Head-Royce erased a halftime deficit with a 22-10 third quarter and beat Lick-Wilmerding 39-29 on Friday, Dec. 29, for its eighth straight win. The Jayhawks improved to 15-1 behind a defense that held Lick-Wilmerding to 23.6 percent shooting and 0-of-16 from 3-point range.
Johnny Williams scored the game's first basket, and Micah Nyamuzuwe followed with a 3-pointer off a Bryce Clepper assist. Clepper then scored on a feed from Marcus Lefkovits for a 7-2 lead. Lick-Wilmerding answered with five straight points to tie it at 7, and the teams traded the lead from there. Micah Riebel scored off a turnover on a pass from Williams, Williams hit a second-chance 3-pointer from Nyamuzuwe and Zach Gottschalk made a 3-pointer on a Lefkovits assist for a 15-13 edge. Marcel Pierre-Louis converted a turnover into a basket to tie it at 17, but Lick-Wilmerding scored the last points of the first quarter and carried a 19-17 lead into halftime.
Lick-Wilmerding opened the second half with a second-chance basket for its biggest lead, 21-17. Williams answered with two free throws and Riebel tied it at 21. The teams were then tied at 23, 25 and 27 as neither side could separate. Nyamuzuwe took over the stretch, scoring eight points in the quarter. His two free throws put Head-Royce ahead 27-25, and after Lick-Wilmerding tied it again, he scored on a Clepper assist and added another basket for a 31-27 lead. Lick-Wilmerding made two free throws to pull within 31-29, but it did not score again. Williams scored off a turnover, Lefkovits added a second-chance basket and another on a Clepper assist, and Clepper closed the 8-0 run with two free throws to make it 39-29. The game featured nine ties before Head-Royce pulled away, and neither team scored in the fourth quarter.
Williams posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, three of them offensive, to go with three steals and a block. Nyamuzuwe matched him with 11 points and went 2-for-2 at the line. Clepper had four points and a team-high three assists, all of which led to baskets, while Lefkovits added four points, two assists and two blocks. Riebel chipped in four points and five rebounds.
The Jayhawks did not shoot well either, finishing 15-of-54 from the field (27.8 percent) and 3-of-29 from beyond the arc, but they made all six of their free throws while Lick-Wilmerding went 3-of-7. Head-Royce recorded nine steals and four blocks and turned the ball over seven times. The Jayhawks held a 6-2 edge in points off turnovers, and the teams split the glass evenly at 35 rebounds apiece. Gottschalk and Pierre-Louis accounted for the five bench points.
Head-Royce (15-1) returns home to host Bentley JV on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.
