The Emporia High School boys basketball team topped Junction City 50-36 on Friday night, evening their season series with the Blue Jays.
Emporia let Junction City score the first two points of the game on their senior night after one of the Junction City players suffered a torn ACL during the football season. The Spartans trailed 6-2 early but came out quickly after that, scoring the next nine points and would lead 19-11 lead after the opening quarter.
They would not trail the rest of the way.
“I thought we did a really good job of getting live ball turnovers in the first half,” head coach Lee Baldwin said. “We ran our office really well. We got a lot of touches in the paint. We did a really good job of getting a seven-point lead in the first half and in the second half, we switched up our defense from a 1-3-1 to a 1-1-3 and kind of packed it in more. We made some big timely shots, did a good job rebounding and got a big win.”
Junction City cut it to three late in the second quarter, but a River Peters 3-pointer towards the end of the quarter extended the lead to 30-23 at the half.
Emporia began the third quarter on a 7-2 run on another Peters 3-ball and baskets from Fred Jackson and Parker Leeds. The Spartans led 44-32 after the third frame and the tempo slowed down in the fourth quarter, with just 10 points being scored between the two teams.
After being limited to just 39 points the last time they played Junction City, the Spartans were able to put up 50 the second time around. Baldwin credited their athleticism and quickness, but also Emporia’s ability to get good looks.
“We turned the ball over quite a bit in the second half when they started to speed us up, which their athleticism and quickness in the perimeter has done to us both times,” Baldwin said. “But when we ran the offense and screened well, we got really good looks. The first time we played them we scored 39 and tonight we scored 50. That’s a substantial improvement.”
Leeds led the way offensively with 16 points. He was joined in double figures by Peters and Jackson who had 13 and 10 points, respectively. Emporia High Head Coach Lee Baldwin said their team chemistry was big in the win. Emporia is (14-5) on the year and tied for first in the Centennial League.
Emporia JV 33
Junction JV 40
JV Record: 9-6
Emporia C 40
Junction C 44
C Record: 6-9
