Head-Royce turned 22 steals into 25 points off turnovers and cruised past Berean Christian JV 85-28 on Friday, Nov. 17, improving to 4-1 with its second straight win. Berean Christian did not score a point off a Head-Royce turnover.
The lead changed hands twice early, and then never again. LaMarr Covington scored the game's first basket on a feed from Jack Peay, and Berean Christian answered with a 3-pointer for a 3-2 edge, its only lead of the game. Nick Taubes put Head-Royce back in front for good at 4-3, and Jackson Benson's 3-pointer off an Ezra Goldfarb assist made it 9-3.
The Jayhawks pulled away with back-to-back runs. An 8-0 burst took the score from 11-6 to 19-6, with Jonah Greenberg scoring twice off turnovers on passes from Max Roston-Saul. After Berean Christian made two free throws, Head-Royce answered with a 9-0 run capped by Luke Silva's 3-pointer for a 28-8 lead. Owen Curry's basket off a Greydon Ting assist sent the Jayhawks to halftime ahead 37-13, part of an 8-0 run that reached 39-13 when Peay scored a second-chance basket after the break.
Head-Royce outscored Berean Christian 48-15 in the second half. Taubes made two 3-pointers, one assisted by Goldfarb and the other by Peay, to push the margin past 30. The Jayhawks then put the game away with a 12-0 run that took the score from 66-26 to 78-26: Roston-Saul scored twice off turnovers, Davis Lynch hit a 3-pointer off a turnover and Covington added a second-chance 3-pointer. Greenberg scored the final four points, both baskets assisted by Roston-Saul, to give Head-Royce its largest lead at 57.
Greenberg, a junior, led all Head-Royce scorers with 16 points on 8-of-16 shooting and added four rebounds and three steals. Taubes, a freshman, scored 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting, including 2 of 6 from 3-point range, with two steals. Roston-Saul, a sophomore, had 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, six assists and eight steals without a turnover. Covington scored 10 points, made both of his 3-point attempts and added five rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Peay, a freshman, had eight points, a team-high 10 rebounds (five offensive), five assists and three steals, and scored three second-chance baskets. Lynch added eight points and Goldfarb had seven points and three assists.
Head-Royce shot 38 of 78 (48.7 percent) from the field and 8 of 19 from 3-point range, with 23 assists and five turnovers. Berean Christian shot 10 of 49 (20.4 percent) and 4 of 24 from beyond the arc. The Jayhawks outrebounded Berean Christian 39-31, grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and outscored the hosts 17-2 in second-chance points. The Head-Royce bench accounted for 44 points.
Head-Royce (4-1) returns home to host Bentley JV on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
