Israel Barnes scores 38 points and leads Southeast to the Valley Center tourney title
After scoring seven points in the first half, Israel Barnes exploded for 31 second-half points and led Southeast to a 77-76 win over Topeka Seaman on Saturday in the championship game of the January Jam Tournament.
“In the first half, I saw that (Topeka Seaman) was really playing it tight and the refs weren’t calling a lot of fouls at the rim,” Barnes said. “I just composed myself and I realized it was the championship game. I just wanted to be there for my team, just play as hard as I can and play for my team.”
Topeka Seaman coach Chris Cox had witnessed Barnes in action two years earlier when the Vikings played Southeast in the championship game and thought he was “a great player” as a sophomore. Cox’s defensive game plan pushed Barnes out on the perimeter in the first half, which resulted in Barnes missing eight of his first 11 shots.
When Barnes heated up in the second half, Seaman attempted to prevent him from touching the ball. Didn’t work.
“He lived up to his reputation,” Cox said. “We knew what he was capable of. We were hoping to not let him hurt us driving to the basket. He hit a lot of outside shots today. When he had the inside-outside (game) going, he’s unstoppable.”
Topeka Seaman’s offense kept striking back. The Vikings pushed their lead to as many as nine points in the third quarter.
Seaman still had a two-possession lead in the closing minutes. A layup by Barnes cut the lead to two points, and Southeast coach Melvin Herring called his final timeout with 1:32 left to play.
Herring emphasized forcing a turnover to his team. Instead, his team forced three.
Barnes missed a three-pointer after a Seaman turnover, but Southeast got the ball back after Micah Jacques came up with a steal and passed it to Barnes for the game-tying layup with 23.2 seconds to play. Voshun Webb followed up with another steal, which allowed Barnes to make the go-ahead basket with 8.5 seconds left.
“When I called that timeout, I told them as far as doing it together, this is where your character and heart comes in,” Herring said. “That’s what they did. They stepped up, they finished and they did it together. It was a huge step for us.”
Barnes and Jacques were named to the all-tournament team and Seaman’s Trey Duffey, who only had eight points on Saturday, was chosen the tournament’s MVP. The award was voted on by coaches before the championship game took place.
Herring had preached the importance of continuing to fight even when adversity struck and said that the tournament was a huge stepping stone for Southeast going forward.
“The whole tournament, we kind of played like that,” Herring said. “That’s just part of character building. We stayed true to our character, we stayed true to our principles and we trusted each other. It was a huge tournament for us.”
This story was originally published January 20, 2018 at 8:25 PM with the headline "Israel Barnes scores 38 points and leads Southeast to the Valley Center tourney title."