaunsee to within five but Marichal got fouled again and nailed two free throws to make it 53-46. He finished with a game-high of 29 points.

“We knew that in a lot of games, they’ve been down double-digits in most of their games and they’ve battled back in the second half, so we knew it was coming,” Marichal said. “The fourth quarter was super big for us to slow the game down and try to play it our way… at the end of the day it came down to who played harder and we wanted it more. We want to win the league, that’s our goal and that was one of the biggest teams to reach that goal.

“It was a blast, I love it. It gets so loud in here and when the crowd gets going, it’s a blast.''

Frank, who eventually fouled out in the waning seconds of the game, brought it to within three on a fast break, 53-50.

With 33 seconds, sophomore Landon Kaberline hit one of two free throws to put CPLS up, 54-50. Cutter Murray would not let the Chargers go down quietly, as he converted an and-one opportunity with 26 seconds remaining.

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Created: 06 January 2026

By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

Foul trouble and two long scoreless stretches foiled the Shawnee Heights boys’ attempt at a comeback win over De Soto Tuesday at Shawnee Heights. The T-Birds fell to the Wildcats, 51-50.

Ken Darting's Shawnee Heights boys came up just short in Tuesday's comeback bid, falling 51-50 to De Soto. [File photo/TSN]

Shuffling due to foul trouble and going to young, inexperienced players, coach Ken Darting nearly led the T-Birds to a come-from-behind win. But a last-second desperation shot produced by wild full-court pressure came up just short.

“It was a great game between two pretty good teams. But we were always playing uphill,” Darting said. “We did a poor job of getting the right people shooting. We got back in the game with defense, but then we became a 3-point shooting team instead of getting the ball in.”

Shawnee Heights trailed by just one point, 34-33, at halftime. But the T-Birds did not score for the first four minutes of the third period. After a five-point T-Bird run tied the game at 38-38, Shawnee Heights went back into a funk. They went another six minutes – three minutes into the fourth period – without scoring.

The T-Birds trailed 47-38 with five minutes remaining in the game. They cranked up the full-court pressure and came roaring back, outscoring the visitors 9-2 over the next three minutes. Freshman Quincy Dixon dropped a 3-pointer to cut the Wildcat lead to 49-47 with 2:10 left. Then Aiden Scott tied the game at 50-50 with a 3-pointer with 1:30 remaining.

But the T-Birds were unable to capitalize on the momentum. They fouled Wildcat senior Brayan Salas with 15 seconds left. He hit one of his two foul attempts, leaving the T-Birds to scramble for a final shot. A designed play failed. Shawnee Heights recovered a loose ball but a desperate heave at the buzzer just missed.

“We had two or three opportunities to take the lead, make them have to make the decision. We just about pulled it off,” Darting said.

Leading the T-Birds was Cam Ross with 12 points, followed by Dixon’s 11. Starters Scott, Ja’Veon Alston and Dae’Veon Cook each scored eight points apiece.

Pacing the Wildcats was Salas, who hit 5-9 field goal attempts, including four 3-pointers.

De Soto’s starting five was a mixed bag, but the Wildcats got key buckets from their reserves. Players off the De Soto bench hit 4-7 shots and 6-8 free throws to contribute 17 points. Darting got good effort from his reserves, but just three points.

“Our margin of error is small, and until we get everybody going in the right direction, we’re gonna keep coming up short,” Darting said. “We’re going to be in every game, but against the top echelon, it’s gonna be like this.”

DE SOTO BOYS 51, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 50

De Soto                 24 10 9 8 -- 51

Shawnee Heights 17 16 5 12 -- 50

De Soto (3-3, 1-2) – Patterson 2-10 0-0 4, Dickerson 2-10 3-4 7, Morayah 1-1 0-0 2, Waite 2-6 1-3 5, Salas 5-9 2-4 16, Krier 0-1 2-2 2, Rapp 1-2 0-0 3, Brady 1-2 4-6 7, Morton 2-2 0-0 5. Totals: 16-43 12-19 51.

Shawnee Heights (3-4, 2-3) – Alston 3-6 2-2 8, Cook 3-8 1-2 8, Ross 4-16 4-6 12, Scott 3-5 0-0 8, Dixon 5-8 0-1 11, Becker 1-2 1-2 3, Terrell 0-1 0-0 0, Vega 0-0 0-0 0, Lee 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-46 8-13 50.

3-point goals – De Soto 7 (Salas 4, Rapp 1, Brady 1, Morton 1), Shawnee Heights 4 (Scott 2, Cook 1, Dixon 1). Total fouls – De Soto 15, Shawnee Heights 23. Fouled out – Scott. Technical fouls – Alston.