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.
Jalen Smith gave the Trojans a final lead at the start of the OT, but Trey Pivarnik scored to tie the game at 43-43 and Williams canned two free throws to put the Wildcats in front, 45-43.
Topeka High's Jaylan Fulton scored to knot the game at 45 before Williams converted a 3-point play with 1:20 left to account for the final margin.
"(The Trojans) obviously know him really well and they know he can shoot it, so they we'ren't giving him looks, but to his credit, he kept moving and he created some opportunities for himself and our team, which was really big at the right time,'' Head said.
Junior Trent Duffey led Hayden (3-6) with 13 points while sophomore Jake Muller added 12 points and Williams 11, 8 in the final 4:23 of the game.
Leesman scored 14 points and Smith 13 for Topeka High, which fell to 1-7. The Trojans played most of the game without senior Isiah Esquibel, who left the game with an apparent knee injury.
Hayden advanced to the fifth-place game to face Topeka West, a 67-57 winner over Highland Park. That game will be played at 4:30 p.m., following a 2 o'clock seventh-place game between High and Highland Park. Both of those games will be played in High's auxiliary gym.
HAYDEN 48, TOPEKA HIGH 45
Hayden 18 6 9 8 7 -- 48
Topeka High 9 9 16 7 4 -- 45
Hayden (3-6) -- Muller 4 1-3 12, Duffey 5 1-1 13, Pivarnik 4 1-2 9, Otting 1 1-2 3, Gorman 0 0-0 0, Williams 3 4-4 11, Bartlett 0 0-0 0, Rice 0 0-0 0, Rochford 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 8-12 48.
Topeka High (1-7) -- Smith 6 0-0 13, Esquibel 1 0-0 2, Wilson 2 0-0 4, Leesman 6 1-2 14, Canady 2 0-0 4, McMillon 0 0-0 0, Fulton 1 1-2 3, Phillips 1 0-0 2, Kincade 0 0-0 0, Walker 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 2-4 45.
3-point goals -- Hayden 6 (Muller 3, Duffey 2, Williams), Topeka High e (Smith, Leesman, Walker). Total fouls -- Hayden 7, Topeka High 14. Fouled out -- none.
