By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It was before Washburn Rural boys basketball coach Alex Hutchins arrived in Topeka, but he has been told the story about how a few seasons ago Wichita West came in to Rural for a Class 6A sub-state semifinal and knocked off the heavily-favored Junior Blues to end their season.
Washburn Rural junior Simon Rowley dunks the ball for two of his 23 points in Tuesday's 78-50 sub-state win over Wichita West. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Hutchins' No. 3-seeded Rural team made sure that history didn't repeat itself Tuesday, knocking down 14 3-pointers on the way to a 78-50 rout and a shot at a sub-state title Friday night.
"That (West's upset of Rural) was mentioned to me in the very first summer I was here,'' Hutchins I was here. "It was talked about how incredible our environment is here at Washburn Rural with our student section and our crowd and our cheerleaders and our band.
"And they mentioned that there had been one time in the past where I think the band was on a spring break trip and we had a really high seed and kind of a sleepy crowd and it kind of ended up in disaster. So we didn't specifically bring up that story, but we told the boys, 'You can't take anything for granted, you've got to be ready to go.' ''
West (4-17) took an early 5-2 lead, but junior Draden Chooncharoen converted an old-fashioned three-point play and senior Amare Jones hit a 3-point shot to put the Junior Blues up 8-5 and they never trailed again.
Rural led 21-13 at the end of the first quarter and used a 22-9 second quarter to take a commanding 43-22 lead at the half.
The Junior Blues connected on 7 of 12 3-pointers in the half, led by freshman Brooks Ballard, who came off the bench to hit 4 of 4 treys.
Rural continued to rain 3s in the third quarter, opening up a 66-39 advantage at the end of the third stanza after leading by as many as 29 points.
The Junior Blues forced a running clock (30-point lead at 73-43) at the 4:40 mark of the fourth quarter on Brooks Ballard's fifth trey of the night and cruised the rest of the way.
Ballard finished with 15 points on 5 of 6 shooting from 3-point range, continuing his late-season surge after being promoted to the varsity.
Freshman Brooks Ballard scored 15 points on 5 of 6 shooting from 3-point range in Tuesday's 78-50 win over Wichita West. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
"We knew he was going to be able to do this,'' Hutchins said of Ballard. "I don't know that we thought he would do it as fast as he is. Brooks has been super steady for us and credit to Brooks, he's ran with the opportunity. It came late in the year and kind of came with crumbs early, but he's taken off.' ''
Senior Amare Jones scored 13 points in Tuesday's 78-50 Washburn Rural win over Wichita West. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Junior John Hoytal scored 10 points in Tuesday's 78-50 Washburn Rural win over Wichita West. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Junior Simon Rowley scored a game-high 23 points (four 3s) for Rural while Jones added 13 points and junior John Hoytal 10. Seven different Junior Blues hit 3s in the game.
The Centennial League champions will host a 7 p.m. sub-state final on Friday against the winner between Centennial League rivals Junction City and Manhattan.
WASHBURN RURAL BOYS 78, WICHITA WEST 50
Wichita West 13 9 17 11 -- 50
Washburn Rural 21 22 23 12 -- 78
Wichita West (4-17) -- Maholmes 5-7 0-0 10, Trez Hardeman 0-4 1-2 1, Treg Hardeman 5-14 0-0 11, Laws 3-5 2-3 9, Wilson 4-4 2-6 11, Matthews 0-1 2-2 2, Eck-Watkins 0-0 0-0 0, Carrasco 2-2 1-2 6, Timmons 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-38 8-15 50.
Washburn Rural (17-4) -- Jones 6-9 0-1 13, Leonard 1-1 0-0 3, K. Ballard 1-4 0-0 3, Rowley 7-15 5-5 23, John Hoytal 5-10 0-0 10, Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Hoytal 1-2 0-0 3, Nimz 0-0 0-0 0, Schwinn 1-2 0-0 2, B. Ballard 5-6 0-0 15, Chooncharoen 2-2 1-1 6, Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-51 6-7 78.
3-point goals – Wichita West 4 (Treg Hardeman, Law, Wilson, Carrasco), Washburn Rural 14 (B. Ballard 5, Rowley 4, Jones, Leonard, K. Ballard, Jacob Hoytal, Chooncharoen). Total fouls – Wichita West 11, Washburn Rural 17. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
