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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After being held to a season-low 50 points in a Thursday night 20-point loss at Missouri Southern, the Washburn men's basketball team put up 46 points in the first half en route to a wire-to-wire 93-63 MIAA road win over Pittsburg State on Saturday in John Lance Arena.
Junior Tyler Nelson scored 23 points, 18 in the second half, as Washburn rolled to a 93-63 MIAA win at Pittsburg State on Saturday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Freshman Jarmell Johnson scored a career-high 16 points, including 14 points and four 3-pointers in the first half, in WU's 93-83 at Pittsburg State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods, who improvex\d to 6-9 overall and 3-6 in the MIAA, took a season-high 21-point halftime lead as they shot a blistering 64 percent in the first 20 minutes, hitting nine of 14 attempts from 3-point range and making 16 of 32 field goal attempts overall.
"It was good to get off to a good start and that's important for any team, especially a team that's struggled a little bit and especially a team that's a little bit young,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard told KTPK Radio after the game. "When you're young and you have struggled a little bit the start can really dictate your confidence level and your energy level. It shouldn't, but it does.
"I do think it is more important for this team so that was good to see us come out and really play well to start the game and throughout the first half our offense was as good as it's been all year.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Highland Park's girls and boys basketball teams continued their dominating start to Meadowlark Conference competition Friday night, with the Scots winning their two conference games against Kansas City-Harmon by a total of 140 points.
Senior Bo Aldridge (1) scored 27 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had five assists in Friday's 91-29 win at KC-Harmon. [File photo/TSN]
Highland Park sophomore standout Amelia Ramsey scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the Scots' 96-18 Meadowlark Conference win over KC-Harmon. [File photo/TSN]
The top-ranked (Class 5A) Highland Park boys rolled to a 91-29 Meadowlark Conference road win over Harmon while the Scot girls romped to a 96-18 home victory over Harmon.
Highland Park's boys improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference as senior Bo Aldridge scored 27 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had five assists for the Scots.
Sophomore Amelia Ramsey scored 30 points and grabbed 13 points to lead four Scots in double figures as Highland Park's girls improved to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference.
Highland Park's boys will compete in the Topeka Invitational Tournament next week while the Scot girls will travel to Salina for the Salina Invvitational.
PIPER BOYS 71, TOPEKA WEST 56 -- No. 10-ranked (Class 5A) Piper topped No. 6 Topeka West 71-56 in Friday's United Kansas Conference game at West, with the Pirates snapping the Chargers' six-game winning streak.
Topeka West fell to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in the UKC while Piper improved to 6-3 overall and 6-2 in the conference.
West will be at home next week to host the Topeka Invitational Tournament.
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By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
The Class 6A No. 10-ranked Washburn Rural boys led by seven points in the final three minutes against Manhattan on Friday night before the Junior Blues suffered their first Centennial League matchup of the year, 60-58, in heartbreaking fashion on a buzzer-beater by Indian senior Dre Delort.
Senior Jack Bachelor led Washburn Rural with 15 points in Friday's 60-58 Centennial League loss to Manhattan at Rural. [File photo/TSN]
“If you look at the whole game aside from the third quarter we just weren’t very strong with the ball,” said Washburn Rural coach Alex Hutchins. “And then closing late we gotta guard. We gave up I think nine points in the last minute and a half so we just got to get stops to finish a game.”
Rural scored 23 points in the third quarter but was held to 10 in the final frame as the team's four-game win streak was snapped.
“In the third quarter we were strong and aggressive and didn’t play on our heels which was the biggest thing,” Hutchins said.
Hutchins is hoping to find consistency as the team moves into the back half of its season.
“Our guys are probably chomping at the bit wanting to get back on the court but we just got to be consistent, that’s the biggest thing. Every game we have shown flashes of great and we have shown flashes of awful, we just have to be more consistent,” Hutchins said.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Hayden's 67-57 win over Topeka High on Friday night was an "all hands on deck" clinic.
Class 4A No. 6-ranked Hayden breathed easier after snapping a brief three-game losing streak.
Hayden's Joe Otting (left), Mister Cameron and Dominik Ridley helped the Wildcats snap a three-game losing streak with a 67-57 win over Topeka High Friday at Hayden. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
However, winning a backyard brawl against a team right down the road from Hayden was challenging.
"I feel like the three games that we lost were all winnable at one point in the game," Hayden coach Dwayne Paul said. "I felt like in every game, we were right there. So today, to come in against a lot of our defensive principles in switching one through five, putting Joe (Otting) into soe tough matchups was good.
"Credit goes to Topeka High. They shoot the ball so well that you can't hedge off of their guys. They play with five guards at all times. So you have to be able to run them off of the line and make contested twos rather than penetrating and kicking threes. I thought, for the most part, we did a pretty good job of that."
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
In the rarity of city matchups in 2023, Class 6A No. 8-ranked Topeka High made the most of its opportunity Friday night with a 60-25 Centennial League romp at Hayden.
After suffering two straight losses to Emporia and Washburn Rural, Topeka High bounced back with a dominant performance against the Wildcats.
Topeka senior Kiki Smith (23) gets ready to pass the ball in to Ayana Leesman in Friday's 60-25 Centennial League win at Hayden. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
"We took those two losses personally," Topeka High coach Brittany Redmond said. "We went back to the drawing board on defense. Everything we did in practice was stressing our play on defense. We want to win on the defensive end. I think tonight showed what we worked on in practice."
On defense, Topeka High prevented Hayden from scoring double figures in any quarter. Topeka High was a bruising force down low, and the Lady Trojans guarded the perimeter and took away passing lanes well.
The Lady Trojans' willingness to crash the boards, create turnovers and force Hayden to take uncomfortable shots allowed Topeka High to play comfortably.
It's a special night for a player when they have the same amount of points as the entire team they're facing.
For Topeka High standout senior Kiki Smith, her 25 points in three quarters of play boosted the Lady Trojans past Hayden.
In two quarters, Smith was the most unguardable player on the court. However, the 25 points on the offensive end were as good as her defensive effort, where she had five steals and a block to match it.
