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Topeka West's Elijah Brooks makes a dunk against De Soto during the 5A State semi-finals in Emporia. (Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN)
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- It wasn't easy, and very little has been in Rick Bloomquist's nine-year rebuilding project with Topeka West basketball.
But what the Chargers lacked in artistic flair in Friday's Class 5A state boys semifinal against De Soto they made up for with pure grittiness, pulling out a 61-57 victory at White Auditorium to advance to the boys state championship game for the third time in school history.
"It was gut ball,'' Bloomquist said after the Chargers improved to 21-2 with their 15th straight victory. "It wasn't a basketball game, it was a gut ball game. It's one of those deals where they may question what we do in practice, but they figure it out after awhile and appreciate a little gut ball every once in a while.
"It's a situation where we think we have them prepared, we really do. I've got a great coaching staff, I've got great support, I've got kids that believe in what we're doing and it was just flat gut ball tonight.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's boys basketball team is coming off the program's biggest win in more than a decade.
Now the goal for the Chargers is to finish off their amazing 2020-21 ride with the school's first boys state title.
Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist (left) talks with Hays coach Alex Hutchins after West's 52-49 Class 5A quarterfinal win Tuesday night. [Submitted]
"The whole thing right now is to do what we did to get here, but work a little harder today in practice,'' West coach Rick Bloomquist said before Thursday's practice. "We want to stay focused, keep our nose down, don't get our heads inflated. It's not a party, it's still a basketball game and we just have to control our emotions right now.
"Like I've been telling them all year, their biggest weakness was their emotional IQ. Now our IQ's getting tested, so that's big key for us right now.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
This time it really will be the last game of the season between No. 17-ranked Washburn and Missouri Western, who will meet for fourth time in Saturday night's NCAA Division II Central Regional men's tournament in Aberdeen, S.D.
The 19-6 Ichabods, who are making their 15th NCAA postseason appearance, are the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 seed Missouri Western (14-10) in an 8:45 game Saturday, with the winner advancing to a tournament semifinal to face No. 2 Northwest Missouri.
Washburn is 1-2 against the Griffons this season, but is coming off a 101-72 semifinal romp past Western last Friday in the MIAA Tournament semifinals in Maryville, Mo.
"They're a good team,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said of the Griffons. "They played us really, really well the first two times. They were a little beat up this past week and they didn't play as well.
"We played pretty good against them the last game, but they're a very good team and they've played really well against us the last two years, so it will be a big-time battle.''
Tyler Geiman will lead Washburn into the NCAA Central regional tournament after sinking a nearly three-quarters-court 3-pointer last Saturday to give the Ichabods the MIAA Tournament title. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
After the win over Western the Ichabods went on to claim their sixth MIAA Postseason Tournament title and first since 2012 with a 69-68 win over Northwest.
"We played really well against them, which I hope will give our guys confidence that if you can play well against those guys it should give you some confidence that you can play well against anybody in the country,'' Ballard said.
The three MIAA rivals are on the same side of the six-school regional bracket while three Northern Sun Conference members are on the other side.
The host Northern State Wolves are the No. 1 seed and will take on the winner between No. 4 Wayne State and No. 5 Minnesota State Moorhead.
Missouri Western swept the two regular-season meetings with the Ichabods, winning 74-67 in St. Joseph on Jan. 9 and 81-77 in Topeka on Feb. 18 before the Ichabods bounced back with last week's 29-point rout.
The Ichabods have never faced Missouri Western in the NCAA Tournament and are 14-14 overall in tournament appearances.
Senior Tyler Geiman, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer against Northwest in the MIAA final, leads Washburn in scoring (21.2 points per game), assists (6.4 average) and rebounds (6.6 average).
Geiman recorded the first triple double in Washburn history with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists against Northeastern State on Feb. 23.
Washburn junior Jalen Lewis was the MVP in last week's MIAA Tournament, including a career-high 29 points against Missouri Western. [File photo]
Junior Jalen Lewis, the MIAA Tournament MVP, averages 13.8 points and has hit 68 of 134 3-point attempts.
He scored a career-high 29 points against Missouri Western in the MIAA Tournament semifinals and enters Saturday's game with 999 career points.
Sophomore Tyler Nelson averages 11.1 points while junior Jonny Clausing averages 9.8 points and 4.2 rebounds.
Tyrell Carroll leads Missouri Wester with a 17-point average and he also dishes out 4.2 assist per game. Will Eames averages 12.3 points and 8.6 rebounds while Caleb Bennett (11.7), Reese Glover (11.2) and Q Mays (11.3) also average in double figures.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
This time, close won't be enough.
After finishing second to Washburn Rural in the Class 6A girls state championship game two seasons ago, Hannah Alexander's Topeka High team rolled to a 25-0 record and a semifinal berth last March before having title shot No. 2 wiped out by COVID-19.
And while the Trojans received a lot of condolences and well-wishes after last year's sudden end to the year, it didn't really help much, so Topeka High is determined to end its "Third Year Is The Charm'' tour with the coveted state championship, which would be High's first girls crown since 1982.
"We're tired of the getting so close and the 'Oh, almost, and you should have and oh, you guys won it virtually,' '' Alexander said. "That doesn't mean anything to these kids, so we definitely want to make sure we come home with the hardware.
"We owe it to this town and to the Trojan family.''
Ja'Neysha Hendricks, who averaged 4.5 assists, will be one of five Topeka High seniors who will close out their high school careers in the Class 6A state tournament. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural product Kendall Michalski and her Bethel College women's basketball teammates will make history Friday night when they step on the court at Wichita's Garvey Center for the Threshers' opening-round game against Vanguard in the NAIA National Championships.
Friday's 8 p.m. contest will mark the first time in the 48-year history of the program that Bethel has advanced to the national tournament, a big milestone in a season of big milestones for Michalski and the Bethel program.
Washburn Rural product Kendall Michalski has set single-game and single-season 3-point records for Bethel, which is headed to the NAIA national tournament for the first time in school history. [Submitted]
Bethel, which will take a 16-9 record into the Vanguard game, was upset in the quarterfinals of the KCAC tournament, but ended up garnering the conference's second national bid behind conference champ and 29-0 Sterling.
"We were told we had a pretty good chance,'' Michalski told TopSports.news in a phone interview. "If Sterling won we were going, so we turned into some pretty big Warrior fans, cheering for Sterling.''
Bethel's trip to nationals is another sign of the dramatic progress the program has made under the fourth-year husband/wife Threshers coaching tandem of head coach Drew Johnson and assistant Nicole (Ohlde) Johnson, the former Kansas State star and WNBA player.
"(Bethel) actually only won four games the season before Drew and Nicole got here and they won a few more (12) Drew and Nicole's first year here and then when I got here my freshman year we went 20-10, which went down as the winningest team in school history,'' Michalski said. "And then just two years later here we are being the first team going to nationals, which is really cool.''
