Head-Royce came back from 10 points down to take a second-half lead, but Burlingame took over on the boards late and beat the Jayhawks 42-37 on Thursday. Burlingame outrebounded Head-Royce 26-15 and turned eight offensive rebounds into 12 second-chance points, and the Jayhawks fell to 14-3.
The opening minutes were even. Bryce scored the first basket on a feed from Johnny, and the teams were tied at 2-2, 4-4 and 6-6. Johnny's putback made it 10-10, the last tie of the first half. Burlingame went up 15-14 after two Osagie free throws, then scored nine straight points to lead 24-14, its biggest lead of the night.
The Jayhawks answered. Micah ended the drought with a basket, Johnny scored twice and Christian hit a 3-pointer on a pass from Johnny. Head-Royce outscored Burlingame 11-6 over the rest of the half, and a basket by Marcel cut the deficit to 30-25 at halftime.
Marcel's basket was the start of a 10-0 run. Micah scored on a feed from Andre, Christian hit another 3 off an assist from Johnny to tie the game at 30-30, and Micah's 3-pointer put Head-Royce ahead 33-30, its biggest lead. Burlingame came right back with two second-chance baskets around a Bryce free throw to tie it at 34-34, then went ahead 36-34 and never gave up the lead. Head-Royce did not make another field goal after Micah's 3. Its last four points came at the free-throw line, and two free throws by Johnny cut the gap to 38-37. Burlingame scored the final two baskets, the last one on a second chance, and outscored the Jayhawks 12-4 after they took the lead.
Johnny led Head-Royce with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting, along with three assists, three steals and no turnovers. Micah added seven points and a team-high three rebounds. Christian scored six points on two 3-pointers, both assisted by Johnny. Osagie had five points and went 3-of-4 at the line. Marcel scored four points and Bryce had three. Uche Okereke added two points, a block and a steal. Andre did not score but had two assists, two blocks, two rebounds and a steal.
Head-Royce shot 14-of-42 (33.3 percent) from the field and 3-of-7 from 3-point range. The Jayhawks went 6-of-12 at the free-throw line, and Okereke was 0-of-4. Burlingame shot 20-of-43 (46.5 percent). It made only 2 of 16 3-point attempts but did its damage inside, winning second-chance points 12-2. Head-Royce forced eight turnovers and committed six, and Burlingame had a 4-2 edge in points off turnovers. Head-Royce got no points from its bench.
The loss dropped Head-Royce to 14-3 on the 2022-23 season.