Israel Barnes helps lift Southeast into Topeka final

Something about playing in Topeka has brought out the best in Southeast.

Down two starters on a team that is 4-4 in the City League, Southeast will play for the Topeka Invitational championship after registering its second straight upset on Friday in a 62-57 victory over Highland Park.

“Our chemistry is starting to come together and this is where you find it,” Southeast coach Melvin Herring said. “We’re going down to the finish line and we’re starting to see things come together for us.”

The formula has been a simple one: Southeast finds enough support to give itself a chance down the stretch, then unleashes Israel Barnes to close out games.

After scoring 36 points with 13 coming in the fourth quarter to seal a 69-66 win over Lawrence on Thursday, Barnes had 33 points and 15 in the fourth quarter against Highland Park on Friday.

“I love the pressure, I love playing in these big games,” Barnes said. “My teammates battled and I just have to thank them so much.”

Southeast was slowed in the first half by Highland Park’s mixture of zones, which varied between a 3-2 and a box-and-one with the same focus of preventing Barnes from catching. The score was tied at 18 at halftime before the game and pace picked up in the second half.

That kind of attention gave Southeast’s other players an opportunity to make plays, as guards Treyveyon Campbell (eight points) and Johnny Murdock (13) came through with timely baskets.

“We’re playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Murdock said. “We were kind of struggling there at the start, but then we started hitting some shots and that was big for us.”

The back-and-forth battled continued through to the fourth quarter until Barnes took over.

With the score tied at 46, Barnes scored in transition for the lead. Highland Park tied it again and Barnes answered with a three-pointer on the next possession. When Highland Park answered with a three of its own, Barnes did what he does best: answer back.

Barnes would score 11 points in the final four minutes of the game, as he broke a tied game four times to give Southeast the lead. The Buffaloes finally found cushion after a defensive stand and Murdock made two free throws for a 58-53 lead. Highland Park would never have a chance to tie after that.

Even with defenses keying on him, Barnes has scored 69 points in two games in Topeka.

“He’s got more layers than a 7-layer cake,” Herring said. “He’s like a 10-layer cake.”

Now Southeast (7-4) will have the ultimate challenge in Vashon, a national powerhouse program from St. Louis, in Saturday night’s championship game at 5 p.m.

It’s exactly the type of big game Barnes is looking for.

“I can’t wait,” Barnes said smiling. “I want to play for a championship.”

Vashon 85, South 43 — South had plenty to celebrate in the first 30 seconds when Remy Lemovou swatted the game’s first shot away, creating a fast break that D’Andre Adkism finished at the other end for a lay-up.

That was about all the celebrating the Titans did against the defending Class 4A champions from Missouri. The Titans went five minutes after that without a basket, as they missed out on the hot shooting start they needed to contend with Vashon. South trailed 35-23 at halftime and trimmed the deficit to eight points late in the second quarter, but the game was blown open in the second half when Vashon outscored South 50-20.

“I told the boys before the game this is a team we almost have to play a flawless game against,” South coach Chuck Gunter said. “We didn’t take care of the ball and they punished us with that press. That was a hungry team and we didn’t play hungry.”

Adkism and Lemovou led South (7-4) with 22 combined points, as the Titans will play Highland Park for third place on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

“That’s the worst loss I’ve ever taken in my coaching career,” Gunter said of the 42-point defeat. “All we can do is bounce back. There’s nothing else we can do.”

Lawrence 67, East 49 — East lost its second straight game in the tournament in an 18-point loss to the fourth-ranked team in Class 6A, yet coach Joe Jackson left feeling the most encouraged he has all season about the Blue Aces (6-5).

“We gave completely better effort than what we had,” Jackson said. “It’s strange, but I feel better about the effort in this loss than I’ve felt in several of our wins this year. Our kids played really hard and we’re making some improvements.”

East continued struggling shooting from the field in Topeka, as another sub-40-percent performance never gave it a chance to be the second straight City League team to knock off Lawrence after Southeast did it on Thursday. The Blue Aces fell behind 30-20 at halftime and never managed to trim the lead to under double-digits in the second half.

Jackson made two lineup switches, the most successful was inserting Tony Silmon, who responded with a season-high 12 points. Michael McKinney led East with 14 points, while James Caldwell chipped in nine points off the bench.

East will play the Topeka West in the seventh place game on Saturday at noon, while Lawrence (8-2) advances to face Topeka for fifth place at 1:45 p.m.

“We’re going to bounce back from this,” Jackson said. “There’s no question about it because we don’t really have a choice now. We’ve got to continue to grow together. You never feel good after a loss, but I really do believe we’re taking steps in the right direction.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 11:06 PM with the headline "Israel Barnes helps lift Southeast into Topeka final."