Junction City

The Emporia High School boys basketball team dropped its second straight game in a 56-41 defeat against Junction City on Friday night.

The Blue Jays opened the game with a 10-2 run and Emporia was able to cut it to 16-9 by the end of the quarter. A 3-pointer from Rylan Crowell opened the second quarter to make it a four-point game, but the Blue Jays embarked on a 13-1 run to enter the half with a 29-13 lead.

Head coach Lee Baldwin was hoping for a better first half performance from his team. “It was just disappointing the way we played in the first half,” Baldwin said. “We just got bullied around and I was hoping to have a better game for our seniors.”

Emporia was able to outscore Junction City 18-14 in the third quarter, thanks in large part to 12 points from River Peters. But the Blue Jays proved to be too much as they swept the season series from the Spartans.

Emporia honored its four seniors prior to the game in Sheldon Stewart, Cooper Rech, Calvin Seeley and Blake Spellman. All four were in the starting lineup along with Peters, who led the team with 22 points, and Baldwin said they have all played a role in laying a foundation of playing competitive basketball within the program.

“They’ve come from being complimentary pieces to being bigger role players,” Baldwin said. “They’re trying to establish a program of consistency and working hard, and that’s something they’ve had to learn and be accountable for every day in practice. They’ve done a really good job of that for the most part. They’re all really good kids and they’ve been a huge part of our success the last year and a half.”

Emporia (11-7) will hit the road for their final two games of the regular season. The first stop will be Paola for a makeup game on Thursday, Feb. 22 for a 7:30 p.m. tip.

Emporia JV 40

Junction JV 22

JV Record: 10-4

Emporia C 35

Junction C 38

C Record: 5-9