For 2 1/2 quarters Tuesday night, the Emporia High boys basketball team had little trouble finding the basket against Washburn Rural.
Then, when the shots stopped falling, the Spartans had to go on the defensive, and that’s when the Junior Blues made things interesting.
The Spartans had to fend off a furious Rural rally after having led by as many as 22 points in the second half, but interesting or not, Emporia was tough enough late in sealing its fourth consecutive victory with a 62-54 win over Washburn Rural.
“We kind of lost a little bit of moxie offensively. That wasn’t because we weren’t trying, it was because we weren’t playing well on the defensive end,” EHS coach Rick Bloomquist said. “I challenged them as far as how they were playing. I like the way they responded. They went out and they played well enough late the secure the win.”
Two free throws from junior center Troy Pierce with 5 minutes, 42 seconds left in the third quarter gave Emporia a 48-29 lead. Up to that point, the Spartans had connected on 50 percent (15 of 30) of its shots and had gone to the free-throw line 14 times, making 13 of those charity tosses.
On the other end, EHS had limited Rural (9-7, 7-3 Centennial League) to just 25-percent (7-of-25) shooting.
“We were playing really well,” senior Kyle deBlonk said. “We were distributing the ball to each other, and everybody was playing their role and we were playing well as a team.”
Then, the Spartans (10-5, 5-4) went as cold as the winter air outside.
“We got that big lead and everything was going well and we were playing well and we were doing what we wanted to do,” Bloomquist said, “but then we got into what I call MAYB-mode. We looked like we were playing summer ball on the defensive end.”
Over the next 10 minutes, Emporia shot just 15 percent (2-for-13) from the field while Rural — led by 11 points from center Jay Valerius — closed the deficit to just three points at 52-49 with less than four minutes remaining.
Valerius went 4-of-8 from the field, 2-for-3 at the free-throw line and grabbed four rebounds during Rural’s 22-4 run. He finished with 17 points, with all but two points coming in the second half.
“He’s a pretty good player,” Pierce said. “I just need to work on my defense a little bit more and get better position.”
During Emporia’s dry spell, deBlonk said the Spartans got away from what got them their big lead in the first place.
“I think we just loosened up a little bit and took it for granted that we had a 22-point lead,” he said. “We didn’t think they could come back.”
A 3-pointer from the left wing by Caydrick Bloomquist — who finished with his fourth-straight 20-point game with 24 points — finally ended the Spartans’ scoring lapse, pushing Emporia’s lead back out to six at 55-49.
From there, EHS closed out the game by going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line, with deBlonk hitting 5 of 6 of those shots.
“I just tried to focus and go up there and hit them,” deBlonk said, “and luckily I did.”
The Spartans got their big lead thanks in large part to the inside trio of Pierce, Dillon Cox and Eric Dorsey.
In the first half alone, the three combined for 17 of Emporia’s 39 points at halftime and had grabbed 15 rebounds. Pierce finished with 12 points and six boards, Cox totalled nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds and Dorsey, coming in off the bench, ended the game with two points and five rebounds.
“Our inside guys, from December to now, are playing with much more confidence and moxie,” Bloomquist said. “That makes us a better basketball team.
“They are playing well, and I like the confidence that all my inside kids are playing with.”
Centennial League
Tuesday at EHS
Washburn Rural 8 17 15 14 — 54
Emporia 16 23 13 10 — 62
WASHBURN RURAL (9-7, 7-3 Centennial League)
J. Werner 2-8 5-6 9, T. Speake 1-11 5-8 8, G. Schmidt 1-5 0-0 3, A. Bork 0-4 1-4 1, J. Valerius 6-13 5-7 17, J. Ochsner 2-5 1-2 7, J. Pecis 1-1 3-4 5, J. Fisher 1-4 0-0 2, S. Scott 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 14-51 22-33 54.
EMPORIA (10-5, 5-4)
K. deBlonk 1-6 7-8 9, D. Cox 2-7 5-8 9, C. Bloomquist 8-20 2-3 24, T. Euler 3-5 0-0 6, T. Pierce 4-5 4-4 12, B. Childs 0-2 0-0 0, E. Dorsey 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 18-46 20-25 62.
3-point goals — WR 4-20 (Werner 0-6, Speake 1-4, Schmidt 1-4, Ochsner 2-5, Fisher 0-1), Emporia 6-16 (Bloomquist 6-15, Euler 0-1). Rebounds — WR 35 (Speake 8), Emporia 36 (Cox 12). Assists — WR 5 (Five tied at 1), Emporia 6 (deBlonk 2). Turnovers — WR 8, Emporia 8. Total fouls — WR 18, Emporia 20. Fouled out — None.