By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's boys basketball team got off to a slower start than Charger coach Rick Bloomquist would have liked Friday night, with West trailing Shawnee Heights for most of the opening quarter.
But Charger 6-foot-3 senior Malachi Berg made sure the slow start didn't last, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds as Topeka West improved to 2-1 on the season with a 64-51 United Kansas Conference win over the T-Birds before a nearly packed house at West.
Topeka West senior Malachi Berg, driving to the basket against Shawnee Heights, had 18 points and 11 rebounds in Friday's 64-51 home UKC win over the T-Birds. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"We didn't get off to a good start and Malachi did what he's supposed to do,'' Bloomquist said. "He's an athlete. He's just a pure-blooded athlete. I've said all along, he's a football player and a good football player that loves to play basketball.
"He played with a lot of passion tonight and he was all over the place but he had to because I'm telling you, that Shawnee Heights team rebounded as hard tonight as I've seen a team rebound in my career as far as gang rebounding. They were absolutely crazy on the boards and that's what made this game interesting, the way they played.''
Berg scored West's last four points of the first quarter and scored 10 points in the second quarter as the Chargers opened up a 35-24 halftime advantage on the way to the double-digit victory.
"Playing a city team, that as a senior you're excited for,'' Berg said. "And the atmosphere is something that we don't play for the atmosphere, we play as a team, but this is special, especially when it's at Topeka West.
"Just being out there with people you know, it's even more competitive than with another team you don't know. You're just going after each other the whole game, so it was pretty fun.''
Senior Xavier Alexander tied for game-high scoring honors with 18 points as Topeka West improved to 2-1 with a 64-51 UKC win over Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka West, ranked No. 7 in Class 5A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, also got 18 points and three 3-pointers from senior Xavier Alexander and 14 points from senior Sincere Austin.
Bloomquist agreed with Berg that his team and the whole West community get excited to get to play a city rival like Heights.
"Without a doubt,'' Bloomquist said. "Look at the crowd. We had a great crowd tonight and I miss that. There's a great rivalry between the Shawnee County schools and (USD) 501 and this is part of it tonight.''
Shawnee Heights (1-2, 1-2) struggled offensively most of the night, with the T-Birds not getting out of the 20s until early in the fourth quarter.
The T-Birds got 15 points and 12 rebounds off the bench from junior Jayden Holly while junior Jacob Malcom added 10 off the bench.
Shawnee Heights will be at home next Tuesday to host UKC rival Basehor-Linwood while Topeka West will travel to Lansing for a league contest.
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 64, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 51
Shawnee Heights 10 14 5 22 -- 51
Topeka West 11 24 9 20 -- 64
Shawnee Heights (1-2, 1-2) -- Jones 0-4 0-0 0, Dodge 3-10 0-0 7, Kendricks 2-8 1-6 5, J. Sanchez 1-10 2-5 5, Pomeroy 1-2 0-0 2, Holly 6-16 3-7 15, Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Malcolm 4-7 1-3 10, Stovall 1-4 0-0 2, D. Sanchez 1-3 2-2 5, Emmot 0-2 0-0 0, McComas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-66 9-23 51.
Topeka West (2-1, 2-1) -- Berg 9-10 0-1 18, Austin 5-8 3-11 14, Alexander 7-15 1-6, 18, Noonoo 1-1 0-0 2, Reimer 2-2 0-1 4, Dillahunt 0-0 0-0 0, Paul 2-4 0-0 4, Jones 0-0 1-2 1, Chambers 0-1 0-0 0, Foy 0-1 0-0 0, Thompson 1-4 0-0 3, Duncan 0-1 0-0 0, Ford 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-48 5-21 64.
3-point goals -- Shawnee Heights 4 (Dodge, J. Sanchez, Malcom, D. Sanchez), Topeka West 5 (Alexander 3, Austin, Thompson) Total fouls -- Shawnee Heights 18, Topeka West 18. Fouled out – none.
