Topeka tournament: Southeast unable to keep up with Vashon’s hot shooting

It made Southeast coach Melvin Herring pause when asked what his team could have possibly done to win the Topeka Invitational championship on Saturday night.

Would it have mattered if Southeast contested Vashon better from the three-point line? Would it have mattered if Israel Barnes had a good shooting night, rather than just an average one?

Could Southeast have done anything differently to save itself from a 71-51 defeat in the title game?

“When you have 6-foot-8 kids with 7-foot wingspans out there knocking them down, it’s tough,” Southeast coach Melvin Herring said. “When they tower over you like that, it’s hard to contest. I don’t know what else we could have done.”

When Vashon is stroking it from the perimeter like it was on Saturday night, the defending Missouri 4A champions are near invincible.

Herring was actually more concerned about Vashon’s full-court press, which ate South up on Friday in a 42-point victory, and size, as it boasts three 6-foot-8 players, including Kansas State signee Levi Stockard III.

Instead, Vashon connected on 13 three-pointers and overwhelmed Southeast in the second half to cruise to the 20-point victory.

“We pride ourselves on our defense, but whenever we can come out and knock down some shots like that it makes life a lot easier,” Vashon coach Jeremy Davis said.

Herring was forced to call a timeout two minutes into the game when Vashon jumped out to a 10-0 lead.

As the first half progressed, Southeast seemed to gain more confidence and eventually the Buffaloes reeled off a 12-2 run to cut the Vashon lead to 22-20 with 5:16 left in the second quarter.

“We were playing Southeast basketball,” Herring said. “We started getting in our attack mode and turning the corner. When we play our game and play our style, we can compete against just about anyone.”

But to hang with a nationally-ranked, traveling team like Vashon, Southeast would need close to a virtuoso performance from Barnes.

After scoring 69 combined points in the first two days, Barnes closed out the tournament with a 21-point performance against Vashon. Up against a team filled with athletes, Barnes had to navigate through an array of defenses that were designed to deny, trap, and bully him.

“He’s a great player and we wanted to make things difficult on him,” Davis said. “He hit a couple of tough ones and we knew you’re not going to close somebody out like that.”

Southeast’s last rally came in the third quarter when it trimmed a 12-point halftime deficit to 44-38. But Vashon continued to rain in three-point baskets throughout the night to turn back every Southeast attempt to seize momentum.

Treyveyon Campbell added 10 points for Southeast, while Tarik Adkins and Johnny Murdock each scored seven.

All things considered, Herring was extremely pleased with the showing of Southeast (7-5) in Topeka.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Herring said. “That’s the kind of competition you want to compete against. It gauges where you are. We definitely got better this weekend as a team. We grew so much here in Topeka.”

And as far as Barnes goes?

Davis, whose team plays highly-regarded prospects regularly, liked what he saw from the Wichita product in the tournament.

“He’s a very, very good player,” Davis said. “We see a lot of really good talent, but he’s up there. For a kid that’s just a junior to be that athletic and shoot it like he can...if he continues to work at it, he has a chance to be really, really good.”

South 45, Highland Park 35 — In a game starved for offense, it was Deahvian Manning’s back-to-back three-pointers in the fourth quarter that pushed South to a third-place victory.

Manning’s 13 points were a game-high and the pair of three-pointers turned a 2-point lead into a 40-32 lead with 2:13 remaining.

“He stepped up and hit some real clutch shots for us,” South coach Chuck Gunter said. “That forced Highland Park to play catch and foul us and we were able to pull it out from there.”

South improved to 8-4 on the season, despite its second straight game scoring under 50 points. The Titans rebounded with a victory following a 42-point loss on Friday to Vashon that Gunter said was the worst loss in his coaching career.

South was also playing without its second leading scorer Jariah Taylor. D’Andre Adkism and Matthew Papamie combined to score 15 points to lead the Titans.

“I stayed on my boys to finish this thing out,” Gunter said. “In a tournament like this, to finish 2-1 you’ve done something. We put that loss behind us. We didn’t dwell on it. Hopefully we can move on and learn from it.”

East 61, Topeka West 53 — A comfortable 15-point lead for East turned into a nerve-wracking finish, as Topeka West rallied to within a point twice behind five three-pointers from Braedyn Lee in the fourth quarter.

But East (7-5) never relinquished its lead and close out the game for its first win of the tournament coming in the seventh-place game.

“We got rattled a little bit there, but I’m proud of our guys for battling,” East coach Joe Jackson said. “We talked to our guys about staying in the moment and only worrying about the next play, but ultimately we were able to regain our composure and play hard. It’s a great sign for the future.”

Michael McKinney and Zion Fralin each scored 12 points to lead East.

This story was originally published January 21, 2017 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Topeka tournament: Southeast unable to keep up with Vashon’s hot shooting."