The Junction City Blue Jays had a 12-point lead early in the fourth quarter over Topeka West, but the Chargers stormed back, outscoring the Blue Jays 31-14 in the final period.

Freshman Elijah Brooks led the Chargers, who won their first game of the season, with 22 points and hit six of eight free throws to help secure the win. A foul on A. J. Dickerson of Junction City with the Blue Jays up by five points in the fourth quarter was followed by a technical foul on Dickerson after the play. The Chargers hit two of four free throws, and then scored a 2-point field goal to pull within one.

Blue Jay coach Nick Perez said he thought his team got complacent. ” I think we thought this game was over and we went on a run. This one’s tough because we didn’t play well, we’ve got to learn to grind out games, yes it’s tough.” Perez added Junction City ( 4-2 ) has to quit turning the ball over.

Junction City got 18 points from Dickerson and 16 from Quavez Humphreys in the loss. The Blue Jays play at Seaman on Tuesday.

—

In the girls varsity game Topeka West ( 1-4 ) got their first win of the season with a 48-28 win over Junction City ( 0-6 ). Lucy Ramirez led the Lady Jays with 10 points in the loss.

The Junction City Blue Jay wrestling team will compete in a double dual at Rossville Friday night and in a five-team tournament at Salina South on Saturday.

Coach Bob Laster noted he’s ready for his team to get back on the mat. “Ready for school to get started back up so we can get back to normal.” Students in USD 475 return to the classroom on Tuesday, January 8th.”

—

The Lady Jay and Blue Jay basketball teams return to action Friday night. The girls varsity game will tip off about 6 p.m. and the boys varsity contest about 7:30 p.m. at the Shenk Gym. Junction City will host the Topeka West Chargers.

You can hear both games on 107.9 ZFM / 1420 KJCK with the broadcast beginning at 5:50 p.m.

The Junction City High School basketball teams close out the December portion of their schedule Friday evening at JCHS when they host Garden City.

In the boys contest Garden City enters play with a 5-0 record while Junction City is 3-1. In the girls matchup Garden City brings a 4-1 record into the game while the Lady Jays are 0-4.

You can hear both varsity games on 107.9 FM and 1420 KJCK beginning with the girls contest at 5:50 p.m. followed by the boys game about 7:45 p.m.

The Junction City Blue Jays finished second out of 13 teams at the Emporia Winter Classic wrestling tournament Saturday.

Lawrence Free State won the team title with 202 points followed by Junction City with 171 and Emporia with 170 points.

In the individual weight class competition for Junction City, Terrance Adeleye, finished first in the 195 pound weight class. Hayden Diestelkamp finished third at 106 pounds, Mauro Gonzalez sixth at 113 pounds, Zane Thornton fourth at 126, Cameron Beasley third at 138, C. J. Neumann third at 152, Sadiki Smith fourth at 170, and Jonathan Dennard sixth at 285 pounds.

The Junction City Blue Jays opened up a 13-point first quarter lead and never trailed enroute to a 74-58 victory over Highland Park ( 1-4 ) in Topeka.

The Blue Jays were led by 37 points from A.J. Dickerson and also got 15 from Qua’vez Humphreys.

Junction City was up 17 in the third quarter but Highland Park rallied to within seven before the Blue Jays pulled away to get the victory. Coach Nick Perez felt the Blue Jays might have gotten a little fatigued in the third quarter. “I think we got a little fatigued. We only played about seven.” Perez also added, I thought the kids that played, played really well. They did exactly what we asked them to do.”

Junction City ( 3-1 ) will host Garden City next Friday night.

—

The Junction City Lady Jays ( 0-4 ) fell to Highland Park ( 4-1 ) 62-30. The game was reasonably close in the first half before Highland Park pulled way over the last two quarters.

Mellana Davis led Junction City with 12 points.

