Numbers may not lie, but they can certainly mislead. The Emporia High boys believed the point totals on the stat sheet after Tuesday’s game against Junction City weren’t reflective of the balance they achieved on the offensive end.
The fact that the Spartans had three players do all the scoring — the same three guys who usually do the bulk of the scoring — in their 48-45 win might suggest that EHS was purely a three-man offensive team, that Taylor Euler, Jacob Torres and Greg Canales were doing all the work while two other guys got out of their way and waited to get back on defense.
That’s not how the Spartans saw Tuesday’s victory, their second straight win.
“We played a lot of kids tonight,” Emporia coach Rick Bloomquist said. “I saw us play with balance, even though we didn’t have balanced scoring. I think everybody was involved with what we wanted to do.”
You can be forgiven for thinking otherwise when you see Euler score 23, Canales 13 and Torres 12, with the rest of the team notching nada and taking just four shots from the floor. But whether it was Bryce Childs grabbing a loose-ball steal and starting a break, or Ryan Huth feeding Euler across the lane for a short-range basket, the Spartan role players played their roles, the scorers scored, and the Spartans held off a Blue Jay comeback for their second straight win.
“It’s vital for the other guys to be in the offense,” Euler said. “And it’s not that they weren’t. They definitely were; we were moving the ball well tonight. It’s just that once they got the ball, we were breaking, and they were making great passes. It wasn’t just that it was us three taking over. It was a team effort.”
Emporia (8-7, 5-3 Centennial League) led by as many as 13 in the third quarter and led 40-28 early in the fourth before consecutive 3-pointers by Ebenezer Davis, Brandon Martino and Gavin Brown rapidly cut the lead to 40-37. When Euler then missed a 3-pointer of his own, Brandon Gentz scampered after a long rebound and snagged it past the 3-point line. That gave EHS a much-needed second chance, and Euler’s jumper from the right side pushed the lead back to 42-37. He added a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 45-39 just before EHS called timeout with 2:39 to go.
Davis answered with a 3-pointer off an offensive rebound — one of 17 the Blue Jays grabbed during the game — to cut the lead back to three. Coming down to the game’s final minute, Canales rejected Davis inside, and Emporia got the ball to Torres, who was fouled with 47.5 seconds to go and made two free throws for a 47-42 advantage.
With 16.8 left, Euler went to the line with EHS up 47-45 and made the second of two free throws to make it a three-point game. Emporia had a foul to give, and Torres did so with 10.6 seconds remaining, giving Junction the ball on the sideline.
“The worst thing that could happen was us going to overtime,” Torres said. “So we really just focused on trying not to give them a clean shot, not (leaving open) their 3-point shooter and (not) giving them an and-one.”
Davis, who had launched 11 threes thus far, attempted to create his own shot on the right wing, but couldn’t get a good look. He tried to get it to Brown near the top of the key, but with the EHS defense clogging the perimeter, Huth got his hand on the pass and deflected it to Euler, who threw a baseball pass to Torres at the other end of the floor to run out the clock.
Bloomquist was happy to get a win over Junction City (9-6, 4-4), which was ranked No. 10 in Class 6A in Monday’s latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association rankings. What he wasn’t happy with were how the Spartans handled their big lead and the rebounding numbers, especially the 17 offensive boards allowed. Overall, Emporia was outrebounded 32-23, and Bloomquist continues to hope his team’s performance on the boards will improve.
“I don’t have any magic pills (to improve rebounding),” Bloomquist said. “(I could) call A-Rod, or what’s his name. Hypnosis and some pills might help my rebounding, but I can’t do it.”
Golden out for season
Senior guard/forward Jacob Golden is out for the rest of the season, Bloomquist said.
Golden, who returned to EHS basketball this season after a year out of the program, missed four straight games with a left knee injury, which hasn’t been officially diagnosed but is believed to be either a torn patella tendon or torn cartilage. He had returned to action in last Friday’s win at Shawnee Heights, then hurt the knee in practice on Monday. Bloomquist said Golden met with Emporia State head athletic trainer John Baxter before the decision was made.
“It was just a matter of time,” Bloomquist said. “He was just gonna tear it a little bit more.”
Emporia boys 48, Junction City 45
Junction City 12 6 10 17 — 45
Emporia 13 10 15 10 — 48
Junction City (9-6, 4-4) — Brown 7-15 2-2 17, Martino 3-5 0-0 7, Birchmeier 0-4 0-0 0, Zimmerman 1-4 2-2 4, Davis 5-20 0-0 12, Nash 0-1 0-0 0, Barker 0-1 1-2 1, Jacobs 2-3 0-2 4. Totals 18-53 5-8 45.
Emporia (8-7, 5-3) — Gentz 0-1 0-1 0, Essex 0-0 0-0 0, Euler 9-18 2-5 23, Torres 4-10 3-3 12, Canales 3-9 7-10 13, Childs 0-1 0-0 0, Jamison 0-1 0-0 0, Huth 0-0 0-0 0, Bartlett 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-41 12-19 48.
3-point goals — Junction City 4-19 (Davis 2-11, Brown 1-2, Martino 1-1, Birchmeier 0-3, Zimmerman 0-1, Nash 0-1), Emporia 4-15 (Euler 3-9, Torres 1-4, Gentz 0-1, Childs 0-1). Rebounds — Junction City 32, Emporia 23 (Canales 6). Fouled out — None.