By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Topeka West had plenty to play for in Saturday's Topeka Invitational Tournament game, getting what is now a rare opportunity to face city and USD 501 rival Topeka High while also getting a chance to pick up a second straight tournament win.
Sophomore Keimani Paul had a breakout 21-point game in Saturday's 55-30 Topeka Invitational win over Topeka High. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
And veteran West coach Rick Bloomquist also dangled a little extra motivation in front of his Chargers, who went out and turned in an impressive 55-30 win over the Trojans to claim the consolation title (fifth place) while improving to 6-4 on the season.
"It hopes that they knew Sunday was open for a practice if things didn't work out the way we wanted them to,'' Bloomquist said. "That was probably the biggest motivation that we were going to get it out of them one way or another.
"I said, 'You prove to me today that you want to play the game the way it's supposed to be played all the time or we'll just keep on teaching on Sunday.' Well, guess what, sometimes those motivations are much-needed.''
Topeka High (5-7) led 3-0 and 8-4 in the early going, but West rallied for an 11-8 first-round lead and boosted its advantage to double-digits (28-17) at the half.
West opened up a 17-point advantage (44-27) by the start of the fourth quarter and limited the Trojans to just three points over the final eight minutes while closing out its 25-point win.
Sophomore Keimani Paul had a breakout 21-point game for the Chargers while junior Jalen Foy added 10 points and senior Johnny Young eight.
Junior Da'Mykel Hales was the lone player in double figures for Topeka High with 12 points while senior Isaiah Lyons finished with nine points.
"I put this one solely on me,'' Topeka High coach Geo Lyons said. "We just didn't have it today. We had no legs. We played three games in less than a 24-hour turnaround each game and if this is going to be our style of play -- we want to play fullcourt, we want to get in your shorts and want to play fast -- we've got to get more done in practice and have to get in better shape.
"I think it showed today. I think we had every shot that we've had for the past 11 games. They were just short and we didn't win the track meet. All credit to coach Bloom and coach (Marco) Hunter and coach (Dwayne) Anthony over there. Those guys are in shape. I've been there (as an assistant) and I know what they get done in the preseason and stuff. We just didn't have it on Day 3, so back to the drawing board.''
TOPEKA WEST 55, TOPEKA HIGH 30
Topeka High 8 9 10 3 -- 30
Topeka West 11 17 16 11 -- 55
Topeka High (5-7) -- Lyons 3 2-2 9, Freeman 0 1-2 1, Hales 4 2-2 12, Villegas 2 0-0 6, Norman 1 0-0 2, Groves 0 0-0 0, Brown 0 0-2 0, Simms 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 5-8 30.
Topeka West (6-4)-- Young 3 0-0 8, McGee 0 0-0 0, Paul 9 1-1 21, Foy 3 4-4 10, Noonoo 1 0-0 2, Guest 0 0-0 0, Duncan 1 0-0 2, Webb 0 0-0 0, Chambers 3 0-0 6, Ford 3 0-0 6, Davis 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 5-5 55.
3-point goals -- Topeka High 5 (Hales 2, Villegas 2, Lyons), Topeka West 4 (Young 2, Paul 2). Total fouls -- Topeka High 10, Topeka West 12. Fouled out -- none.
Lions ride Kingsize performance to 87-78 win over Hayden
Senior star Zaxton King turned in a monster 46-point performance on Saturday as Lawrence picked up its second victory of the season with an 87-78 win over Hayden in the seventh-place game.
Lawrence, which improved to 2-9, also got 13 points from junior Avery Johnson and sophomore Aden Ramirez.
Hayden, which fell to 4-7, got 21 points from freshman Maron Becker while senior Cooper Colboch added 17 points and sophomore Connor Hanika 14.
Hayden and Lawrence were tied at 23 at the end of the opening quarter before Lawrence took a 42-36 halftime advantage as King scored 27 first-half points.
The Wildcats cut their deficit to 58-56 at the end of the third quarter and tied the game on multiple occasions in the fourth quarter before the Lions pulled away down the stretch.
LAWRENCE 87, HAYDEN 78
Hayden 23 13 20 22 -- 78
Lawrence 23 19 16 29 -- 87
Hayden (4-7) -- Banks 1 0-0 2, Deister 2 0-0 5, Mitchell 0 1-2 1, Kidd 2 3-4 7, Kuta 2 0-0 5, Colboch 5 4-4 17, Charvat 2 2-2 6, Becker 6 6-6 21, Hanika 5 4-8 14, Grace 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 20-25 78.
Lawrence (2-9) -- Parks 1 0-0 3, King 15 12-16 46, Johnson 1 10-14 13, Galbreth 2 2-4 6, Fineday 1 1-2 3, Ramirez 5 0-3 13, Roman Nose 1 0-0 3, Wondrack 0 0-0 0, Foster 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 25-39 87.
3-point goals -- Hayden 8 (Colboch 3, Becker 3, Deister, Kuta), Lawrence 10 (King 4, Ramirez 3, Parks, Roman Nose, Johnson). Total fouls -- Hayden 28, Lawrence 22. Fouled out -- Galbreth, Hanika, Kuta.
RESULTS SATURDAY
Lawrence 87, Hayden 78
Topeka West 55, Topeka High 30
Shawnee Mission North 55, Lansing 43
Wichita Northwest 64, Highland Park 61
