CHANUTE — You could hear just about everything during Emporia High’s first-round game against Joplin on Thursday at the Ralph Miller Classic, including a big reason that the Spartans won so easily.
With a sparse 4:45 p.m. crowd providing little in the way of noise, every piece of sound on the floor was amplified and echoed — every redirected squeaking shoe, every shout from coach Rick Bloomquist of “Stay with him!” and other in-game coachspeak. And you could hear the Spartans filling the noise gap themselves — especially on defense, where they talked to each other constantly early on, setting the tone for Emporia’s defense to get the offense started.
The Spartans forced 25 Joplin turnovers, got out on the break and got 40 combined points from Taylor Euler and Jacob Torres to stampede to an easy 63-44 win and move on to a semifinal matchup tonight against Andover Central.
“We knew a (4:45) game, first round, Chanute, Kan., on a Thursday, the crowd’s not gonna be very big,” Euler said. “So we just talked about generating our own enthusiasm. And it’s a lot easier to talk and let everybody know where everyone’s at, being aware, with the gym so quiet as it was.”
Euler and Torres did the most damage defensively as well as offensively, racking up steals both in the Spartans’ zone press and with traps and ball pressure once the Eagles got across halfcourt. A first-quarter steal by Euler got a two-on-one break started between Euler and Bryce Childs, who got off a fine extra pass to set up a Euler layup to make it 8-1. Torres added a guarded three later in the period that made it 12-5, then hit a turnaround jumper on the low block just before the buzzer that gave the Spartans a 16-10 lead at the end of the first.
Early in the second quarter, Torres nabbed a loose-ball steal out of Emporia’s zone defense, and Euler nailed a transition three to give EHS a nine-point edge. Torres went to the floor for another steal and bounce-passed out of a crowd to Isiah Essex, who fed Euler on the break for another layup. Another steal by Torres led to another two-man break with Euler that resulted in a layin for Torres.
Steal, break, score, repeat steps one through three. The Spartans led by 11 at halftime and built their lead to as many as 21 by the fourth quarter, keeping their defensive pressure high. Even though Joplin finished with 50 percent shooting from the floor and 6-of-13 from 3-point range, the difference EHS’s pressure defense made showed up in the shot disparity; the Spartans got off 20 more shots.
“The thing about our press is that, it’s not the X-and-0, it’s the element of the press — it’s how you play it,” Bloomquist said. “And we created the passes that we wanted, what we call balloon passes, slow passes. We recovered well, we pressed and retreat(ed), and not just one or two... (it was) all five of ’em.”
Euler finished with 22 points on 9-of-20 shooting, and Torres had 18 on 8-of-14 accuracy. Greg Canales, returning to the starting lineup after a one-game stint on the bench, added eight points, and Essex, starting his second straight game, scored six. Childs, moved from the frontcourt to the backcourt, made his first start of the year.
“We all got active on everything, and we (were) just talking, and everyone’s on the same page,” Childs said, “just getting touches and steals and running.”
Derek Stokes led Joplin with 12 points.
Emporia takes on Andover Central at 8 p.m. tonight following the Jaguars’ 63-33 win over Chanute in Thursday’s late game. In other first-round action, Olathe North defeated Shawnee Heights 58-50, and Goddard defeated Olathe Northwest 53-41. Olathe North and Goddard will play in the other semifinal at about 6:15 p.m. following the consolation-bracket games. The championship game will be at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Golden’s knee
to be examined
Guard/forward Jacob Golden is sitting out the weekend tournament with a knee injury. After Emporia lost to Washburn Rural last Friday, Golden had the knee treated and was in visible pain as he went to the locker room.
“They think he might have a torn patella tendon,” Bloomquist said. “Now, we’re not sure — he’s still going to evaluation and still getting treatment, and maybe a little bit of torn cartilage. So we’re gonna wait till Monday (to find out). We’re not playing him this week at all, obviously, because I’d like to get him ready for the last half of the season.”
But if the injury is a torn patella tendon, Bloomquist said Golden could be out for the rest of the season, depending on the degree of the tear. The 5-foot-10 Golden is primarily known as one of Emporia’s best defenders.
“We’d have created about five, six more turnovers with him in there (Thursday),” Bloomquist said.
Emporia boys 63, Joplin 44
Emporia 16 20 15 12 — 63
Joplin 10 15 11 8 — 44
Emporia (6-4) — Essex 3-4 0-0 6, Childs 1-3 0-0 2, Euler 9-20 3-4 22, Torres 8-14 0-0 18, Canales 4-7 0-0 8, Gentz 2-4 1-1 5, Jamison 0-0 0-0 0, Huth 1-2 0-0 2, Bartlett 0-0 0-0 0, Naab 0-1 0-0 0, Thomsen 0-1 0-0 0, Clark 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-54 4-5 63.
Joplin (7-6) — Nguyen 1-2 0-0 3, Shannon 2-4 0-0 4, Stokes 4-7 1-2 12, Davis 3-7 1-1 7, Bethune 2-2 1-3 5, Brown 4-8 1-2 10, Warden 0-0 0-0 0, St. Clair 1-4 0-0 3, Menke 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-34 4-8 44.
3-point goals — Emporia 3-17 (Torres 2-5, Euler 1-9, Gentz 0-2, Naab 0-1); Joplin 6-13 (Stokes 3-5, Nguyen 1-2, St. Clair 1-2, Brown 1-3, Shannon 0-1).