Topeka High (  11-7, 6-5 )built up a first half lead on Junction City ( 5-13, 3-8 ) and then held off the Blue Jays in the second half enroute to a 56-43 win in the capital city.

Junction City trailed by 16 but on two occasions in the second half cut the lead down to nine points.

After the game Blue Jay coach Pat Battle on the difference between the first half when the team struggled, and the second half said, “It’s just a matter of us understanding who we are and who we’re not, and I think we came out a little bit and we played who we’re not. We’ve got to play in the halfcourt, especially with the opponents that we have coming up.” Battle added the Blue Jays rushed a few of their shot selections, and didn’t close out at times.

Semaj Johnson led Junction City with 11 points, while Joshua Barber topped the Topeka High scoring with 13 points.

Junction City will play at Topeka West Tuesday night.

—

In the girls varsity game the Junction City Lady Jays ( 3-14 , 1-10 ) fell to Topeka 42-33.

Topeka High ( 11-7, 6-5 )  led Junction City throughout the game but a fourth quarter push by the Lady Jays brought them from an 18 point deficit to within nine at the end of the game.

Scoring was a problem for Junction City for three quarters, with the Lady Jays only putting 13 points up through the first 24 minutes. Junction City got 10 points from Kealee Rains in the fourth quarter, and the rest of the team chipped in to combine for 12 more points.