Head-Royce turned four Athenian turnovers into baskets during a closing 9-0 run and held on for a 47-45 road win Saturday, Feb. 11, improving to 12-1 on the season. The victory was the third straight for the Jayhawks and avenged a 55-44 loss at Athenian on Feb. 3.
Head-Royce scored the first five points of the game on a Micah 3-pointer and an Uche Okereke basket, and it never trailed in the first half. Athenian stayed close by getting to the free throw line, but Christian hit a 3-pointer, and Marcel added a second-chance basket and a layup off a Bryce assist to push the lead to 24-16. Bryce scored before the break, and the Jayhawks took a 26-19 lead into halftime.
The Jayhawks built their biggest lead of the day early in the second half. Marcel scored, Andre hit a 3-pointer and Bryce finished a feed from Marcel to make it 33-24. Athenian answered with a 10-0 run, capped by a second-chance 3-pointer, to take a 34-33 lead. Andre tied the game at the line, and two Marcel free throws put Head-Royce back in front at 36-34, but Athenian responded with a 7-0 run to go up 41-36, its largest lead of the game.
Down 42-38 late, Head-Royce's defense decided it. Andre scored on back-to-back possessions off turnovers, the second on a pass from Johnny, to tie the game at 42. Johnny then scored off another turnover to give the Jayhawks the lead for good. Marcel made a free throw, and Micah converted a fourth straight basket off a turnover, again assisted by Johnny, to make it 47-42. Athenian hit a 3-pointer in the final sequence of scoring to account for the final margin.
Marcel led Head-Royce with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting to go with nine rebounds (four offensive), three blocks and a steal. Andre added eight points on 3-of-5 shooting, plus four rebounds and two blocks. Micah and Christian each scored seven points, with Christian going 2-of-3 at the free throw line. Bryce ran the offense with five assists and scored four points, and Johnny had three points, two assists and two steals, with both of his assists coming during the decisive run. Okereke grabbed five rebounds, three on the offensive glass.
Neither team shot well. Head-Royce made 18 of 51 field goal attempts (35 percent), and Athenian made 11 of 36 (31 percent), though Athenian hit 8 of 17 from 3-point range and went 15-of-26 at the free throw line. The Jayhawks won the rebounding battle 30-20, including 13-6 on the offensive glass, and blocked nine shots. Head-Royce scored 10 points off turnovers, eight of them during the closing run.
With the win, Head-Royce is 12-1 and has won three straight.