By NICHOLAS GAINEY
Special to TopSports.news
The Topeka West boys basketball team saw 10 players find the scoring column as the Chargers downed visiting Kansas City-Turner 63-41 in United Kansas Conference action on Friday night at West.
Junior Malakyah Duncan (12) led a balanced Topeka West scoring attack with 10 points in Friday's 63-41 UKC win over KC-Turner. [File photo/TSN[
The Chargers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening minutes of the contest with baskets from Jalen Foy and Kamoni Ford, but Turner’s Mekhi Follick answered with five quick points to give the visitors their only lead of the night.
Topeka West responded with a layup from Keimani Paul and a 3-pointer from Jay’veon Traylor to take a 9-5 lead.
Follick added a basket to cut the lead back to one possession, but the Chargers took advantage of multiple Golden Bears turnovers to take a 17-10 lead after the first quarter.
The teams traded baskets for the entirety of the second quarter.
Despite running a fast-paced offense, the Chargers struggled to get shots to fall, only tallying 11 points in the period.
West looked to take a double-digit lead into the halftime locker room, but Follick knocked down a 3-pointer late in the half to cut the Charger lead to 28-20 entering the break.
With the Golden Bears hanging around after 16 minutes, Topeka West opened up the contest in the third quarter.
The Chargers began the half with a 12-3 run, with junior classmates Paul and Malakyah Duncan each contributing two field goals.
The West defense continued to cause problems for the visitors, holding the Golden Bears to nine points in the frame.
A late basket from Traylor gave the Chargers a 17-point lead entering the final period, the hosts’ largest lead to that point.
Topeka West continued to pile on the points to start the fourth quarter, using a pair of baskets from Javian Chambers to take a 52-31 advantage early in the period.
The Chargers would out-score Turner 17-10 in the quarter on their way to a third straight victory.
Duncan led Topeka West with 10 points on 5-10 shooting, the only Charger to reach double figures.
Chambers and Traylor both added nine points on 4-7 shooting in the win.
Four other Chargers contributed six points each, while the hosts forced 21 Golden Bear turnovers in the contest.
Follick paced Turner in the loss, scoring 17 points on 7-13 shooting.
With his team only up by eight points at halftime, Topeka West coach Christian Ulsaker had faith that his team would find a way to extend the lead.
“We had quite a few threes in the first half that I felt just rimmed in and out, which could have pushed that eight-point lead to 16 or 17,” Ulsaker said. “We just attacked the rim a lot harder (in the third quarter). Played really hard defensively in the third quarter.”
Despite the 22-point victory, Ulsaker was impressed with the way Turner challenged his team.
“I want to give credit to Turner, they play their butts off.” Ulsaker said. “(Turner coach Vincent Rolls) really has them playing with some toughness and effort, so that was fun to see from them.”
Topeka West will travel to Basehor-Linwood on Tuesday to face a Bobcats squad that had won four straight entering a Friday night contest at Piper.
Ulsaker looks forward to the contest, as his team continues to develop throughout the season.
“We’re still growing into ourselves,” Ulsaker said. “We have a lot of good athletes, a lot of guys who are very talented, and we’re still just figuring out what we want to see from each one of them, which is a good problem to have. (Basehor-Linwood) is going to be tough.”
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 63, KC-TURNER 41
Turner 10 10 9 12 -- 41
Topeka West 17 11 18 17 -- 63
Turner (1-7, 0-6) -- Cheatom, J. 1-3 0-0 3, Davis 2-7 0-0 4, Scott 0-3 0-0 0, Cheatom, K. 0-0 0-0 0, Marshall 2-6 0-2 5, Follick 7-13 1-3 17, McBride 2-2 0-0 4, Bryant 0-0 0-0 0, Pittman 1-9 0-2 2, Alexander 1-1 0-1 2, McGee 2-6 0-0 4. Totals 18-50 1-8 41.
Topeka West (5-2, 5-2) -- Ford 3-5 0-0 6, Dillahunt 0-0 0-0 0, Munganga 2-6 0-0 4, Traylor 4-7 0-0 9, Brooks 0-0 0-0 0, Duncan 5-10 0-2 10, Paul 3-14 0-2 6, Chambers 4-7 0-0 9, Foy 3-5 0-0 6, Lassiter 1-1 4-4 6, Webb 2-4 1-2 5, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Ross 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 28-62 5-10 63.
3-point goals -- Turner 4 (Follick 2, Cheatom, J., Marshall), Topeka West 2 (Traylor, Chambers). Total fouls -- Turner 13, Topeka West 11. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.
