OAKLAND, Calif. Head-Royce controlled the boards and the passing lanes Tuesday night, beating Heritage 53-32 at home to improve to 2-0 in the 2022-23 season. The Jayhawks outrebounded Heritage 49-12 and recorded 18 steals, and sophomore Andre led all scorers with 20 points.
Heritage held its only lead early. Andre opened the scoring with a basket, but Heritage answered with two straight field goals, the first off a turnover, to go up 4-2. Head-Royce responded with a 10-0 run and never trailed again. Andre put the Jayhawks ahead with a 3-pointer off an assist from Bryce, Bryce made two free throws, Marcel scored inside, Jaden finished a feed from Uche Okereke and Marcus added a free throw for a 12-4 lead.
The Jayhawks kept building from there. Bryce hit a 3-pointer off a turnover to make it 15-6, Topher scored on a basket and a free throw for a 24-9 edge, and Andre scored on back-to-back possessions, a 3-pointer set up by Micah and a basket set up by Bryce, to push the margin to 31-13. After Heritage made two free throws, Head-Royce put together an 8-0 run. Marcel made three free throws around a basket by Andre, Micah scored and Okereke added a free throw for a 39-15 lead, the largest of the night at 24 points.
Heritage made its push with an 11-0 run of its own, using two 3-pointers, one of them off a turnover, a free throw and two field goals to cut the deficit to 39-26. Okereke ended the stretch with a basket. After Heritage scored to make it 41-28, Head-Royce closed the door with a 9-0 run. Micah made a free throw, Okereke and Marcel scored inside, Andre finished a pass from Bryce and Micah added a basket for a 50-28 lead. Andre scored once more, and a free throw by Bryce closed the scoring.
Andre finished with 20 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including 2 of 6 from 3-point range, and added nine rebounds (five offensive) and two steals. Sixteen of his points came before Head-Royce reached its 24-point lead. Marcel, a junior, posted 9 points, 15 rebounds (eight offensive), three steals and two blocks. Sophomore Bryce filled the stat sheet with 6 points, six assists and six steals. Okereke contributed 5 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks, and Micah had 5 points, four assists and four steals.
The team numbers told the story. Head-Royce shot 35.7 percent (20 of 56) from the field while holding Heritage to 28.9 percent (11 of 38), including 2 of 12 from beyond the arc. The Jayhawks grabbed 23 offensive rebounds, 11 more than Heritage's total rebounds, and added five blocks. Head-Royce went 10 of 23 at the free throw line and committed 18 turnovers, but its defense and rebounding kept Heritage from mounting a serious threat.
Head-Royce improved to 2-0 and has won two straight games.