When Wichita West began Wednesday night’s first-round Sub-State game against Emporia High in a zone defense, EHS senior guard Caydrick Bloomquist couldn’t help but get a little excited.
Emporia High’s school record-holder for made three-point shots, Bloomquist is used to seeing defenses designed to keep him from getting hot from three-point range.
So when an unsuspecting team makes the mistake of sitting back in a zone against EHS, it’s a welcome change for Bloomquist.
“I like to see zones,” Bloomquist said. “That usually leaves me with a lot of wide-open shots. They just gave me that opportunity, and I took it.”
Bloomquist certainly did that and more, as he swished five straight 3-pointers to open the game and went on to hit seven threes on his way to a game high-tying 30 points, leading Emporia to a commanding 93-60 victory over Wichita West.
“When teams come out in a zone,” Bloomquist said, “I’m going to get my shots.”
The win did two things for the Spartans.
First, it gave them a berth in Friday’s Sub-State title game against Arkansas City a year after EHS fell in the first round of Sub-State at home.
It also gave EHS assistant coach Cody Hudson a victory in his first game coaching varsity at Emporia, as he filled in for EHS head coach Rick Bloomquist, who was serving a one-game suspension for making contact with a referee in last Friday’s game against Highland Park.
“I definitely don’t want to do that again,” Hudson joked afterwards. “I’m not a real nervous guy, but the last 24 hours, I’ve been pretty nervous.
“But they’re all familiar with me and I’m familiar with them, so there was a comfort there. I really didn’t see anybody razzled at all.”
Bloomquist opened the scoring with a trey from the left wing 36 seconds into the game to put top-seeded Emporia ahead, 3-0. After West’s Alonzo Haywood knocked down a shot on the other end, Bloomquist nailed back-to-back threes — one from the top of the key and another from the right wing — to put the Spartans ahead 9-2, forcing West to call a timeout.
It didn’t help.
Bloomquist knocked in two more 3-pointers to make it 15-4, and by the 5:23 mark of the first quarter, he had all 15 of Emporia’s points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting, and No. 8-seeded Wichita West had to call another timeout.
“That was amazing,” EHS junior guard Taylor Euler said. “That was one of the best shooting clinics I’ve seen in a while. It didn’t matter where he was at, he was on, and it was going to go in.”
But, once the Pioneers (1-20) figured out that they needed to guard Bloomquist, it was Euler’s turn.
With a West defender on Bloomquist at all times, that left Euler wide open, and he picked up where Bloomquist left off. He nailed back-to-back threes to help make it 25-12, and went on to make five 3-pointers of his own in the first half, helping the Spartans stake a 50-31 lead by halftime.
“That’s just the relationship Cayd and I have,” said Euler, who finished with 26 points. “If he’s on, I’m going to get him the ball. If I’m on, he’s going to get me the ball. It just goes back to playing as a team. Whoever’s hot, we have to get them the ball.”
Emporia (12-9) simply was sizzling offensively in the first half. The Spartans went 17-of-30 (57 percent) from the field and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line on the way to the most points EHS has scored in a half all season.
The only reason the score was as close as it was at the break was because of the shooting of West’s Alonzo Haywood. Despite a nearly flat-footed shot that seemed to leave his hands at mid-chest, Haywood hit four treys of his own and scored 20 of the Pioneers’ 31 points in the first half. He went on to finish with 30 points.
“He had an awkward shot, and you never really knew when he was going to fire it up,” Bloomquist said. “But to his credit, his shots went in.”
The game became somewhat stagnant in the third quarter, as Emporia only outscored West 13-10 in the frame. But the Spartans got rolling again once the fourth quarter began, as a 12-6 run to open the final period pushed Emporia’s lead out to 30 for the first time at 77-47. Hudson then began substituting in his bench, but the score never got closer than 28 the rest of the way, as reserves Marcus Jamison, Bryce Childs, Darnell Bartlett and Isiah Essex all got in on the scoring action in the final 4 1/2 minutes.
“We never got sloppy,” Hudson said. “Sometimes, in a 30-point game, things can get sloppy. I thought we did a great job of playing hard throughout and finishing the game. We played very, very hard all the time.”
The Spartans advanced to play fourth-seeded Arkansas City (10-11), which beat Valley Center, 63-62. That game will be at 5 p.m. Friday at Bishop Carroll High School in Wichita, with the winner earning a trip to the Class 5A State tournament.
Emporia 93, Wichita West 60
Wednesday at EHS
Wichita West 17 14 10 19 — 60
Emporia 34 16 13 30 — 93
Wichita West (1-20) — Alonzo Haywood 12-23 1-3 30, Marcus Williamson 4-11 3-4 11, Andrew Bradley 0-0 0-0 0, Marksavain Carter 2-6 0-0 4, Myron Holliday 0-2 0-0 0, Cameron Newton 2-5 0-0 5, Marcus Villa 0-0 0-0 0, Roosevelt Deshazer 1-4 1-2 4, Jamez Jones 1-4 1-2 3, Jermaine Anderson 0-1 1-2 1, Khalfani Issa 1-2 0-0 2, Dorian Flourney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-58 7-13 60.
Emporia (12-9) — Brandon Childs 2-4 2-4 6, Caydrick Bloomquist 9-14 5-6 30, Taylor Euler 8-18 5-5 26, Jacob Torres 3-7 2-2 8, Troy Pierce 5-6 2-2 12, Marcus Jamison 2-3 0-0 4, Eric Reimer 0-0 0-0 0, Matt McAnarney 0-0 0-0 0, Bryce Childs 0-0 2-2 2, Darnell Bartlett 0-0 3-4 3, Isiah Essex 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 30-53 21-25 93.
3-point goals — WW 7-22 (Haywood 5-11, Williamson 0-1, Carter 0-1, Newton 1-4, Deshazer 1-3, Anderson 0-1, Issa 0-1), Emporia 12-22 (Bloomquist 7-11, Euler 5-10, Torres 0-1). Rebounds — WW 29 (Williamson 9), Emporia 30 (Pierce 8). Assists — WW 7 (Williamson, Newton 2), Emporia 14 (Euler 5). Turnovers — WW 16, Emporia 9. Total fouls — WW 20, Emporia 13.