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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Tuesday was a different game day for Highland Park coach Mike Williams.
Williams spent his day at the local hospital with chest pains and was stuck in the hospital until 6:00 p.m.
Mike Williams spent most of his Tuesday in the hospital but returned in time to see his Highland Park Scots improve to 12-0 with a 76-43 win over KC-Washington. [File photo/TSN]
Still, he was able to rush over to the gym and help lead his team to a dominant 76-43 victory over Meadowlark Conference opponent Kansas City-Washington.
"I was having chest pains, and I had no idea if I was having a heart attack or what," Williams said. "It's just been a crazy day. I wasn't around in school, I wasn't around at the end of the day, and I missed the JV game. But the guys were able to stay intact and keep their heads right."
Luckily, his heart was okay, and so was his team.
Class 5A No. 1-ranked Highland Park kept its 12-0, undefeated record alive in a loud way.
The Scots have now won eight games by at least 30 points. Highland Park's bench players are getting more minutes than the average team's starting five.
The Scots' starting five of Tre Richardson, Bo Aldridge, Jahmir Kingcannon, Quentin Adams and Aydren Drew-Gregory put the team in the best position possible to secure another enormous victory.
Four Highland Park players had double-digit scoring nights. Tamir Anderson led the Scots with 16 points off the bench while Aldridge had 15 points, Adams 12 and Richardson 10 points.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Tuesday night's 65-23 romp over Meadowlark Conference foe Kansas City-Washington was everything Highland Park girls basketball coach Rob Brown could've asked for in his team.
"No matter who we play, we just need to continue playing the right way," Brown said. "Moving the ball around with Millie (Amelia Ramsey) touching the ball and everyone else getting touches is what we want. Defensively, we've been able to execute different defenses that we've been trying to touch base on and work on."
Sophomore Amelia Ramsey scored 18 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in Highland Park's 65-23 Meadowlark Conference win over KC-Washington Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
Highland Park extended its win streak to four games with the 42-point conference win over Washington. Last year Highland Park's longest win streak was two games.
Last season the message was "trust the process." In the 2021-2022 campaign, Highland Park went 4-17 with a lot of painful growth.
With Highland Park sitting at 9-3 on the season, the potential for this young team is tremendous.
"We talk about last year a lot," Brown said. "Last year was a foundational year for us. We were trying to get those (roster) numbers up. Those seniors from last year built the foundation for us to get us in the right direction. The seniors got the young ones ready for what they are doing now. So we want to keep looking forward and try to keep getting better and better."
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By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
A hot shooting start for the visiting Lions from Lansing did not dissuade No. 9-ranked (Class 5A) Topeka West from running away with a dominant 73-44 United Kansas Conference win Tuesday night at West.
“There’s a time in the first quarter where the game settles and it's about how you are playing when the game settles,” said Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist. “We talk about that a lot and we did a great job of maintaining our intensity and maintaining our poise.”
Senior Sincere Austin scored a game-high 21 points as Topeka West rolled to a 73-44 UKC win over Lansing Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Chargers (11-3, 8-2) outscored the Lions 49-14 in the middle two quarters and used a full roster to do it. Even as the teams’ win streak extended to four games, it was Tuesday night’s win that showed Bloomquist that his team was truly moving in the right direction.
“Tonight I feel like that, and I hope I feel like that on Friday, too,” Bloomquist said. “They responded to what I asked them and what they needed to do and change and that’s why I like coaching at Topeka West, kids here really sincerely want to do well.”
Topeka West has now played and defeated Lansing three times already this season, with scores of 65-49, 55-32, and now 73-44, by far the most lopsided of the three.
“No question (we have grown) from the first time we played them … I was pleased with the way we attacked them,” Bloomquist said. “We like to play up and down the floor, and when you play like that every night is going to be different.”
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By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
It doesn't matter how it looked or how many points were scored, all that mattered to coach Jeff Skar and the Topeka West girls Tuesday night was that the Chargers won their third game in the last five with a 31-30 United Kansas Conference win over Lansing.
Topeka West junior Brooklyn Alexander scored a team-high eight points in the Chargers' 31-30 UKC win over Lansing Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
“I was proud of them, that’s kind of our personality, we have done that all season,” Skar said of the Chargers' gritty style of play. “I liked our energy most of the game and I liked our effort.”
In December the Chargers (4-10, 3-8) lost a 58-53 decision to the Lions (3-9, 2-8) on the road in overtime, which served as some extra motivation to avoid the same result in another close game.
“Our team personality is that we always battle back but we also let teams back in the game, we haven’t put teams away when we had the chance … I knew that they were going to make it a battle,” Skar said. “After losing in overtime to them the first time around I think our kids probably felt like we owed them a bit tonight.”
The Chargers scored only one point in the third quarter and trailed by four early in the fourth after leading by as many as 10 in the first half.
A 10-1 run in the fourth quarter served as the comeback and put the game away for Topeka West.
Most of the offense for the home team came in the first quarter, with four starters scoring buckets to put the Chargers up 12-7 after eight minutes.
“I think our energy helped us, we were getting some turnovers and attacking the basket,” Skar said.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Seaman's boys were probably going to need to be clicking on all cylinders Tuesday night to knock off visiting Piper, one of the United Kansas Conference's hottest teams, and when Seaman lost one of its main cogs, senior Kaeden Bonner, to an injury less than four minutes into the game, it became apparent that it might be a long night for the Vikings.
Seaman freshman KaeVon Bonner (11) puts up a shot on the way to a game-high 21-point night in the Vikings' 73-60 UKC loss to Piper. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman senior Aron Davis scored 18 points in Tuesday's 73-60 UKC loss to Piper. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
And although Seaman showed grit in cutting what had been a 22-point Pirate lead to seven late in the game, Piper never trailed en route to a 73-60 win.
Piper, which improved to 11-4 overall and 8-3 in the UKC, already led 10-4 when Bonner, a returning All-Shawnee County pick, crashed hard into the bleachers while trying to make a defensive play, suffering what appeared to be an injury to his left knee, and did not return to the game.
"He can attack and he can create for teammates and he makes the others better,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said of Bonner. "Without him then we lose a really good ball handler, a really good slasher, a really good shooter so we just got really sped up. We couldn't find an answer.''
Piper quickly took control after Bonner left the game, opening up a 21-point advantage on the way to a 39-22 halftime lead and Seaman (7-6, 4-5) never threatened until late in the game.
Piper led by 18 (55-37) at the start of the fourth quarter but Seaman rallied behind some timely 3-pointers to claw all the way back to within seven (67-60) with 1:40 left before the Pirates scored the final six points.
"We gave ourselves a little bit of an opportuity there late, which I was proud of their effort,'' Cox said.
