In the days leading up to Friday night’s matchup with Shawnee Heights, Emporia High senior Dillon Cox had to wear a bright yellow shirt at practice with the name “Anthony Markowitz” printed on it.
The shirt was a motivational ploy by coach Rick Bloomquist to inspire Cox to play as a “warrior,” a label Bloomquist used to describe Markowitz, who graduated from EHS last year.
“He (Bloomquist) really challenged us, especially me,” Cox said. “I had to step up and have a big game. That’s what I’ve been thinking about all week. I just wanted to prove everybody wrong.”
Against Shawnee Heights, Cox scored five points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds in helping the Spartans to a 64-54 victory, demonstrating the “warrior” mentality that Bloomquist desired from the 6-foot-4 forward.
But was it enough to discard the yellow shirt?
Almost.
“Dillon has to wear that yellow shirt one more day to remind him of what a great game he played as a warrior tonight,” Bloomquist said. “I thought he did a good job of responding, and I know he can even play better. It was a step in the right direction for him.”
Cox and low-post mate Troy Pierce combined for 19 of Emporia High’s 34 rebounds, as the Spartans out-rebounded the Thunderbirds 34-30. Rebounding was a point of emphasis for EHS after Hayden out-rebounded the Spartans on Tuesday, 34-20.
“I think we did pretty well on the boards,” Cox said. “We didn’t let them get a whole lot of offensive rebounds. Troy and I did a pretty good job inside of blocking off and getting rebounds.”
While the Spartans (7-5, 2-4 Centennial League) crashed the boards defensively all night long, they were off and on offensively. However, a big third quarter gave EHS enough of a cushion to down the Thunderbirds (3-11, 0-7), even though the Spartans had to fend off a late Heights rally.
After Emporia fought its way to a 30-27 halftime lead, the Spartans shot out of the break, using a quick 8-3 run to go up 36-30. EHS went on to outscore Heights, 17-9, in the quarter, finally pushing its lead to double digits at 47-36 by the end of the period on two Caydrick Bloomquist free throws.
“In the third quarter, I think we had a lot of teamwork,” said sophomore Taylor Euler, who finished with 19 points. “That’s what we talked about in the locker room at halftime — teamwork and chemistry. I think we came out (of halftime) really well.”
Emporia didn’t let up once the fourth quarter began, as Caydrick Bloomquist, who finished with a game-high 23 points, knocked down back-to-back threes and Kyle deBlonk hitting a running jumper in the lane to push its advantage out to 19 points at 55-36 with 6 minutes, 22 seconds left. And that’s when the shots stopped falling for EHS.
The Spartans made just one field goal the rest of the game, while Shawnee Heights chipped away at the EHS lead and even got it to seven points at 59-52 with 46 seconds left.
“We were up by 19, and we all wanted to put them away,” Euler said, “but instead of passing the ball and getting an easy shot, we all wanted to be the guy to put them away and make the big run and make the crowd go nuts. Instead of doing that, we’ve got to wait for the play to develop and get the easy shot.”
But Heights would get no closer, as EHS hit 7 of its last 8 free throws to close the game.
“We had some good things happen,” Bloomquist said. “We played well, especially when we built that big lead. But we got that big lead, and we started playing with sticky fingers.
“Instead of putting them away by 25, we had to squeak out a 10-point win.”
Centennial League
Friday at Emporia
Shawnee Heights 13 14 9 18 — 54
Emporia 19 11 17 17 — 64
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (3-11, 0-7 Centennial League)
L. Nash 0-1 0-0 0, M. Kobbeman 4-11 2-3 11, R. Reynolds 5-12 0-1 12, J. Cooper 2-10 9-9 13, N. Gardner 6-13 2-3 14, A. Wegener 1-5 1-2 4, D. Hansen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-53 14-17 54.
EMPORIA (7-5, 2-4)
K. deBlonk 5-8 2-3 12, D. Cox 2-7 1-2 5, C. Bloomquist 8-16 3-8 23, T. Euler 6-14 6-7 19, T. Pierce 2-2 0-2 4, B. Malone 0-0 1-2 1, J. Davies 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 13-23 64.
3-point goals — SH 4-13 (Kobbeman 1-4, Reynolds 2-6, Wegener 1-3), Emporia 5-14 (deBlonk 0-2, Bloomquist 4-8, Euler 1-4). Rebounds — SH 30 (Cooper 11), Emporia 34 (Cox 10). Assists — SH 5 (Nash, Reynolds 2), Emporia 9 (deBlonk 5). Turnovers — SH 17, Emporia 14. Total fouls — SH 20, Emporia 21. Fouled out — SH: Nash, Reynolds; Emporia: Cox.