By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Obviously, veteran Topeka West boys basketball coach Rick Bloomquist was happy his Chargers found a way to win Tuesday night, pulling out a 51-48 home overtime win over Hayden on Elijah Brooks 3-pointer at the buzzer to remain tied for the Centennial League lead with West's 15th straight win.
opeka West senior star Elijah Brooks scored 25 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer, in the Chargers' 51-48 overtime win over Hayden Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But Bloomquist was also quick to admit that his team, 16-1 overall, 12-1 in the league, was outplayed by 4-13, 2-11 Hayden for most of the night, a message he conveyed to the Wildcats in their locker room after the game.
"We were out-played, we were out-everythinged,'' Bloomquist said. "We didn't deserve to win. I'm glad we won. I'm happy we won and found a way to win. That's important, but I've been warning this team for the last two weeks about mediocrity and practicing with just going through the motions and it caught up with them.
"It caught up with them on their free throws. It caught up with them on their offense and we just weren't with it. It was a good learning lesson, but we didn't deserve to win that game.''
Bloomquist told the Wildcats exactly that.
"I told them I felt bad for them,'' Bloomquist said. "I told them, 'You outplayed us in every aspect of the game,' and I told them I felt their pain.I felt their pain more than I feel jubilant.''
Hayden coach Dwayne Paul said Bloomquist's talk with his team meant a lot.
"Coach asked me before he left (the gym) if he could talk to the guys and he tipped his hat to our team and told them that we played the right way,'' Paul said. "Playing the right way and having great kids on and off the floor means more to me than any win or loss.
"And to have guy like coach Bloomquist, who's one of the best to ever do it and one of the best Kansas has ever seen, give you a compliment like he gave our team you have to carry weight with that.''
Hayden junior Joe Otting (33) scored 20 points on 10 of 13 shooting in the Wildcats' 51-48 overtime loss at Topeka West Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Hayden, which was coming off a win over Tonganoxie Monday night, put itself in position to post its biggest win of the season Tuesday night when junior Joe Otting, who scored 20 points for the Wildcats, put his team up 48-46 with 1:34 left in overtime.
But Hayden committed a couple of costly turnovers and Topeka West junior Carmelo Foy came up with a big offensive rebound off a missed Brooks free throw with 29.2 seconds remaining .
Topeka West called time out with 26.6 seconds left and got the ball to Brooks, who drove to the hoop resulting in an intentional foul call on Otting was called for an intentional foul with 12.2 seconds on the clock.
"Did he foul him? Yeah,'' Paul said. "And I told (Otting), 'If you feel he has the angle on you, foul him and make him earn it from the free throw line.' But to call an intentional ... I get it if he pushed him and Elijah goes flying, you never want to hurt a kid. But of all the people no one has ever said that Joe Otting is going to try to hurt someone on purpose.
"To call an intentional right there at that time ... that's not an intententional foul right there.''
Brooks hit both free throws to tie the game and because of the intentional foul call Topeka West also retained possession and Brooks drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key as time ran out.
Despite scoring a game-high 25 points, Brooks admitted that Tuesday wasn't one of his best games, including a 5 of 13 performance at the free throw line.
But the West senior star said he knew he had to step up late in the OT.
"Coach (Marco) Hunter and coach Bloom were telling me to just lock in mentally so I could get it done,'' Brooks said. "We just had to keep working hard. We knew we could win the game. It was just about the confidence at the end.
"Me taking the shot, I didn't really have any stress on me, so I just shot.''
Brooks was the only double-figure scorer for Topeka West, with junior Sincere Austin adding eight points and 6-foot-8 senior Nathan Bearman giving the Chargers a big lift off the bench with six points and five rebounds while also drawing a charge.
Otting was the only double-figure scorer for Hayden, with junior Jake Muller and senior Trent Duffey both adding nine points.
Duffey and junior Daxton Hamm both fouled out in the late going as Topeka West went 7 of 19 at the free throw line while the Wildcats were 2 of 4.
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 51, HAYDEN 48 (OT)
Hayden 17 7 14 4 6 -- 48
Topeka West 17 12 8 5 9 -- 51
Hayden (4-13, 2-11) -- Bartlett 3-5 0-0 7, Muller 3-9 2-2 9, Duffey 4-12 0-0 9, Ham 0-0 0-0 0, Otting 10-13 0-2 20, Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Foster 1-4 0-0 3, Rice 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-43 2-4 48.
Topeka West (16-1, 12-1) -- Austin 4-9 0-3 8, Brooks 9-20 5-13 25, Alexander 2-3 0-1 4, Berg 2-4 2-2 6, Putthoff 0-4 0-0 0, Robinson 1-1 0-0 2, Foy 0-1 0-0 0, Bearman 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 21-47 7-19 51.
3-point goals -- Hayden 4 (Muller, Duffey, Bartlett, Foster), Topeka West 2 (Brooks 2). Total fouls -- Hayden 19, Topeka West 9. Fouled out – Duffey, Ham.