 

^BOYS PREP BASKETBALL=

Abilene 88, Concordia 39

Andale 56, Wichita Collegiate 55, OT

Andover Central 80, Goddard-Eisenhower 71

Arkansas City 66, Maize South 61

Atchison 70, Rossville 45

Attica 63, Oxford 32

Augusta 52, Buhler 37

BV Randolph 92, Troy 60

Baxter Springs 63, Pittsburg Colgan 40

Belle Plaine 62, Marion 48

Belle Plaine 64, B-G-M, Brooklyn, Iowa 44

Beloit 68, Ellsworth 50

Burlingame 54, Southern Coffey 24

Burrton 54, Fairfield 38

Caldwell 52, Hutchinson Central Christian 44

Caney Valley 52, Dewey, Okla. 50

Canton-Galva 41, Herington 30

Cedar Vale/Dexter 50, Sedan 42

Central Plains 51, Haven 35

Chaparral 69, Sterling 57

Chapman 52, Marysville 37

Chase County 40, West Franklin 26

Cheney 67, Berean Academy 49

Circle 59, El Dorado 53

Clifton-Clyde 73, Wetmore 42

DeSoto 51, Bonner Springs 37

Douglass 41, Remington 35

Ellis 38, Ellinwood 33

Elyria Christian 40, Solomon 22

Emporia 58, Topeka West 42

Erie 50, Oswego 32

Eureka 57, Flinthills 28

Fort Scott 59, Labette County 37

Garden City 52, Bear Creek, Colo. 47

Garden Plain 62, Bennington 41

Girard 53, Galena 39

Goessel 70, Peabody-Burns 34

Greeley County 61, Quinter 53

Hanover 72, Onaga 30

Hartford 49, Madison/Hamilton 47

Hays-TMP-Marian 61, Oakley 33

Hesston 64, St. John 53

Hiawatha 56, Royal Valley 52

Holcomb 74, Goodland 47

Hugoton 66, Scott City 55

Humboldt 62, Neodesha 47

Hutchinson 39, Great Bend 29

Inman 34, Kingman 33

Iola 76, Prairie View 60

Jefferson North 71, Horton 23

Jefferson West 50, Riverside 31

Junction City 74, Highland Park 58

KC Harmon 95, KC Turner 39

KC Piper 57, Louisburg 44

Kiowa County 57, Bucklin 38

Leavenworth 54, Mill Valley 43

Lebo 49, Waverly 43

Liberal 47, Perryton, Texas 32

Little River 35, Rural Vista 31

Macksville 54, Stafford 44

Maize 61, Wichita Campus 48

Maranatha Academy 65, Heritage Christian 36

Maur Hill – Mount Academy 51, Jackson Heights 24

McLouth 64, Atchison County 23

McPherson 58, Winfield 46

Medicine Lodge 65, Sedgwick 52

Mission Valley 32, Central Heights 29

Moundridge 42, Conway Springs 40

Ness City 67, Kinsley 30

Newton 47, Derby 44

Nickerson 51, Pratt 44, 2OT

Northern Valley 83, Golden Plains 40

Norton 50, Smith Center 39

Olathe North 91, SM North 81

Olathe South 58, Olathe West 52

Olpe 62, Marais des Cygnes Valley 28

Osborne 54, Tescott 8

Otis-Bison 72, La Crosse 55

Ottawa 56, Paola 32

Parsons 56, Coffeyville 53

Pawnee Heights 53, Minneola 50

Perry-Lecompton 50, Nemaha Central 47

Phillipsburg 54, Hill City 37

Pittsburg 53, Chanute 47

Plainville 72, Stockton 53

Pratt Skyline 65, Fowler 29

Riverton 59, Columbus 58, OT

Rock Creek 53, Wabaunsee 27

Rose Hill 62, Clearwater 43

Russell 69, Republic County 60

Sabetha 52, Holton 46

Salina Central 60, Salina South 45

Salina Sacred Heart 56, Minneapolis 39

Santa Fe Trail 74, Osawatomie 64

Smoky Valley 46, Halstead 43, OT

South Gray 60, Spearville 32

Spring Hill 66, Baldwin 35

St. Francis 57, Dundy County-Stratton, Neb. 48

St. John’s Beloit-Tipton 61, Rock Hills 33

St. Mary’s 71, Silver Lake 60

St. Thomas Aquinas 69, St. James Academy 53

Stanton County 85, Lakin 66

Sublette 53, Satanta 47

Sylvan-Lucas 50, Pike Valley 23

Thunder Ridge 54, Natoma 45

Topeka Hayden 47, Manhattan 44

Topeka Seaman 67, Shawnee Heights 55

Udall 84, Cunningham 26

Ulysses 58, Colby 50

Valley Falls 50, Oskaloosa 40

Wamego 74, Clay Center 55

Washburn Rural 60, Topeka 39

Washington County 48, Centralia 41

Wellington 76, Mulvane 68

Weskan 57, Wheatland-Grinnell 54

West Elk 56, Fredonia 32

Wichita County 62, Meade 61

Wichita Defenders 63, Collinsville, Okla. 61

Wichita Heights 84, Wichita North 31

Wichita Southeast 49, Kapaun Mount Carmel 40

Wichita Trinity 51, Hutchinson Trinity 38

^POSTPONEMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS=

Doniphan West vs. Valley Heights, ppd.

