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TopSports.news
The Cair Paravel Lions boys basketball team never looked back after a 24-point first quarter on its way to a 69-50 victory over the Maranatha Christian Eagles on Tuesday night at Cair Paravel Latin School.
Lucas Marichal led Cair Paravel with 19 points in the Lions' 69-50 win over Maranatha Academy Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
The contest started as a scoring duel between Maranatha’s Daniel Dean and Cair Paravel’s Lucas Marichal, with Dean tallying the 3-11 Eagles’ first five points as the visitors took an early 5-2 lead.
Marichal answered with his first of four 3-pointers of the night, and following a free throw from Dean, the Cair Paravel junior made consecutive baskets to give the Lions (6-8) a 9-6 lead they would not relinquish.
The 3-point barrage continued for the Lions, with triples from Chase Hastert and Judah Congdon before Marichal knocked down another shot from behind the arc to give Cair Paravel a 24-17 advantage after the first quarter.
The Lions showed off their defensive prowess in the second quarter, allowing only six points off three Maranatha field goals.
Hastert and Caleb Cleverdon hit 3-pointers in the frame for Cair Paravel, while Jase Pavlik recorded his first five points of the evening in the quarter as the Lions took a 38-23 lead into halftime.
After the break Pavlik and Cleverdon found baskets in the first minute of the third quarter, extending the lead to 19 and forcing a quick timeout from the Eagles.
The Lions pushed the lead as high as 21, but a pair of baskets from Dean and a 3-pointer from Joe Allen brought the deficit back to 13 as Cair Paravel held a 46-33 lead midway through the third quarter.
Any sign of a comeback was quickly put to rest, as Marichal knocked down another 3-pointer and Blaine Durbin added a pair of baskets, with the Lions leading 55-38 after three quarters.
Cair Paravel finished the game with a balanced offensive attack, with five points from Marichal and four from Pavlik in the fourth quarter.
Senior Billy Lanich added a layup in the closing seconds to seal the 19-point victory for the Lions. Marichal led all scorers with 19 points for Cair Paravel.
Pavlik recorded a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Hastert added 10 points off the bench.
The Lions shot just over 48 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Eagles, 34-18.
Dean led Maranatha with 18 points on 7-10 shooting while also pulling down six rebounds. Pennbrook Shaver tallied 14 points, while center Luke Shrader scored nine points with six rebounds.
Cair Paravel coach Chip Kueffer was impressed with all aspects of his team’s performance in the win.
“I think defense always leads to offense,'' Kueffer said. "We were really focused defensively on (Maranatha’s Owen Smail and Luke Shrader), both of those guys can get 25 a night,” Kueffer said. “We really just focused on making them uncomfortable, picking them up at halfcourt, and then offensively, you don’t have anything to think about.”
Despite a significant size disadvantage, Cair Paravel grabbed 16 more rebounds than Maranatha, and the effort did not go unnoticed by Kueffer.
“We’re giving up a lot of size, and they play their hearts out,” Kueffer said of his squad. “Everybody has to do their part to defend and rebound. If you’re on the floor, you’re rebounding. If you’re on the floor, you’re defending, no excuses. So I was glad to see that out of everybody today.”
Cair Paravel will be back in action on Thursday against Eskridge-Mission Valley. The Lions will look to avenge a 50-48 loss on Jan. 21.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
When Highland Park and Topkeka West hooked up in the championship game of the Topeka Invitational Tournament on Jan. 25, the top-ranked Class 5A Scots remained undefeated with a hard-earned 44-41 win over the sixth-ranked Chargers.
Senior Ja'Corey Robinson (23) led all scorers with 32 points in Wednesday's 67-50 Highland Park win over city rival Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But Mike Williams' normally high octane Scots came out of that game feeling like they received some undeserved criticism for their slower style of play, particularly in the closing minutes, against West.
Using that -- plus the fact that the Scots were playing at home for only the second time all season -- as motivation in Wednesday's rematch, Highland Park pulled away down the stretch for a decisive 67-50 win, improving to 14-0 on the season.
"We had a specific game plan going into that (first game) of how we wanted to play,'' Mike Williams said. "We didn't want to shoot over the top of those guys. We knew they were tall and long and we watched tape on teams in the past (against West) that were taking those type of shots ... and we didn't want that.
"We wanted to be in a grind it out, gritty game like we got in the TIT. A lot of people saw that score and were kind of like, 'Ah, it was close.' I don't care, that's what we wanted. We wanted it like that, we wanted to get after them on the defensive end. We wanted to man-to-man them all night long and we wanted to sit down.''
