The Emporia High School boys basketball team improved to 7-1 on the season and 2-0 in the Centennial League in a 69-59 victory over Topeka High in Topeka on Friday night.
“The game was a lot of spurts,” head coach Lee Baldwin said. “They got an eight-point lead early in the second quarter. We called a timeout and made a couple of adjustments and went on a 20-4 run that got us the lead. We extended it to 13 midway through the third. They came all the way back and then we extended it back. It was a game that was played at a high pace with a lot of shots and each team made their run.”
The two teams went back and forth in the first quarter. Emporia led 7-3 but the teams would trade leads six times from there as Topeka ended the first frame with a 14-13 lead. The Trojans extended their lead to seven when they scored the first three buckets of the second quarter before Emporia’s River Peters made three of the next four baskets to make it a three-point game. A Topeka three-pointer was answered by a Peters three-pointer, a basket from parker Leeds and a bucket from Peters to give Emporia the lead as part of a 14-0 Emporia run that gave the Spartans a 35-27 lead. Emporia went into the half up 37-33.
Baldwin credited Peters with keeping them in the game. “It's not only that he scored 15 in the second quarter, but a lot of them were momentum-type shots when they were on their run,” Baldwin said. “They were up eight, we got a three from the top of the key. Then they were up seven and he gets an offensive rebound. So, he really kept us afloat midway through the second quarter when they were playing at their best.”
The Spartans would run the lead to 13 in the third quarter before Topeka closed the frame on an 8-0 run to make it 53-48 heading into the fourth quarter, where the Trojans would cut the deficit to two points. But Emporia was able to ice the game at the free throw line, going 7-for-10 down the stretch.
Coach Baldwin credited his team for closing out a close game. “I think it's really impressive because these guys haven't experienced a lot of success in team sports,” Baldwin said. “So, for these guys to win some close games and find ways to gut them out, I'm really happy for them because you don't see that a lot from teams that haven't won before. Our guys are learning how to win and finding different ways to win, and those are characteristics of good teams and good programs. You’ve got to be able to win games tight in the fourth quarter and for us to have done that now twice this week is huge.”
Peters led three Spartans in double-figures with 23 points. King added 14 points and Rech had 12. Emporia will return home next week to host Paola on Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m. They have a chance to double their win total from last season in just the ninth game of the season. Baldwin credits that to his guys. “We have a chance on Tuesday to double our win total after nine games and I think a lot of that has to do with our guys caring a lot and wanting to get this turned around,” Baldwin said.
Emporia JV 48
Topeka High JV 53
JV Tournament
Emporia JV 44
Bishop Carroll JV 58
Emporia JV 45
Topeka High JV 44
JV Record: 4-3
Emporia C 46
Topeka High C 52
C Record: 2-2
