By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural boys basketball Alex Hutchins felt like despite six straight losses to open the 2023-2024 season, his Junior Blues had been knocking at the door for a victory.
The Junior Blues knocked that door down Friday night, rolling to a dominating 62-29 Centennial League win over Hayden at the Bueltel Activity Center.
Washburn Rural junior Amare Jones scored a game-high 20 points Friday as Rural picked up its first win of the season, 62-29 over Hayden. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
"We've kind of said from the start that we did not feel like a team that had lost all our games thus far,'' Hutchins said. "Our schedule was very good, but all of our games were competitive all the way until the final horn and this was the first night we've had all our pieces.
"We've had at least one guy who's in the rotation out every game until tonight. It was fun to see the puzzle all the way together.''
Washburn Rural, which improved to 1-6 overall and 1-1 in the league, went wire to wire after scoring the first five points of the game.
Junior Amare Jones capped a six-point first quarter with a hoop to give Rural a 14-4 first-quarter lead and the Junior Blues went on to open up a commanding 32-13 lead late in the first half before taking a 32-15 advantage to the locker room at the break.
Rural outscored Hayden (4-3, 0-2) by a 22-12 margin in the third quarter to take 54-27 lead into the fourth period and the Junior Blues forced a running clock via the 30-point spread rule (58-27) with 6:25 remaining.
Washburn Rural got a game-high 20 points from Jones, a 6-foot-1 guard, who was playing his second game of the season after missing all of Rural's pre-Christmas games with a wrist injury.
"Tonight he definitely looked like he had kind of settled in,'' Hutchins said. "He looked comfortable.''
Washburn Rural junior Kaden Ballard (2) scored 11 points with three 3-pointers in Friday's 62-29 win at Hayden. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Junior Kaden Ballard added 11 points with three 3-pointers while senior JC Heim had eight points and six rebounds and sophomore Draden Chooncharoen eight points off the bench.
Freshman Mason Becker led Hayden with 16 points, including a 10 of 10 performance at the free throw line, while Cooper Grace added nine points as only four Wildcats cracked the scoring column.
Hayden played without injured senior guards Jacob Padilla and Dom Ridley.
Hayden will be back at home Tuesday for a Centennial League game against Junction City while Washburn Rural will be at home to face Topeka High.
WASHBURN RURAL BOYS 62, HAYDEN 29
Washburn Rural 14 18 22 8 -- 52
Hayden 4 11 12 2 -- 29
Washburn Rural (1-6, 1-1) -- Jones 7-8 4-7 20, Ballard 3-9 2-2 11, Hoytal 1-2 0-2 2, Durst 2-5 0-0 5, Heim 3-3 2-2 8, Leonard 2-2 0-0 4, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Shriver 0-1 1-4 1, Chooncharoen 2-8 3-4 8, Gaines 0-0 1-2 1, O'Connor 1-2 0-0 2, Ray 0-0 0-0 0, Hamilton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-40 13-25 62.
Hayden (4-3, 0-2) -- Colboch 0-3 0-0 0, Charvat 1-4 0-0 2, Mitchell 0-5 0-0 0, Becker 2-12 10-10 16, Grace 2-3 5-7 9, Deister 0-2 0-0 0, Hanika 0-0 0-2 0, Kuta 0-5 0-0 0, Kidd 0-0 0-0 0, Zweisler 0-0 0-0 0, Banks 0-0 0-2 0, Heinen 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 6-36 15-21 29.
3-point goals -- Washburn Rural 7 (Ballard 3, Jones 2, Durst, Chooncharoen), Hayden 2 (Becker 2). Total fouls -- Washburn Rural 18, Hayden 25. Fouled out – Hanika. Technical fouls -- none.
