WICHITA — The scouting report on the Arkansas City boys basketball team proved to be just what Emporia High coach Rick Bloomquist expected.
After watching the Bulldogs’ Wednesday night game against Valley Center because he was suspended from coaching Emporia’s game against Wichita West that same night, Bloomquist found out one thing about Arkansas City: If the Bulldogs get sped up, they get into trouble.
Armed with that knowledge heading into Friday night’s Sub-State championship game, Bloomquist had his team switch to a full-court trapping defense after Arkansas City got out to an early 8-2 lead, and the Spartans responded by dismantling the Bulldogs, 70-39, to earn a trip to next week’s Class 5A State Tournament in Topeka.
“When I went down and scouted them, I could tell they were a half-court team, and I knew we needed to speed them up,” Bloomquist said. “I don’t think they can play fast. Once we sped things up, we got our legs going and got our energy up, and we came out OK.”
The victory was the second dominating win in a row for the Spartans (13-9), who won their two Sub-State games by a combined 64 points. It was more than enough to put EHS back into the State Tournament after a one-year hiatus.
“This feels great. I remember going (to State) my sophomore year, and the taste of that has lingered in my mouth ever since,” said senior guard Caydrick Bloomquist, who scored 20 points against Arkansas City. “State is a different atmosphere. It’s exciting; it’s fun to play there.”
Fourth-seeded Arkansas City (10-12) looked prepared to give the top-seeded Spartans all they could handle early on, taking advantage of a Spartan squad that appeared somewhat tight with a State berth on the line.
The Bulldogs hit three of their first four shots — including wide-open 3-pointers from Jordan Fields and Ryan Rohrs — to stake an 8-2 lead with 5 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter.
“We fell back on our heels a little bit on the defensive end,” senior center Troy Pierce said. “We didn’t come out as hard as we should have.”
But that’s when the Spartans switched to their full-court pressure defense, and immediately, EHS got results.
A pair of Jacob Torres free throws pulled Emporia to within four points at 8-4, which kick-started a 13-3 EHS run highlighted by back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers — two from Bloomquist and one from Taylor Euler. That gave EHS a 15-11 lead, which would become 17-13 at the end of the first quarter, and the score would never get any closer.
“That press really helped out; it really flustered them on offense,” Caydrick Bloomquist said. “That gave us a big boost on our offense, because we got easy buckets. That was the turning point.”
The Spartans’ backcourt duo of Bloomquist and Euler then took over the scoring in the second quarter, which saw Emporia outscore Arkansas City by nine to take a 33-20 lead into halftime.
Bloomquist and Euler scored all 16 of the Spartans’ points in the frame, with Euler opening the quarter with a 3-pointer and a layup off a steal for five of his game-high 24 points. Later, Bloomquist capped the first-half scoring with a pair of layups in the final 40 seconds, the last of which came off a steal at midcourt that he put in off the glass just before the halftime buzzer.
“Once we got in the flow, we were OK, but it took us about a quarter to do that,” Rick Bloomquist said. “I think we woke up and started running a little bit, and things started working for us a little bit better.”
Arkansas City never threatened Emporia’s lead after halftime. Even when Kestian Harris hit back-to-back treys to pull the Bulldogs to within 11 at 41-30 with 2:21 left in the third period, Bloomquist responded with a 3-pointer of his own that sparked a 9-2 run to close out the third period with EHS leading 50-32.
Arkansas City then made just two field goals in the fourth frame, as Emporia outscored the Bulldogs 20-7 in the final 8 minutes despite heavy substitutions from the EHS bench. Arkansas City shot just 15-of-45 (33 percent) from the field for the game.
EHS also got a big second half from Brandon Childs, who scored all 11 of his points after the break, to go with his team-high seven rebounds.
“We didn’t let down at all,” Caydrick Bloomquist said. “This is the point of the season where you lose and you’re out, and we have to play our best ball of the season every night out.”
The Spartans now must wait until Sunday to find out their seeding in the Class 5A State Tournament, which begins Wednesday at the Topeka Expocentre.
Though Emporia most likely will be one of the lower seeded teams in the tournament, Coach Bloomquist cautioned against anyone counting his team out.
“I said at the very beginning of the year that this team was very capable of getting beat by anybody we play, and we’ve proven that. I also said this team is capable of beating anybody we play, and I would like to prove that,” he said. “That’s what we’re capable of, and I really believe that.”
Emporia 70, Arkansas City 39
Friday at Bishop Carroll High School
Arkansas City 13 7 12 7 — 39
Emporia 17 16 17 20 — 70
Arkansas City (10-12) — Ryan Rohrs 4-8 0-0 12, Jordon Fields 1-3 0-0 3, Darrell Freeman 3-7 0-2 6, John Miller 2-11 0-0 4, Tayler Rock 3-9 0-0 6, Kestian Harris 2-3 2-2 8, Kyle Pullins 0-1 0-2 0, Tyler Irvin 0-1 0-0 0, Devin Avery 0-0 0-0 0, Justin Weaver 0-1 0-0 0, Devin Metzinger 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-45 2-6 39.
Emporia (13-9) — Brandon Childs 4-6 3-4 11, Caydrick Bloomquist 8-20 1-1 20, Taylor Euler 10-16 0-0 24, Jacob Torres 2-7 2-2 7, Troy Pierce 1-3 0-0 2, Marcus Jamison 0-0 0-0 0, Greg Canales 2-4 1-2 6, Eric Reimer 0-0 0-0 0, Matt McAnarney 0-0 0-1 0, Bryce Childs 0-1 0-0 0, Isiah Essex 0-0 0-0 0, Darnell Bartlett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-57 7-10 70.
3-point goals — AC 7-20 (Rohrs 4-8, Fields 1-3, Freeman 0-2, Miller 0-1, Rock 0-2, Harris 2-3, Irvin 0-1), Emporia 9-23 (Bloomquist 3-14, Euler 4-7, Torres 1-1, Canales 1-1). Rebounds — AC 29 (Rock 8), Emporia 35 (Childs 7). Assists — AC 7 (Rohrs, Fields 2), Emporia 8 (Euler 4). Turnovers — AC 18, Emporia 7. Total fouls — AC 15, Emporia 10.
kitty93 (anonymous) says...
Great job Spartans! Rock State!
March 2, 2008 at 7:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )