OAKLAND, Calif. The Head-Royce boys junior varsity team scored 24 straight points in the third quarter and beat Balboa High (San Francisco) 67-55 on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, improving to 5-3. Freshman Nick Taubes finished with a game-high 21 points.
The opening quarter went back and forth. Davis Lynch and LaMarr Covington gave Head-Royce a 4-0 lead, but Balboa made three straight 3-pointers during an 11-0 run that put the visitors up 11-4. The Jayhawks answered with 14 straight points. Jack Peay started the run, Lynch and Covington scored off turnovers, and Taubes added three baskets to make it 18-11. Balboa closed the period with a flurry of its own, and Head-Royce led 19-18 after one quarter.
Balboa opened the second quarter with seven straight points and led 24-19. Peay scored off a turnover, and Jackson Benson hit a 3-pointer off another turnover, assisted by Covington, to tie the game at 24. After Lynch's basket and Covington's 3-pointer, Balboa tied it again at 29. Max Roston-Saul answered with a 3-pointer, and Taubes scored on a second-chance basket. Head-Royce led 34-31 at halftime. The game had five lead changes and three ties.
Balboa started the second half with 10 straight points, which made its run 12-0 dating back to the final basket of the first half, and took its biggest lead, 41-34. From there, Head-Royce took over. Covington started a 24-0 run, and Taubes scored 13 points during the stretch, including a second-chance 3-pointer that put the Jayhawks back in front 43-41. Taubes also scored on a feed from Peay and converted a turnover into a basket. Lynch added a basket before Covington's 3-pointer made it 58-41. Head-Royce outscored Balboa 27-12 in the third quarter and led 61-43 going into the fourth. Seabass Heredia-Zulaica added a three-point play, and Greydon Ting's 3-pointer made it 67-46, the largest lead of the night. Balboa scored the last nine points.
Taubes shot 10 of 16 from the field and added three rebounds, two steals and a block. Covington scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, with five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Peay filled the stat sheet with 10 points, six rebounds, six assists and a team-high five steals. Lynch added nine points and five rebounds, and Ezra Goldfarb had four steals.
Balboa shot 54 percent from the field and made 10 of 15 attempts from 3-point range, but Head-Royce's defense and work on the glass made the difference. The Jayhawks had 18 steals and scored 11 points off turnovers. They outrebounded Balboa 28-17, grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and outscored the visitors 7-0 on second-chance points. That helped Head-Royce take 65 shots to Balboa's 37. The Jayhawks shot 43 percent from the field and made 7 of 15 3-pointers, but they made only 4 of 22 free throws.
Head-Royce (5-3) returns to action when it hosts Bentley on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.