TOPEKA — It didn’t take Emporia High’s Troy Pierce very long to establish his territory Friday night.
Halfway through the first period of Emporia’s 64-51 victory over Seaman, Pierce asserted himself down low with an aggressive display of rebounding and offensive skill that showed all comers that the low block was his.
With the Spartans holding a 9-5 lead over the Vikings, Pierce ripped a rebound down off a Caydrick Bloomquist miss and went back up strong for an easy two points to make it 11-5. Pierce grabbed another rebound moments later following a missed free throw by Seaman’s Matt Herbster, and then, with 2 minutes left in the quarter, Pierce got a pass on the right baseline and spun around the Vikings’ Richard Oppitz for a reverse layup that gave Emporia a 13-6 lead.
“He showed a little bit of moxie, like ‘This is my territory.’ He was territorial tonight on the block,” EHS coach Rick Bloomquist said of Pierce. “Once my post players get territorial, it makes it easier to get them the ball inside.”
Pierce finished the night with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and in the first half alone, he combined with Dillon Cox to score 16 of Emporia’s 34 points by halftime, where the Spartans led, 34-22.
Pierce and the Emporia guards at times abused a smaller Seaman lineup that was packed in a zone to try and limit dribble pentration and easy looks inside. However, EHS guards Caydrick Bloomquist, Kyle deBlonk and Taylor Euler still managed to drive into the teeth of the Seaman defense time after time and then make easy passes to Pierce and ,Cox for layins.
“That was our gameplan,” Pierce said. “Our guards are really good passers. I knew they were going to give me the ball, and it was up to me to make the shot.”
While Pierce did most of his damage in the first half in helping the Spartans jump out to a 12-point lead at the break, it was Caydrick Bloomquist on offense and the entire Spartans’ defensive effort that provided the knock-out punch in the third quarter.
Neither team scored in the first 3 1/2 minutes after halftime, but then a layup by Brandon Childs off a feed from Taylor Euler ignited a 15-4 run in the third quarter that iced the game. Bloomquist scored eight of Emporia’s points during the offensive spurt, while the Spartans (9-5, 4-4 Centennial League) as a team held Seaman (4-12, 1-7) to just one field goal on 1-of-12 shooting from the field.
“The way Seaman was playing, they wanted to control the tempo and get it into a half-court game,” Rick Bloomquist said. “The key was going to be defensive stops.
“That third quarter, they definitely were trying to stall. We’re so explosive offensively sometimes that people seem to forget that we play pretty decent defensively.”
By the start of the fourth quarter, EHS was sitting on a 49-26 lead that it would eventually stretch out to 27 before Emporia cleared it’s bench late in the fourth quarter, which allowed Seaman to close the gap to end the game.
Bloomquist finished with a game-high 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting plus two free throws, including six 3-pointers.
“The fact that we have an inside presence helps out a ton,” he said. “There was a lot less pressure defensively. With that kind of inside presence, that loosens it up on the outside a lot.”
Centennial League
Friday at Seaman
Emporia 15 19 15 15 — 64
Seaman 6 16 4 25 — 51
EMPORIA (9-5, 4-4 Centennial League)
K. deBlonk 2-8 2-2 6, D. Cox 1-4 3-4 5, C. Bloomquist 9-16 2-2 26, T. Euler 2-8 1-3 7, T. Pierce 6-9 2-4 14, B. Childs 2-4 0-0 4, G. Canales 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 23-49 10-15 64.
SEAMAN (4-12, 1-7)
M. Herbster 4-8 4-6 12, M. Nelson 3-11 0-0 7, L. Larson 1-6 0-0 3, B. Simons 5-8 1-2 13, R. Oppitz 1-6 1-2 3, J. Dobler 2-2 1-2 5, R. Balsters 1-3 0-0 2, T. Barrand 1-3 0-0 2, W. Christian 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 19-48 7-12 51.
3-point goals — Emporia 8-18 (Bloomquist 6-11, Euler 2-6, Childs 0-1), Seaman 4-13 (Nelson 1-3, Larson 1-6, Simons 2-2, Balsters 0-1, Barrand 0-1). Rebounds — Emporia 32 (Pierce 10), Seaman 28 (Herbster 7). Assists — Emporia 11 (deBlonk 5), Seaman 3 (Herbster 2). Turnovers — Emporia 9, Seaman 12. Total fouls — Emporia 16, Seaman 14. Fouled out — None.