By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A good indication of how high Rick Bloomquist's expectations are for this year's Topeka West boys basketball team was the veteran coach's mood after Tuesday night's home Centennial League game against Emporia.
The Chargers had just rolled to a 76-50 victory over the Spartans to improve to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the league, but Bloomquist, by his own admission, wasn't exactly pleased.
"I'm not real happy,'' Bloomquist said with a chuckle. "We expect to win right now. I'm not going to be bashful about it, I'm not going to get into any old cliches about one at a time. I believe all of that, yes, but I don't do this to expect not to win. It's been a hard build to get this place to where it's at right now and we feel very fortunate that we've got the kids we have because I've got some very talented players that work hard for us, but the bar is higher and we're trying to get there too fast.
"We've got to be a little bit more patient, a little bit more poised and it's got to start from the top. That means me, so I'm going in the locker room and I'm going to be patient and poised and tell them how unhappy I am.''
Bloomquist's main complaint Tuesday night was the Chargers' lack of consistency at different times in the game, even though West led 43-34 at the half and broke the game wide open in the third quarter, outscoring the Spartans (3-3, 2-3) by a 16-6 margin to take a 59-40 advantage into the fourth quarter. West's final margin was its biggest lead of the night.
"We have too many bad spurts,'' Bloomquist said. "We've got to learn to play the halfcourt game a little bit better right now. The fullcourt game is OK, but that tweener game is what we're not good at.''
One player that was good all night long was 6-foot-3 junior Elijah Brooks, who finished with a game-high 29 points on 13 of 16 shooting from the field, with a pair of 3-pointers.
"In the first half I was trying to force stuff too much, but then when we settled down as a team we got more open looks together and we looked more in rhythm,'' Brooks said.
Senior Trevion Alexander added 13 points for the Chargers.
Emporia senior Charles Snyder paced the Spartans with 23 points while sophomore Parker Leeds added 13 points.
EMPORIA GIRLS 71, TOPEKA WEST 33
Junior Gracie Gilpin and sophomore Rebecca Snyder combined for 39 points as Emporia (5-2. 3-2) rolled to a Centennial League victory over the Chargers (1-5, 0-2).
The Spartans were never challenged after jumping out to a 10-0 advantage out of the gate. Emporia led 18-4 at the end of the first quarter and 42-20 at halftime before building a 61-32 lead through three quarters and forcing a running clock in the fourth period.
Topeka West was led by junior Nivea Triplett and sophomore Makinsey Jones with 8 points apiece.
EMPORIA GIRLS 71, TOPEKA WEST 33
Emporia 18 24 19 10 -- 71
Topeka West 4 16 12 1 -- 33
Emporia (5-2, 3-2) -- Gilpin 6-11 5-5 20, Christensen 0-3 1-4 1, Adams 1-1 2-2 5, Baker 1-3 3-3 5, Snyder 8-9 3-4 19, Stewart 1-2 0-0 2, Peak 3-4 0-0 6, Gutierrez 0-0 0-1 0, Garcia 2-3 0-0 4, Kirmer 2-5 1-2 6, Herfkens 1-1 0-0 2, Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Wiltz 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 25-42 16-23 71.
Topeka West (1-5, 0-5) -- S. Triplett 2-5 1-2 6, Sanchez 2-5 0-3 4, Benson 0-3 0-0 0, Clark 0-3 0-0 0, Jones 4-4 0-1 8, Mays 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony 0-4 0-0 0, N. Triplett 4-10 0-2 8, Bearman 0-1 0-0 0, Henderson 3-3 0-0 7, Duncan 0-3 0-0 0, Totals 15-41 1-8 33.
3-point goals -- Emporia 5 (Gilpin 3, Adams, Kirmer), Topeka West 2 (S. Triplett, Henderson). Total fouls -- Emporia 14, Topeka West 18. Fouled out -- none.
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 76, EMPORIA 50
Emporia 12 22 6 10 -- 50
Topeka West 20 23 16 17 -- 76
Emporia (3-3 2-3) -- Kirmer 1-2 1-1 3, Ortega 1-5 0-0 2, Gilpin 3-10 1-1 7, Leeds 5-9 2-3 13, Snyder 11-20 0-0 23, Stewart 1-1 0-0 2, Corum 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 4-5 50.
Topeka West (6-0, 5-0) -- Wilkerson 3-4 1-2 7, Brooks 13-16 1-2 29, T. Alexander 5-15 1-4 13, Putthoff 2-4 0-0 5, Lowery 1-1 2-3 4, Lira 1-2 2-2 5, Peterson 3-3 0-0 6, X. Alexander 1-1 0-0 2, Mehrens 1-1 2-3 4, Bearman 0-0 0-0 0, Austin 0-0 0-0 0, Cooper 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-49 8-14 76.
3-point goals -- Emporia 2 (Leeds, Snyder), Topeka West 6 (Brooks 2, T. Alexander 2, Putthoff, Lira). Total fouls -- Emporia 17, Topeka West 11. Fouled out -- none.
