West rallies in OT to earn spot in Topeka Invitational final

For the second straight day, Topeka West stared defeat straight in the face and found a way to survive in the Topeka Invitational Tournament.

After rallying from a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit to take a 75-71 overtime win over St. Marys in Thursday's opening round, West fell behind by 12 (41-29) in the second half of Friday's semifinal against Wichita Northwest before rallying to force overtime for a second straight day and survive with a 56-50 win over the Grizzlies at Hayden.

With the win, the 6-2 Chargers advanced to Saturday's 5:30 p.m. championship game to meet defending champion Lawrence, a 74-56 winner over Highland Park in the first semifinal.

"Good teams do that," Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist said of the back-to-back comeback wins. "Good teams have to find a way to adjust and change in the course of the game.

"We battled and I had to challenge them once and I said, "This is a battle now, it's not a basketball game.' I'm so proud of them right now."

Sophomore Elijah Brooks led West with 19 points, while junior Marque Wilkerson came up huge off the bench with 10 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Wilkerson barely played in Thursday's win over St. Marys after drawing Bloomquist's ire with multiple mistakes, but Wilkerson earned at least partial redemption with Friday's performance.

Wilkerson scored the final basket in regulation to send the game to OT tied at 48-48 and he put the Chargers ahead to stay with a 3-pointer to open the extra session with 3:27 remaining.

"I tell you what, he's in the doghouse, but hey, I gave him a pillow,'' Bloomquist joked. "And if he sneaks out, I may give him an extra milky bone.

"I love the kid to death, and I love this team. Sometimes kids just need to be focused and once you learn how to be focused you're pretty damn good.''

Junior June Wilson led Northwest with 18 points, while senior Demontre Stewart had 15 points.

Northwest (5-7) will play Highland Park for third place at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

LAWRENCE 74, HIGHLAND PARK 56 — Lawrence is back in the Topeka Invitational championship game for the seventh time in eight years after a second straight tournament rout.

The 6-3 Lions opened this year's tournament with a 62-47 win over Hayden, opening up a 39-23 halftime lead, and Lawrence also put Friday's semifinal out of reach early, leading 29-15 at the half and 47-26 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Lawrence, which has won three Topeka Invitational titles since 2014, including last year's championship, had four players in double figures against Highland Park (7-3), led by junior Zeke Mayo with 20 points.

Senior Valdez White had 14 points off the bench, while senior Peyton Mallory had 12 points and senior Mayson Quartlebaum 10.

"I just really like the way our guys are sharing the load," Lawrence coach Mike Lewis said. "It's not one or two guys out there who are feeling the pressure to score a certain amount of points. It's a true team effort and it feels pretty good."

Lewis said Friday's performance may have been the Lions' best this season from an energy standpoint.

"I think up to this point, yeah," Lewis said. "They want to play in the championship tomorrow and they want to put our name on that trophy and continue that pride in being a champion.

"I think they knew Highland Park would be a good opponent and our guys wanted to come out and get after them and play hard."

Highland Park got a game-high 22 points from junior CJ Powell, while sophomore Juan'Tario Roberts had 14 points and junior Jahi Peppers 13, but the Scots were unable to recover from Lawrence's early onslaught.

TOPEKA HIGH 70, ST. MARYS 50 — It's been a rare occasion that first-year Topeka High coach Eric King's Trojans have been at full strength this season due to school-related issues.

But High was in that position Friday and the result was a decisive victory over St. Marys in a consolation game.

"We've had people ineligible and a couple of suspensions, and I told the fellas that if we can ever get our full team together, we'll be alright," King said. "This only like our second game having our full team. We've been our own worst enemy, but if we will just do right, we can be alright. You saw that tonight, but we've got to have everybody there all the time."

Topeka High, now 5-4, showed that potential Friday, rolling to an easy win over the 5-6 Bears after opening up a 26-12 first-quarter lead and a 38-22 advantage at the half.

The Trojans went on to lead by as many as 29 points in the second half.

