The Emporia High boys basketball team learned the hard way that’s it’s difficult to win a basketball game when a team goes 10 minutes without a field goal.
The Spartans also found out why Hayden junior guard Jeff Reid is considered a Division I prospect.
Emporia was held without a made basket from the 1:10 of the second quarter to the 7:18 of the fourth quarter and Reid hit back-to-back NBA range 3-pointers to open the second half, as No. 1-ranked (Class 4A) Hayden downed the Spartans, 73-62, Friday night at EHS.
“Reid hit two big threes right out of the gate, and I think that kind of slowed us down,” sophomore Greg Canales said. “We just weren’t flowing smoothly. The offense just wasn’t moving around.”
Reid’s pair of treys to begin the third quarter helped the Wildcats jump out to a 36-27 lead with just 30 seconds gone by in the period after Hayden led at halftime by three.
That nine-point advantage was all Hayden (4-0, 3-0 Centennial League) needed to fend off the Spartans (3-3, 1-1), who never allowed the Wildcats to blow the game wide open but could never reel Hayden back in after Reid’s initial second-half burst. Hayden led by as many as 15 in the second half, but Emporia could never get it closer than eight the rest of the way.
“The back-to-back threes caused separation,” EHS coach Rick Bloomquist said. “Then they could play the game they wanted to play. They could push and shove and do what they do, and we didn’t push and shove back hard enough.”
Emporia’s troubles surfaced late in the second quarter.
The sixth-ranked (Class 5A) Spartans had matched Hayden’s intensity and physicality for the majority of the first half, getting out to an 8-3 lead early before the Wildcats crawled back, and the two teams began trading blows. The lead changed six times and there were four ties until about a minute left in the half.
That’s when Emporia’s Troy Pierce put in a layup with 1:10 left that gave EHS a 25-23 lead, but that basket would mark the last made field goal for the Spartans until nearly a minute into the fourth quarter.
During the nearly 10-minute stretch of scoring futility, EHS was 0-for-8 from the field, its only saving grace being a 5-for-8 performance at the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, Reid hit the first of his three 3-pointers to put Hayden up, 26-25, and after two Caydrick Bloomquist free throws gave EHS a 27-26 advantage, Stephen Feighny put the Wildcats ahead for good with back-to-back baskets to end the half with Hayden ahead, 30-27.
Still, Emporia went into the locker room feeling good about its chances.
“That first half showed what kind of team we can be,” junior Taylor Euler said. “We had a lot of good things happen.”
The bad things started happening as soon as the second half began.
Reid’s two 3-pointers — each from the left wing — came from about five feet beyond the three-point line.
“My question to my team was, ‘How come Reid can get shots like that, and I can’t get my shooters shots like that?’” Bloomquist said. “The answer is there was no question they were playing defense harder than we were.”
Hayden’s defense was most impressive against Emporia’s outside game. The Spartans did not hit a 3-pointer until Jacob Torres’ three with 5:11 left, and EHS finished 3-for-21 from three-point range. Caydrick Bloomquist, who led EHS with 23 points, went 0-for-10 from long distance.
“They did a good job of chasing us and running through our screens,” said Euler, who finished with 14 points and made just 2 of 7 three-point tries. “They were chasing us, and it was really hard to get a shot off when they were so close to us. We had to go way back behind the line to even get a three off. When you’re that far away, your percentage isn’t going to be very good.”
Hayden at one point took a 49-34 lead in the fourth quarter and looked like it would run away with things, but the Spartans managed to knock down some shots to get the lead back to single digits. But every time EHS got within striking distance, Hayden — in particular Reid — made a play to keep the Spartans at bay. Reid finished with 20 points and eight rebounds, while Stephen Feighny led all scorers with 26 points.
“They just out-hustled us, out-toughed us, out-rebounded us,” Canales said.
Hayden boys 73, Emporia 62
Friday at EHS
Hayden 12 18 13 30 — 73
Emporia 12 15 3 32 — 62
Hayden (4-0, 3-0 Centennial League) — Feighny 8-12 8-12 26, Reid 6-11 5-11 20, McGreevy 3-6 3-3 9, Rabe 2-4 2-2 6, Hanks 2-3 1-2 5, B. Walker 1-4 0-0 2, Martinek 0-0 1-3 1, Hund 1-2 0-0 2, K. Walker 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 23-43 22-35 73.
Emporia (3-3, 1-1) — Bloomquist 6-21 11-13 23, Canales 2-7 2-2 6, Euler 5-13 2-2 14, Torres 3-3 0-0 7, Pierce 3-4 2-4 8, Childs 1-5 2-4 4. Totals 20-53 19-25 62.
3-point goals — Hayden 5-11 (Feighny 2-3, Reid 3-5, B. Walker 0-2, K. Walker 0-1), Emporia 3-21 (Bloomquist 0-10, Euler 2-7, Torres 1-1, Childs 0-2). Rebounds — Hayden 38 (Reid 8), Emporia 23 (Pierce 7). Assists — Hayden 5 (Reid 3), Emporia 7 (3 tied at 2). Turnovers — Hayden 15, Emporia 8. Total fouls — Hayden 21, Emporia 24. Fouled out — Emporia: Canales, Euler, Pierce.