Head-Royce scored the first 35 points of the game and never looked back, beating Valley Christian 97-27 on the road Friday night. The Jayhawks moved to 21-1 and stretched their winning streak to 14 games.
The win came 13 days after Head-Royce beat Valley Christian 98-23 at home on Jan. 6. This time the starting five decided it early. Micah Riebel opened the scoring with a second-chance 3-pointer off an assist from Bryce Clepper. Johnny Williams, Marcus Lefkovits and Micah Nyamuzuwe followed, and the Jayhawks turned steals into quick points. Lefkovits hit a 3-pointer off a turnover for a 20-0 lead, Riebel added a 3-pointer to make it 31-0, and Williams scored off another turnover to make it 35-0. Every one of those 35 points came from a starter.
Valley Christian finally scored at 35-2, and Head-Royce answered with a 16-0 run. Marcel Pierre-Louis scored eight points in that stretch on five free throws and a 3-pointer off a turnover, and Malcolm Weekes capped it with a second-chance 3-pointer for a 51-2 lead. Weekes hit another 3-pointer, and the Jayhawks led 56-7 at halftime.
The bench carried the second half. A 9-0 run pushed the lead to 62-7, and Jaden Recker scored 10 of the Jayhawks' 12 points in a stretch that took the score from 66-8 to 78-11. Nick Taubes followed with a 3-pointer and a second-chance basket to cap a 10-0 run at 83-11, and the lead peaked at 72 points. Zach Gottschalk hit three 3-pointers in the final stretch, the last one making it 97-25, and Valley Christian scored the game's final basket.
Riebel led Head-Royce with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range, and added two steals. Williams scored all 11 of his points during the opening run, going 5 of 9 from the field, and grabbed six offensive rebounds. Recker had 11 points and five rebounds off the bench, and Pierre-Louis scored 11 points, making 6 of 8 free throws. Taubes, a freshman, filled the stat sheet with eight points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals. Nyamuzuwe had five points, five assists and four steals, and Clepper recorded all five of his assists during the 35-0 run. Lefkovits scored seven points on 3-of-4 shooting and made three steals. Freshman Lamarr Covington had seven points and seven offensive rebounds.
The team numbers were just as lopsided. Head-Royce shot 42 percent (34 of 81) and held Valley Christian to 25 percent (9 of 36). The Jayhawks outrebounded the Eagles 56-15, with 39 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second-chance points. Head-Royce also had 20 steals, scored 23 points off turnovers and allowed none. The Jayhawks totaled 28 assists, got 58 points from the bench and had 13 different players score.
Head-Royce is now 21-1 and has won 14 straight games.