OAKLAND, Calif. Head-Royce's boys junior varsity team lost 70-40 to Oakland Tech JV at home on Friday. Thirty turnovers put the Jayhawks behind 45-16 at halftime, and they never recovered. The loss was Head-Royce's second in a row and dropped the Jayhawks to 4-3 on the 2023-24 season.
Oakland Tech JV scored the first eight points, including two second-chance baskets. Davis Lynch ended the run with a basket off a LaMarr Covington assist. Oakland Tech JV answered with a 7-0 run to lead 20-4. Head-Royce then had its best stretch of the half, a 7-2 spurt in which Nick Taubes scored five points and Covington added a basket, cutting the deficit to 22-11.
The visitors pulled away from there. Oakland Tech JV scored seven straight points to go up 29-11. After Jonah Greenberg scored off a turnover and Taubes added a basket, Oakland Tech JV went on another 7-0 run for a 41-15 lead. At halftime Head-Royce trailed 45-16, and 20 of Oakland Tech JV's first-half points had come off Head-Royce turnovers.
The Jayhawks played much better after the break and were outscored only 25-24 in the second half. Covington opened the half with back-to-back second-chance baskets. Greenberg scored five points in the half, and Luke Silva hit a second-chance 3-pointer to make it 56-26. Oakland Tech JV's lead reached its largest point, 36, at 68-32. Head-Royce then closed the game on an 8-2 run. Taubes made a free throw, Greydon Ting hit a second-chance 3-pointer, Silva scored off a turnover and Owen Curry finished the scoring, with Taubes assisting on the last three baskets.
Taubes, a freshman, led Head-Royce with 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting, along with five rebounds and three assists. Covington had eight points, a team-high 11 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Greenberg, a junior, scored seven points, made 3 of 4 free throws and had five steals. Lynch pulled down seven rebounds, and Curry had three points and six rebounds. Silva, a sophomore, scored five points off the bench, and Head-Royce's reserves scored eight points in all.
The shooting numbers favored the visitors. Head-Royce shot 16 of 56 (28.6 percent) from the field and 2 of 21 from 3-point range, while Oakland Tech JV shot 28 of 72 (38.9 percent). Oakland Tech JV had 15 steals and outrebounded the Jayhawks 40-33. Head-Royce held a 10-4 edge in second-chance points and forced 14 turnovers with nine steals, but it scored only six points off those turnovers.
Head-Royce, now 4-3, returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, when it hosts Bentley JV.