By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
Hayden's boys basketball team hosted Topeka High Friday for its Senior Night contest, with both teams looking to end losing streaks and Hayden looking for its first win in 2024.
Senior Dom Ridley scored a game-high 15 points as Hayden snapped a 12-game losing streak with a 57-42 win over Topeka HIgh Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The game would start out in the Trojans' favor, with High going up 7-2 early in the first quarter before the Wildcats got going to take a 12-7 lead at the end of the first.
The Wildcats would not look back as they would go into halftime up 27-20 and would pull away to take a 57-42 Centennial League victory, snapping a 12-game losing streak with their first win since Dec. 20.
“It all means a lot,'' said Trey Brown, who notched his first Centennial League win as the Wildcats' coach "It’s a credit to all these guys and it's a credit to the seniors. We talked all week about playing for them and doing all that for them. It's their last time getting to step on the floor at home.
"I am super proud of these guys and their effort. It could have been easy, really easy, to quit and these guys stayed with it. The seniors played great tonight, they led the charge and everyone picked up their energy.”
The Wildcats got another big night from senior Dom Ridley, who finished with 15 points.
“It means alot to me because I have been here for four years, and there is a lot of tradition here at Hayden,'' Ridley said. "We just have to find ways to play four quarters and finish games. We have to stay strong with sub-state coming up.”
The Trojans, who had beaten Hayden twice earlier in the season, were looking to snap their own seven-game losing streak and came into Hayden hungry and needing a win badly to secure a spot in Class 6A sub-state competition.
“We needed this win badly because we are at Junction City on Tuesday and that will be a really tough game to get a needed win to make it into the postseason.” Topeka High coach Geo Lyons said.
The Trojans were without a few key players and it definitely showed on the court.
“We didn’t have Jalen Freeman and we lost Antwan Simms to injury for the rest of the season, those losses have hurt us,” Lyons said.
The Trojans were led in scoring by junior Da’Mykel Hales and senior Miguel Villegas with 12 points apiece.
Hayden Wildcats will be on the road next week to finish their regular season, with games against Manhattan on Tuesday and Eudora on Thursday.
The Trojans will finish their regular season on the road Tuesday at Junction City.
HAYDEN 57, TOPEKA HIGH 42
Topeka High 7 13 14 8 – 42
Hayden 12 15 20 10 – 57
Topeka High (5-14 1-8) – Hales 3-10 6-6 12, Villegas 5-11 0-0 12, Lyons 3-7 0-0 7, Norman 2-5 0-0 5, Groves 1-3 0-2 2, Brown 1-2 0-0 2, Aldridge 0-0 2-2 2, Murph 0-1 0-0 0, McFadden 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-39 8-10 42.
Hayden (5-13 1-8) – Ridley 5-10 3-3 15, Hanika 3-7 5-7 11, Becker 4-5 0-0 11, Charvat 3-4 1-2 7, Colboch 0-3 0-0 0, Mitchell 2-3 2-2 6, Diester 1-1 0-0 3, Kuta 1-1 0-2 2, Grace 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 19-34 13-18 57.
3-Point goals– Topeka High 4 (Villegas 2, Lyons, Norman), Hayden 6 (Becker 3, Ridley 2, Diester). Total fouls – Topeka High 20, Hayden 14.