Senior King Sutton, who had 38 points Thursday, scored a game-high 18 points for the Trojans against St. Marys, while junior Geivonnii Williams added 14 points, senior Da'Vonshai Harden 13 points and senior Carlos Esquibel 10. 

Senior Bryan Schoemann led St. Marys with 17 points, while junior Isiah Holz added 10.

Topeke High will play Hayden for fifth place at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, while St. Marys will play Kansas City-Washington for seventh at noon. Hayden didn't play Friday, with the Wildcats not able to make the trip because school had been canceled at Washington.

TOPEKA HIGH 70, ST. MARYS 50

Topeka High;26;12;25;7;—;70

St. Marys;12;10;13;15;—;50

Topeka High (5-4) — Smith 2-4 0-0 4, Sutton 8-13 1-1 18, C. Esquibel 4-4 1-1 10, Williams 6-13 0-0 14, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Cooks 1-1 0-0 3, Harden 5-11 0-0 13, I. Esquibel 4-5 0-0 8, Chapman 0-0 0-0 0, Phillips 0-1 0-0 0, Carr 0-2 0-0 0, James 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-55 2-2 70.

St. Marys (5-6) — Moylan 2-6 0-0 6, C. Hurla 2-4 0-0 5, Murray 3-4 0-0 7, Schoemann 8-13 1-1 17, Criqui 1-1 1-2 3, J. Hurla 0-4 2-2 2, Ewing 0-3 0-0 0, Holt 4-8 2-2 10. Totals 20-43 6-7 50.

3-point goals — Topeka High 8 (Harden 3, Williams 2, Cooks, C. Esquibel, Sutton), St. Marys 4 (Moylan 2, C. Hurla, Murray). Total fouls — Topeka High 9, St. Marys 8. Fouled out — none.

LAWRENCE 74, HIGHLAND PARK 56

Highland Park;8;7;11;30;—;56

Lawrence;14;15;18;27;—;74 

Highland Park (7-3) — Peppers 4-10 5-6 13, Powell 8-20 3-6 22, Curry 0-0 0-0 0, Daniels 0-4 0-0 0, Roberts 5-12 2-3 14, Prosper 1-1 0-0 2, Kendrick 1-2 3-4 5, Hernandez 0-2 0-0 0, Garland 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-51 13-19 56.

Lawrence (6-3) — Mayo 8-14 4-6 20, Mallory 4-7 3-4 12, Johnson 3-5 0-2 6, Quartlebaum 4-7 2-4 10, Littlehead 2-4 0-0 5, White 6-7 2-2 14, Bentzinger 1-2 0-0 3, Dotson 0-2 0-0 0, Thompson 2-20-0 4. Totals  30-50 11-18 74.

3-point goals — Highland Park 5 (Powell 3, Roberts 2), Lawrence 3 (Mallory, Littlehead, Bentzinger). Total fouls — Highland Park 20, Lawrence 19. Fouled out — Curry, White.

TOPEKA WEST 56, WICHITA NORTHWEST 50 (OT)

Wichita NW;8;19;14;7;2;—;50

Topeka West;20;9;5;14;8;—;56

Wichita Northwest (5-7) — Ruffin 3 0-0 7, Wilson 7 0-1 18, Duncan 2 2-2 6, Verbeck 2 0-0 4, Stewart 7 1-2 15, Garrett 0 0-0 0, Goodwin 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 3-5 50.

Topeka West (6-2) — Harrison 0 1-4 1, Brooks 7 4-11 19, Wolf 3 0-0 9, Bitler 3 0-2 8, Alexander 2 1-2 5, Lira 0 0-0 0, Wilkerson 4 1-3 10, Durall 2 0-0 4. Totals 21 7-22 56.

3-point goals — Wichita Northwest 5 (Wilson 4, Ruffin), Topeka West 7 (Wolf 3, Bitler 2, Brooks, Wilkerson). Total fouls — Wichita Northwest 17, Topeka West 10. Fouled out — Duncan.