OAKLAND, Calif. Head-Royce scored the first 19 points of the game and never looked back, beating Bentley JV 72-28 on Tuesday to improve to 13-7 on the season. The Jayhawks never trailed and were never tied, and the win completed a season sweep of Bentley JV after a 76-24 road victory on Jan. 20.
Mikael Akpala opened the scoring with a two, and the Jayhawks hit five 3-pointers during the opening burst. Sanil Saxena, Akpala, Micah Riebel, Seabass Heredia-Zulaica and Yash Mumgandi each connected from deep, with Heredia-Zulaica's three coming off a turnover on a feed from Richard Jones, to make it 19-0. Bentley JV answered with the next four points, but Head-Royce pulled away again with an 11-0 run that turned a 23-8 lead into a 34-8 advantage. Sam Gulaid scored twice off turnovers in that stretch, and Riebel added two free throws and a three off a turnover. Late threes from Akpala and Max Roston-Saul helped send the Jayhawks to halftime with a 40-14 lead.
Head-Royce opened the second half with a 7-0 run, getting a basket from Riebel, a three from Mumgandi and a basket off a turnover by Ezra Goldfarb to go up 47-14. Jones then took over, scoring 12 of the Jayhawks' 14 points in a stretch that pushed the lead to 61-20, including two threes and a basket off a turnover. A late 8-0 run followed, with a three from Heredia-Zulaica, a second-chance basket from Henry Tatara and a three by Saxena on an assist from Roston-Saul making it 69-22. Jones capped the Head-Royce scoring with a second-chance three for a 72-24 lead, the largest of the night at 48 points, before Bentley JV scored the final four points.
Jones led all Head-Royce scorers with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, and added six rebounds, five steals and two assists. Riebel finished with 12 points and four assists, and Akpala had eight points, four assists and three steals. Roston-Saul was perfect from the field, going 3-for-3 for seven points. Heredia-Zulaica made both of his 3-point attempts for six points, while Saxena and Mumgandi also scored six points apiece, with Mumgandi adding three steals. Goldfarb grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shots.
The Jayhawks shot 45 percent from the field (28-of-62) and made 14 of their 35 attempts from 3-point range, with 16 assists on their 28 field goals. The defense was just as sharp: Head-Royce recorded 16 steals and turned them into 18 points off turnovers. Bentley JV shot 29 percent (14-of-49), missed all 10 of its 3-point attempts and went 0-for-5 at the free throw line. Head-Royce also won the rebounding battle 32-27 and outscored Bentley JV 10-4 in second-chance points.
With the win, Head-Royce improved to 13-7 on the season and finished 2-0 against Bentley JV.