Midway through the fourth quarter of Friday night’s game, the Seaman Vikings went on a 13-0 scoring run against the Emporia Spartans, and yet, the Spartans still led by 20 points.
It was that kind of night for EHS, as the Spartans were as explosive offensively as they’ve been all season in routing the Vikings, 75-55.
“That just shows that we really kind of dominated them,” EHS sophomore guard Taylor Euler said. “If they can go on a 13-0 run and we’re still up that much, that just shows how well we played tonight, especially in the second half.”
Emporia had its best offensive balance of the season, as all five EHS starters finished in double-figure scoring. Caydrick Bloomquist scored 16 points to lead the way, with Euler (15), Brandon Childs (11), Jacob Torres (11) and Troy Pierce (10) right behind, as the Spartans as a team shot 50 percent (30-for-60) from the field.
“The thing I’m really proud of is that this is the first time all year that we’ve had five guys in double digits,” EHS coach Rick Bloomquist said, “and anytime you have a basketball team with five guys in double figures, you have balance. Offensively, we were going inside-outside and we played within the concept of the game itself.
“We had great movement.”
Emporia (10-5, 5-3 Centennial League) was particularly lethal on the offensive end in the second half, including in the third quarter when the Spartans blitzed Seaman by going 10-for-15 from the field to outscore the Vikings 25-11 in the period. That turned a 13-point halftime lead for the Spartans into a 63-36 advantage going into the final period.
“Everything was clicking and everyone made shots,” said Childs, who had a perfect shooting night by going 5-for-5 from the field and 1-for-1 at the free-throw line. “We came out of halftime and wanted to put them away, and we did just about everything right.”
Childs got the second-half scoring started with a pair of layups that helped push Emporia’s advantage to 42-27.
Euler then scored eight straight points, with the final six points coming on a pair of three-point plays in a three-second span. He knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing with 5:21 remaining in the quarter and then stole Seaman’s inbounds pass and put in a layup as he was being fouled. Euler hit the subsequent free throw to put EHS ahead by 20 points at 50-30.
After going just 2-for-10 from the field in the first half, Euler ended up hitting 4 of 5 shots in the second half.
“The first half was a little shaky, and you could tell that we hadn’t played in a while. We weren’t crisp,” he said. “We finally had our legs underneath us in the second half, and we got in the flow and played really well.”
Caydrick Bloomquist next scored six straight points, then Torres and Canales each hit jumpers and Childs hit a layup and a free throw to close out the Spartans’ scoring in the third frame, giving EHS a 27-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
“We were a little lethargic in the first half with our legs, and I think a lot of that came from the fact that we hadn’t played in a week,” Rick Bloomquist said. “I kept telling them, ‘Work through it, and once our fast-twitch muscles kick into gear, we’ll be better in the second half,’ and we were.”
Emporia’s lead got as big as 33 when Torres hit a 15-foot jumper with 6 1/2 minutes left, but then Seaman went on a 13-0 run over the next 2 1/2 minutes, helped in part by 3-pointers from Lance Larson, Robbie Rea and Corey Cowan. Even so, EHS led by 20 points with 3:32 left in the game, and the Spartans closed it out from there.
“It shows we played pretty good, but giving up a 13-0 run, that can’t happen,” Childs said.
One week after getting physically out-muscled in the rebounding battle in a loss to Shawnee Heights, Emporia attacked the boards with a vengeance against the Vikings (8-8, 3-6), out-rebounding Seaman 38-27. Four Spartans grabbed at least five boards, with Childs and Pierce pulling down seven apiece to lead EHS.
“They carried practice over to a game,” Rick Bloomquist said. “We got beat on the offensive board at Shawnee Heights, and we stressed that for four or five days. We just dominated the boards tonight. We did a good job of being active in the paint and showing a lot of action.”
“We were a tough team to defend tonight because we were so active and moved so well on both ends of the court.”
Emporia 75, Seaman 55
Friday at EHS
Seaman 12 13 11 19 — 55
Emporia 17 21 25 12 — 75
Seaman (8-8, 3-6 Centennial League) — Justin Dobler 0-2 0-0 0, Tanner Barrand 0-1 0-0 0, Lance Larson 3-8 0-0 7, Bryce Simons 5-10 1-2 11, Richard Oppitz 4-7 0-0 8, Corey Cowan 1-6 0-0 3, Ryan Balsters 0-2 0-0 0, Robbie Rea 8-16 0-0 22, Wes Christian 0-2 0-0 0, Kyle Lambrecht 1-2 0-0 2, Josh Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Dillon Besser 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 23-58 1-2 55.
Emporia (10-5, 5-3) — Brandon Childs 5-5 1-1 11, Caydrick Bloomquist 5-15 3-4 16, Taylor Euler 6-15 1-2 15, Jacob Torres 5-10 1-2 11, Troy Pierce 4-6 2-3 10, Eric Reimer 1-1 0-0 2, Greg Canales 3-6 2-2 8, Matt McAnarney 1-1 0-0 2, Darnell Bartlett 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-60 10-14 75.
3-point goals — Seaman 8-25 (Larson 1-6, Simons 0-3, Cowan 1-4, Balsters 0-1, Rea 6-11), Emporia 5-13 (Bloomquist 3-6, Euler 2-5, Torres 0-1, Barlett 0-1). Rebounds — Seaman 27 (Oppitz 7), Emporia 38 (Childs, Torres 7). Assists — Seaman 10 (Simons, Cowan 3), Emporia 14 (Euler 7). Turnovers — Seaman 14, Emporia 10. Total fouls — Seaman 17, Emporia 9.