Girls Scores

 

Highland Park 62 Junction City 30

Sabetha 42, Holton 34

Salina Central 56, Salina South 34

Salina Sacred Heart 46, Minneapolis 31

Santa Fe Trail 36, Osawatomie 28

Scott City 42, Hugoton 40

Southern Coffey 43, Burlingame 37

Sublette 65, Satanta 37

Syracuse 56, Southwestern Hts. 12

Thunder Ridge 54, Natoma 45

Topeka Seaman 51, Shawnee Heights 29

Trego 47, Oberlin-Decatur 28

Wabaunsee 51, Rock Creek 24

Wamego 43, Clay Center 37

Washburn Rural 49, Topeka 46

Wellsville 58, Burlington 45

West Elk 43, Fredonia 13

Wichita Heights 71, Wichita North 12

POSTPONEMENTS AND CANCELLATIONS=

Doniphan West vs. Valley Heights, ppd.

The Junction City Blue Jays ( 2-1 ) jumped out to a 17-2 first quarter lead over the Manhattan Indians ( 4-1 ) but the Indians kept battling and went on their own 17-0 run to claim a 19-17 second quarter lead over Junction City.

From that point on the game was close but Manhattan prevailed at the Shenk Gym 51-49 Tuesday night.

Missed free throws by the Indians in the fourth quarter left the door open for Junction City to rally from a late deficit, but a missed dunk, a traveling call and a final missed  three-point show attempt at the buzzer left the Blue Jays two points short.

Blue Jay coach Nick Perez noted Junction City made some mistakes. “We’re disappointed. We let them off the hook. We had them,” referring to the early hot start for the Blue Jays. But Perez also gave the Indians credit. saying, “They find ways to win.”

Junction City hit seven three-point shots in the game with six coming in the first half….three from Kody Westerhaus and three from A.J. Dickerson. The Indians used a tough zone defense to prevent the Blue Jays from getting a lot of shots around the basket.

A.J. Dickerson scored 19 points for the Blue Jays, but had to deal with foul problems. Kody Westerhaus scored 12 points for Junction City.

—

In the girls varsity game Manhattan ( 4-1 ) jumped out to a 28-4 first quarter lead over Junction City and rolled on to a 72-16 victory over the Lady Jays ( 0-3 ).

Mellana Davis led Junction City with six points.

The Topeka High Trojans ( 3-0 )opened up an 18-7 lead and rolled on to a 62-24 girls basketball victory over the Junction City Lady Jays Friday night in the capitol city.

Despite the loss the Lady Jays appeared to show some improvement. Coach Derek Petty said he felt his team started the contest playing well. ” But then as time went on we started having some mental lapses, turnovers. I think we’re hurting ourselves more than the other team is hurting us. If we can start to limit the turnovers and the mental lapses on defense like losing our player or communicating who we’re guarding I think we’ll start seeing a bigger improvement.”

Freshman Nijaree Canady scored 33 points to lead Topeka High, while Mellana Davis had seven points for Junction City.

Junction City ( 0-3 ) hosts Manhattan Tuesday night.

The Junction City had to battle foul problems and deal with a stingy zone defense from the Great Bend Panthers ( 1-3 )  Tuesday night in Great Bend. But in the end the Blue Jays prevailed 63-35 over the Panthers. Junction City never trailed in the ballgame.

Junction City coach Nick Perez said the Blue Jays came out with some intensity early. “We went on a little run early, played some good defense, and all of a sudden it turned into a foul fest again.” The Blue Jays also had three technical fouls called against players including two for dunking at halftime in warmups.

Junction City ( 2-0 ) does not play again until they host Manhattan next Tuesday.

---

The Junction City Lady Jays fell behind 15-4 and lost to Great Bend ( 1-3 ) 60-25 with a running clock in the fourth quarter.

Alyssa Grygier scored 11 points for Junction City ( 0-2 ).