OAKLAND, Calif. Head-Royce never trailed Friday and used two double-digit scoring runs to beat College Prep 61-52 at home. The Jayhawks improved to 11-6, won their second straight game and beat College Prep for the second time this season, after a 51-36 road win on Jan. 10.
Mikael Akpala scored the game's first basket on an assist from Jonah Greenberg and then made a free throw. Baskets from Richard Jones and Greenberg put Head-Royce ahead 9-2. College Prep kept it close through most of the opening period and cut the lead to 15-14. Luke Silva answered with a 3-pointer off a Micah Riebel assist, which gave Head-Royce an 18-14 lead after one quarter and started a 12-0 run.
The run continued into the second quarter. Riebel hit a 3-pointer, Seabass Heredia-Zulaica scored a second-chance basket, and Jones added a putback and a basket off a turnover to make it 27-14. College Prep got within 29-22, but Akpala scored on back-to-back possessions and Jones turned another turnover into two points. Head-Royce led 35-28 at halftime.
Greenberg scored the first basket of the second half. After a College Prep field goal made it 37-30, the Jayhawks scored 11 straight points. Riebel and Sanil Saxena hit back-to-back 3-pointers, Akpala added a second-chance 3-pointer off a Greenberg pass, and Jones scored on another Greenberg assist to make it 48-30, Head-Royce's largest lead. College Prep answered with an 11-0 run of its own to cut the lead to 48-41 before Riebel ended it with a basket. Heredia-Zulaica and Greenberg scored to push the lead back to 54-43, and College Prep then scored seven straight to make it 54-50. Jones stopped that run with a basket. After College Prep scored again to make it 56-52, Greenberg made a free throw, Akpala hit a 3-pointer off a Greenberg assist, and Greenberg added a final free throw to finish the game.
Jones, a junior, led Head-Royce with 18 points on 9-of-14 shooting, 12 rebounds (seven offensive), seven steals and two blocks. Akpala, a sophomore, scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range, and grabbed six rebounds. Greenberg had eight points, seven rebounds, a team-high seven assists and five steals. Riebel scored eight points, made two 3-pointers and had four steals, and Heredia-Zulaica added six points on 3-of-6 shooting.
Head-Royce shot 40.6 percent (26 of 64) from the field, while College Prep shot 38.3 percent. The Jayhawks won the rebounding battle 34-21, grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and outscored College Prep 11-5 on second-chance points. They also had 17 steals. College Prep stayed within reach at the free throw line, where it made 15 of 24 shots to Head-Royce's 3 of 8. Head-Royce also committed 15 turnovers. College Prep's leading scorer, whose name was not recorded, had 24 points and 10 rebounds.
Head-Royce is now 11-6 and has won two straight games.