By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's boys basketball team is known for its explosive offense, with the Chargers scoring 70 or more points in 15 wins, including three in the 80s.
Senior Malakyah Duncan, who led Topeka West with a game-high 15 points, holds up the Class 5A sub-state trophy after Friday's 60-46 win over Bishop Carroll. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But to a man, the Chargers agreed that defense was the difference in Friday's 60-46 win over Bishop Carroll in a Class 5A sub-state championship game on West's home court.
"Absolutely,'' West coach Christian Ulsaker said. "I thought our defense kind of went up a notch or two, just in terms of the physicality and the tenaciousness we played with on defense.
"That just leads to our offense kind of getting going. You can have off nights shooting it, but your defense has to be there every night.''
Now headed to the 5A state tournament for the second straight season, the 22-3 Chargers trailed 16-8 Bishop Carroll 25-20 at halftime and fell behind 28-22 at the 6:09 mark of the third quarter after a 3-pointer from Carroll senior Brody Kreutzer.
But it was at that point that the Chargers' defense really kicked in, with West ending the third quarter on a 16-0 run to build a 38-28 advantage thanks to the 18-3 quarter.
Topeka West senior Jay'Veon Traylor cuts down the nets after the Chargers' 60-46 Class 5A sub-state win over Bishop Carroll Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We went into the locker room at halftime, knowing we needed to get more intensity and more rebounds,'' West senior Jay'Veon Traylor said. "The intensity got up, we started playing better defense and just won the game.''
Senior Malakyah Duncan agreed.
"We get defensive stops, we get out on the fastbreak and we just went on from there,'' Duncan said. "Our defensive stops really got our energy up.
"Their defense was suffocating, but we just had to figure out a way to put the ball in the hoop and that's what we did in the second half. We just played defense and do what we do and put the ball in the hoop.''
Bishop Carroll got within eight points with a bucket to begin the final period, but West answered with an 8-0 run to push its lead to 16 points (46-30) and led by 18 three times in the late going before the Eagles scored the final four points.
Duncan led a balanced attack for Topeka West with a game-high 15 points while Traylor added 13 points, junior Prince Lassiter 12 and senior Keimani Paul 10 points.
Senior Nathan Goertz led Bishop Carroll with 14 points, the lone double-figure scorer for the Eagles.
West now advances to a Class 5A state quarterfinal, with the pairings and site to be determined after the conclusion of sub-state games.
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 60, BISHOP CARROLL 46
Bishop Carroll 14 11 3 18 -- 46
Topeka West 16 4 18 22 -- 60
Bishop Carroll (16-8) – L. Steven2-7 0-2 4, Blasi 2-3 0-0 4, Kreutzer 3-12 0-0 9, Goertz 5-10 3-3 14, Littlejohn 4-10 0-0 8, Wright 0-2 0-0 0, K. St. Vrain 0-0 1-2 1, G. Steven 1-1 0-0 3, Mull 1-2 0-0 2, C. Steven 0-1 0-0 0, B. St. Vrain 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 18-46 5-9 46.
Topeka West (22-3) – Munganga 3-5 0-0 8, Traylor 2-6 8-10 13, Duncan 6-14 2-2 15, Paul 4-6 1-1 10, Lassiter 5-9 2-3 12, Phillips 1-4 0-0 2, Fox 0-0 0-0 0, Ware 0-0 0-0 0, Lloyd 0-0 0-0 0, Doby 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-44 13-16 60.
3-point goals – Bishop Carroll 5 (Kreutzer 3, Goertz, G. Steven), Topeka West 5 (Munganga 2, Traylor, Duncan, Paul). Total fouls – Bishop Carroll 16, Topeka West 12. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.
