Head-Royce turned 27 steals into a runaway on Friday, Jan. 20, opening with a 19-0 run and beating Bentley 76-24 in a boys junior varsity game. The Jayhawks never trailed and improved to 10-6. Their 52-point final margin was also their biggest lead of the night.
Bentley matched Seabass Heredia-Zulaica's opening basket with a second-chance two, and that 2-2 score was the only tie of the game. Head-Royce followed with 19 straight points. Sam and Henry Tatara scored early in the run, and Micah Riebel made three 3-pointers, all assisted by Jonah Greenberg and two of them off turnovers, to push the score to 21-2.
Bentley scored off a turnover to make it 21-4, and the Jayhawks answered with an 18-0 run. Mikael Akpala scored 12 of those points, including a second-chance 3-pointer assisted by Zac Gottschalk and another 3-pointer that made it 37-4. His basket off a turnover, assisted by Riebel, capped the run at 39-4. Bentley hit a 3-pointer, and Head-Royce answered with a 6-0 run that ended on a Riebel basket off a turnover for a 45-7 lead.
Bentley's best stretch was five straight points that made it 47-13. Greenberg's second-chance basket started a 10-0 answer, and Gottschalk finished it with a basket assisted by Riebel and two 3-pointers, the last off a turnover, for a 57-13 lead. Freshman Max Roston-Saul then scored Head-Royce's next 11 points on five straight baskets to make it 68-20. Luke Silva added a 3-pointer, Greenberg scored on an assist from Dillon Hong, and Akpala closed the scoring with a 3-pointer.
Akpala led Head-Royce with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range. He added three rebounds, all offensive, along with an assist, a steal and a block. Riebel scored 15 points and had seven steals and three assists. Roston-Saul made 5 of 6 shots for 11 points. Greenberg filled the stat sheet with eight points, a team-high nine steals, a team-high four assists and four rebounds. Gottschalk added eight points on two 3-pointers and a two, plus three steals and two assists, and Tatara had four points and two blocks.
The defense decided the game. Head-Royce's 27 steals led to 17 points off turnovers, and the Jayhawks also blocked nine shots. Bentley made 10 of its 14 field goal attempts (71.4 percent), but Head-Royce took 72 shots. The Jayhawks made 33 of them (45.8 percent) and went 10 of 29 from 3-point range. Head-Royce also grabbed 13 offensive rebounds, which led to nine second-chance points. Bentley went 2 of 6 from the free throw line, and Head-Royce missed its only three attempts.
Head-Royce is now 10-6 on the season, and the win started a new winning streak.