And though Williams admits that the Scots didn't have a great offensive game, he was proud of his team in the earlier West matchup, just like he was Wednesday night.
"We didn't make shots, we made zero 3s in the TIT. We missed 15-plus free throws, Da'Mykel Hales didn't play (illness), a lot of things worked against us, and we still found a way to win,'' Williams said. "Obviously, this night tonight was a little bit cleaner.
"Obviously, there were some things coming out (in social media after the TIT). Did we hold the ball, did we not? We were just trying find ways to win. That's all we're focused on. I was very, very pleased (tonight) with how we competed, how we took on a challenge and how we just didn't assume we were going to win because we won a week ago in the TIT.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Six days after suffering a disappointing seven-point overtime loss to Topeka West in the opening round of the Capital City Classic, Highland Park's girls basketball team got another shot at its district rival Wednesday night on the Scots' home court.
Highland Park senior Tahtionna Broils drives to the basket in Wednesday's 50-34 win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Rob Brown's Highland Park team improved to 10-3 with Wednesday's 50-34 win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
And despite being without three players who normally see varsity minutes, Rob Brown's Scots took advantage of their opportunity, improving to 10-3 with a 50-34 win over the Chargers.
"I feel relieved,'' Brown said. "It's been a long week and you could see we were missing some girls tonight. Obviously, we were missing a lot, but we had some girls step up and I have a young bunch.
"We're a young group and we're just going to keep growing.''
Highland Park never trailed after jumping out in front 14-1 late in the first quarter and the Scots took a 23-12 advantage to the locker room at halftime.
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By NICHOLAS GAINEY
Special to TopSports.news
Down by seven points midway through the third quarter in their Tuesday night non-conference matchup with Maranatha Christian, the Cair Paravel Lions girls basketball team stormed back with a 14-0 run on their way to a 39-31 home win.
Karsyn Hastert tied for game-high honors with 12 points in Tuesday's 39-31 home win over Maranatha Academy. [File photo/TSN]
The teams battled back and forth for much of the first period, with Maranatha’s Rose Baumler knocking down a three-pointer for the first field goal of the game.
The host Lions (3-11) answered with a layup from Karsyn Hastert, her first two of a 12-point night. Cair Paravel would add three-pointers from London Backman and KellyAnn Chada to take a 9-7 lead later in the period, but a late basket from Risa Johnson tied the game at 9 after the first quarter.
The Lion offense struggled in the second quarter, only scoring five points on two field goals in the period. Hastert added her second basket of the contest early in the frame before the hosts went several minutes scoreless.
Freshman Eriana Donaldson broke the drought with a layup and a foul, converting the three-point play to give Cair Paravel a 14-13 lead. The next four points belonged to the visiting Eagles (6-8), with Maranatha taking a 18-14 lead into the half following a basket from Baumler.
Cair Paravel opened the second half with a basket from Kameron Welshans to draw within two, but the Eagles’ Ava Oglesby answered with a score of her own to stretch the lead to 20-16. Quinn Sramek hit a 3-pointer to give Maranatha its largest lead of the night at 23-16, forcing a timeout from Cair Paravel coach Jaley Barkley with 4:19 to play in the third quarter.
Following the timeout, the Lions turned the tables. Cair Paravel scored the final 10 points of the quarter, including six points from Hastert.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Topeka High boys remain on the hunt for win number one of the season. They battled Emporia at Topeka High Tuesday night, but came up short, falling 65-42.
Junior Bryson McComas led Topeka High with 15 points in Tuesday's 65-42 loss to Emporia. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Trojans stuck around, even cutting the Spartans’ lead to just five points early in the third period. But the visitors eventually pulled away, outscoring Topeka High 32-17 in the second half.
The outcome was a disappointment after the Trojans’ arrow was trending up for a couple of weeks.
The Trojans battled valiantly in the Topeka Invitational Tournament, losing two of the three games in overtime. They hung close to Seaman, the eighth-ranked team in Class 5A.
But every time they tried to make a run at Emporia Tuesday, the Spartans responded.
“I think we took a step back today, and I don’t know why,” Topeka High coach Geo Lyons said. “We played some great ball in those three games in the TIT. Our guys really felt like they let three games get away. Then we faced a tough Seaman team and, if you take the second quarter away, we win the other three quarters.
“So, I thought we had a great couple of days of practice coming into this matchup. But for whatever reason we didn’t play to the best of our ability. We ran into a buzz saw in that Emporia team.”
