After three games on the road, Topeka is heading back home. They will take on the Emporia Spartans at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Topeka focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 23 on Tuesday.
Last Tuesday, Topeka came up short against Manhattan and fell 61-53. Topeka has not had much luck with Manhattan recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Miguel Villegas, who went 6 for 10 from beyond the arc en route to 24 points and 2 assists. He is trending in the right direction, as he's improved his point production for three games straight. Da'mykel Hales was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with five assists and two blocks.
Meanwhile, everything went Emporia's way against Hayden on Tuesday as Emporia made off with a 50-24 win. Given Emporia's advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 62nd, while Hayden is ranked 217th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Emporia relied on the efforts of Nolan Jacob, who scored 15 points along with two steals, and River Peters, who scored 17 points along with seven rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Jacob has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Sheldon Stewart, who scored seven points along with nine assists and three steals.
Topeka has traveled a rocky road recently having lost six of their last seven matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-11 record this season. As for Emporia, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 10-5 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Topeka have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 21.2 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Emporia struggles in that department as they've been averaging 23.7 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Topeka lost to Emporia at home by a decisive 57-38 margin when the teams last played last Tuesday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Emporia's Cooper Rech, who scored 22 points along with six rebounds and three steals. Now that Topeka knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
