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Hayden's Trent Duffy (right) celebrates a basket with Wildcats Trey Pivarnik during the Topeka Invitational Tournament against Topeka High / Photo by Rex Wolf
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After six straight losses, Hayden's boys basketball team was in need of a turnaround.
Torrey Head's Wildcats got just that Friday in the Topeka Invitational Tournament, rallying from a 14-point deficit at the start of the game to knock off Topeka High 48-45 in overtime to avenge a 19-point loss to the Trojans earlier in the month.
"We haven't had a lot of victories here lately and to lose six in a row and then go down 14-0 and you're in the consolation bracket, it's pretty easy not to play very hard, but I thought the guys really stuck with it and stayed together,'' Head said. "That was the main thing. I thought they stayed together and showed some stuff, a little bit of moxie there late and found a way.''
Topeka High looked to be on its way to its second win of the season after opening up early leads of 14-0 and 16-2, but Hayden cut its deficit to 18-9 by the end of the quarter and was back in the hunt by halftime, trailing 24-18.
Hayden rallied to take a 34-33 advantage into the fourth quarter, but High's Jayden Leesman scored the first bucket of the fourth and the Trojans led by a slight margin for most of the quarter until former High player Geivonnii Williams canned a 3-pointer for the Wildcats with 23 seconds left in regulation to force the overtime.
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Topeka West's Marque Wilkerson reaches for a basket during Thursday nights game against Shawnee Mission North /Photo by Rex Wolf TSNBy RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's two-game mini-skid started with Highland Park and it also ended with the Scots.
Topeka West dropped a 57-54 overtime decision at Highland Park in its final game leading into the Topeka Invitational Tournament and then dropped a 60-59 decision to Shawnee Mission North on Thursday, prompting veteran West coach Rick Bloomquist to promise some changes for Friday's consolation game against the Scots.
The moves paid off, with the 7-2 Chargers building a 17-point lead and surviving a furious fourth-quarter rally by the 3-5 Scots to take a 67-57 victory in Topeka High's auxiliary gym and advance to Saturday's 4:30 p.m. fifth-place game against Hayden.
"They're good kids. There's no knuckleheads out there, there's no head cases on this team and and they were as embarrassed with themselves last night as everybody else was and they wanted to change,'' Bloomquist said.
"I was kind of anxious to see how they'd react because this is a tough game to play, not only physically because of Highland Park and the athleticism they have, but because of where we were and what gym we were in. There's nothing good about this (consolation) game at all, but we played extrordinarily well for the circumstances.''
Topeka West got big games from its senior leaders, with Marque Wilkerson scoring a game-high 22 points and Trevion Alexander adding 17, but the Chargers, who played without injured junior standout Elijah Brooks, also got key contributions from several other players.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Ichabod men's and women's track teams will be back in action for the second week in a row in their indoor facility, hosting the All-Kansas Open on Saturday (11 a.m. start).
Scheduled to compete in addition to WU are squads from Baker, Benedictine, Cloud County Community College, Cowley College, Fort Hays State, Fort Scott Community College, Garden City Community College, Highland Community College, Northwest Kansas, Ottawa, Pittsburg State and Pratt Community Colege. As of Thursday night, 318 student-athletes were scheduled to compete in the second meet in Washburn's new facility.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn will hit the turnpike Saturday to continue its long-standing rivalry with Emporia State, playing an MIAA doubleheader at White Auditorium.
WU’s women, 5-5 overall and in the conference, will face Emporia State (7-2, 7-2) in a 1:30 p.m. contest followed by the 3:30 p.m. men’s game between the No. 7-ranked Ichabods (10-1, 10-1) and the Hornets (6-6, 6-6).
Washburn’s men, who are starting their second three-game road trip of the season, are led by senior point guard Tyler Geiman, who leads the team in scoring with a 19.5 average, assists (6.2), rebounds (6.9), steals (1.8) and minutes played (36.4). Geiman will play his 100th game as an Ichabod against Emporia State.
Jonny Clausing, a 6-foot-9 junior, is averaging 11.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and a team-high 1.3 blocks.
Hayden product Levi Braun, a redshirt freshman, is averaging 7.6 points and has scored 19 and 15 points in his last two games while hitting 11 of 15 3-pointers. Braun is 26 of 48 (54 percent) from outside the arc for the season.
Washburn beat Pittsburg State 84-62 last Saturday at Lee Arena, while Emporia State is coming off a 71-59 loss to Central Oklahoma Thursday in a rescheduled game from earlier in the season.
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TopSports.news
Senior Isiah Johnson returned with a bang for Shawnee Heights boys basketball team Thursday night in the McPherson Invitational, scoring a game-high 22 points as the T-Birds knocked off host McPherson in overtime, 60-54.
Johnson, who had been sidelined for four games due to COVID-19, went 8 of 15 from the field with 3-pointers to lead the T-Birds, who improved to 4-3 on the season.
Isiah Johnson
