OAKLAND, Calif. Head-Royce never trailed and used 17 steals and a big rebounding edge to beat Redwood Christian JV 73-44 on Thursday, Feb. 1. The Jayhawks improved to 12-5 and have now won six games in a row.
Head-Royce scored the first five points. Sam Gulaid made a basket, LaMarr Covington hit a free throw and Davis Lynch scored off a turnover on a feed from Gulaid. Redwood Christian answered to get within 5-3, which was as close as it got all night. Max Roston-Saul hit a 3-pointer off a Covington assist to make it 12-5, and Gulaid's 3-pointer, also set up by Covington, pushed the lead to 19-9.
The Jayhawks took control with a 7-0 run that turned a 19-11 game into 26-11. Gulaid started it with a basket, and Ezra Goldfarb scored the next five points on two baskets off turnovers and a free throw. Luke Silva's 3-pointer made it 32-14. A second 7-0 run followed, with Owen Curry's second-chance basket, a Goldfarb basket and a Lynch 3-pointer stretching the lead from 34-18 to 41-18. Seabass Heredia-Zulaica's basket later made it 46-19.
Redwood Christian put together two runs of its own but never got close. A 6-0 spurt cut the deficit to 46-25. Later, after Roston-Saul's 3-pointer, a Gulaid basket and two Roston-Saul free throws built a 61-33 lead, the visitors scored seven straight points to pull within 61-40. Head-Royce answered with baskets from Jackson Benson and Lawrence Liu and a Heredia-Zulaica free throw to go up 66-42. Roston-Saul then scored the Jayhawks' last seven points on a basket off a turnover, a 3-pointer and a basket off a Heredia-Zulaica assist. That made it 73-44, the largest lead of the game at 29 points.
Roston-Saul, a sophomore, led all scorers with 21 points. He shot 7 of 8 from the field, 3 of 3 from 3-point range and 4 of 6 at the free-throw line, and he added five steals. Gulaid, also a sophomore, had a double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds (four offensive) on 7-of-11 shooting, plus two assists, two steals and two blocks. Lynch scored nine points with two assists and two steals. Goldfarb added eight points and six rebounds, and Covington had five points and a team-high three assists.
Redwood Christian made 16 of its 23 shots (70 percent), but Head-Royce's pressure and work on the glass kept the visitors from getting many attempts. The Jayhawks outrebounded Redwood Christian 36-9, recorded 17 steals and scored 12 points off turnovers. As a result, they took 58 shots to the visitors' 23. Head-Royce shot 48 percent (28 of 58), made 6 of 17 from 3-point range and 11 of 16 at the line, and had 13 assists. Redwood Christian made 11 of 26 free throws.
The win completed a season sweep of Redwood Christian after Head-Royce won the first meeting 76-33 at home on Jan. 25. The Jayhawks are 12-5 and have won six straight.