OAKLAND, Calif. Head-Royce forced 14 turnovers, made 12 steals and never trailed in a 56-36 win over Heritage on Tuesday. The Jayhawks improved to 7-0 and stretched their winning streak to seven games.
Head-Royce scored the first five points. Micah Riebel hit the game's first basket, Micah Nyamuzuwe scored off a turnover and Bryce Clepper added a free throw. Nyamuzuwe then hit a 3-pointer off another turnover, assisted by Clepper, for a 10-2 lead. Heritage scored two straight second-chance baskets to get within 10-6, but Nyamuzuwe answered with another 3. Marcel Pierre-Louis and Osagie Enabulele each added a 3-pointer to make it 21-10, and a third 3 from Nyamuzuwe, assisted by Marcus Lefkovits, made it 26-14. Heritage scored the last basket before the break, and Head-Royce led 26-16 at halftime.
Clepper made four free throws early in the second half, and a Pierre-Louis basket pushed the lead to 35-22. Heritage then scored five straight points, ending with a 3-pointer off a turnover, to get within 35-27. Head-Royce answered with a 9-0 run that decided the game. Enabulele and Jaden Recker scored inside, Clepper made a free throw, Recker scored off a turnover and Clepper finished a feed from Nyamuzuwe to make it 44-27. After a Heritage basket, the Jayhawks scored six straight. Recker and Clepper each scored second-chance baskets, and Johnny Williams converted a turnover into two points for a 50-29 lead, the largest of the game at 21. Heritage scored five in a row after that, but Lefkovits, Recker and Williams scored late to close out the 56-36 final.
Nyamuzuwe led Head-Royce with 11 points, all of them in the first half, on 3-of-8 shooting from 3-point range. He also had four steals, four rebounds and a block. Clepper added 10 points, going 6 of 8 from the free-throw line, and five assists. Recker led the team with seven rebounds, four of them offensive, and scored eight points off the bench. Pierre-Louis had seven points and a team-high six assists, and Williams had seven points on 3-of-3 free-throw shooting with three assists and two steals. Lefkovits had four points and three steals.
The Jayhawks shot 38.9 percent (21 of 54) and assisted on 18 of their 21 field goals. Nine players scored, and the bench added 22 points. Heritage made 13 of 43 shots (30.2 percent), including 2 of 12 from 3-point range, and went 8 of 16 at the line. Head-Royce committed eight turnovers to Heritage's 14 and outscored the visitors 12-9 in points off turnovers. The Jayhawks also won the rebounding battle 29-28 and went 9 of 11 from the free-throw line.
Head-Royce, now 7-0, returns to action when it hosts Bentley JV on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.