By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Topeka West Chargers are halfway home.
Rick Bloomquist's Chargers clinched a share of the Centennial League boys basketball championship with a wire-to-wire 60-46 road win over Emporia Friday night and can clinch the title outright with a win over USD 501 rival Topeka High in Saturday's 1 p.m. game at West.
"It's a goal of theirs and they want it,'' Bloomquist said of the league title. "We mentioned it. I'm one of those guys that wants to put that carrot out in front and let them go get it. If we take care of business, we'll be OK.''
Elijah Brooks
Topeka West, which improved to 15-2 overall and 12-1 in the league, put its ninth straight victory away early, opening up a 20-2 lead out of the gate. The Chargers were in command 22-7 at the end of the first quarter and 38-15 at the half while Emporia, despite playing much better after the break, did not get any closer than 13 the rest of the way.
"I was very pleased with the defense the first half,'' Bloomquist said. "Emporia wants to control the ball, they want to control the offense and they want to make you play defense longer than you want. I appreciate the game (Spartan coach Beau Welch) wants to play, but you have to counter-attack that with the athletes that you have.
"If we just let them play the way they want to play it would be a close game or we'd lose, so our kids did a great job of getting in the passing lanes and did a great job of turning the ball, did a good job of rebounding and stopping penetration. The last three or four games our defensive effort has been great. They've got the skills, but we've got to play the intangible game and when we do, we're pretty good.''
The Chargers, who continue to hold a two-game lead over Highland Park in the league race, were also pretty good offensively at times Friday, shooting 56.8 percent from the field while producing three double-figure scorers.
Junior Elijah Brooks led all scorers with 23 points while senior Marque Wilkerson and Trevion Alexander added 17 and 13 points for the Chargers.
Emporia senior standout Charles Snyder got off to a slow start Friday, but led the Spartans (7-11, 4-10) with 13 points and reached the 1,000-point milestone for his career early in the third quarter.
Sophomore Parker Leeds added 11 points and senior Chance Gilpin 9 as the Spartans dropped their fifth straight game.
EMPORIA GIRLS 49, TOPEKA WEST 33
Topeka West showed significant progress in its rematch with Emporia, cutting a 39-point difference in the first game against Emporia to 16 points Friday night.
But West had too many turnovers and Emporia had too much Rebecca Snyder and Gracie Gilpin to prevent the Chargers from making a serious run at an upset victory.
Topeka West, which fell to 2-14 overall and 1-12 in the Centennial League, was still within 10 points at halftime (27-17) and got as close as 7 twice in the third quarter before Emporia pushed its lead to 18 points four times down the stretch.
West hurt itself with 30 turnovers on the night while Emporia got a game-high 21 points from Snyder and 13 from Gilpin as the Spartans improved to 12-6, 9-4.
Junior Nivea Triplett paced Topeka West with 8 points. West will return to action at 1 p.m. Saturday, hosting undefeated and top-ranked Topeka High.
EMPORIA GIRLS 49, TOPEKA WEST 33
Topeka West 4 13 6 10 -- 33
Emporia 12 15 10 12 -- 49
Topeka West (2-14, 1-12) -- S. Triplett 1-6 0-0 2, Sanchez 0-2 1-2 1, Benson 1-3 0-0 3, Clark 1-3 0-0 2, Ford 2-4 0-0 4, Jones 1-2 0-3 2, Anthony 0-2 0-0 0, Duncan 0-2 4-4 4, N. Triplett 3-4 0-0 8, Davis 1-3 0-0 2, Henderson 2-4 1-2 5. Totals 12-35 6-11 33.
Emporia (12-6, 9-4) -- Gilpin 3-12 5-6 13, Christensen 0-4 0-0 0, Adams 2-4 0-0 5, Baker 0-5 2-2 2, Snyder 9-13 3-6 21, Kirmer 0-0 0-0 0, Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Peak 0-1 1-2 1, Stewart 1-2 2-2 5, Wiltz 0-0 0-0 0, Herfkans 1-1 0-0 2, Garcia 0-0 0-0 0, Gutierrez 0-1 0-0 0, Baker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-44 13-28 49.
3-point goals -- Topeka West 3 (N. Triplett 2, Benson), Emporia 4 (Gilpin 2, Stewart, Adams). Total fouls -- Topeka West 13, Emporia 12. Fouled out -- none.
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 60, EMPORIA 46
Topeka West 22 16 11 11 -- 60
Emporia 7 8 19 12 -- 46
Topeka West (15-2, 12-1) -- Wilkerson 8-12 1-2 17, Brooks 10-13 3-6 23, Austin 1-3 1-2 4, T. Alexander 5-9 2-2 13, Putthoff 1-5 0-0 3, Lira 0-0 0-0 0, Peterson 0-0 0-0 0, X. Alexander 0-2 0-0 0, Lowery 0-0 0-0 0, Mehrens 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-44 7-12 60.
Emporia (7-11, 4-10) -- Kirmer 0-1 0-0 0, Gilpin 4-12 0-1 9, Hines 3-5 0-0 6, Leeds 5-6 1-4 11, Snyder 6-16 0-0 13, Ortega 2-4 0-0 5, Stewart 1-3 0-0 2, Corum 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 1-5 46.
3-point goals -- Topeka West 3 (Austin, T. Alexander, Putthoff), Emporia 3 (Gilpin, Ortega, Snyder). Total fouls -- Topeka West 12, Emporia 15. Fouled out -- none.
