OAKLAND, Calif. Piedmont made 23 of 29 free throws and pulled away late to beat Head-Royce 59-52 on Saturday, dropping the Jayhawks to 6-3. Head-Royce made three more field goals than the visitors and hit 10 3-pointers, but Piedmont's 19-point edge at the line decided the game.
The game was tight from the start and had eight lead changes and five ties. Piedmont opened with a pair of free throws before Bryce Clepper answered with a 3-pointer, assisted by Nick Taubes, for a 3-2 lead. The Jayhawks led for most of the early going. Baskets by Sam Gulaid and Alex Jones, both set up by Clepper, made it 15-12, and a Micah Nyamuzuwe 3-pointer pushed the lead to 20-16. Piedmont answered with five straight points, capped by a 3-pointer off a turnover, to go ahead 21-20.
Head-Royce came right back with a 6-0 run. Nyamuzuwe hit a 3-pointer from Clepper, and Davis Lynch followed with a second-chance 3-pointer from Nyamuzuwe for a 26-21 lead, the Jayhawks' largest of the day. Piedmont scored the last six points of the half and led 27-26 at the break.
Piedmont scored first after halftime to stretch that run to 8-0, but Head-Royce kept answering. Nyamuzuwe tied the game at 29 with a 3-pointer and at 31 with a basket, and Taubes made a 3-pointer from Nyamuzuwe for a 34-33 lead. It was the Jayhawks' last lead. Piedmont scored the next nine points to lead 42-34. Jonah Greenberg made two free throws, and Nyamuzuwe hit a 3-pointer off a turnover, assisted by Jones, to cut the deficit to 42-39. Sanjay Ernst (47-44) and Taubes (52-49) each hit 3-pointers to get Head-Royce within three, but Piedmont answered with a 7-0 run, with two 3-pointers and a free throw, to take its largest lead at 59-49. Taubes made a second-chance 3-pointer, set up by Jones, for the final margin.
Nyamuzuwe led Head-Royce with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 4 of 10 from 3-point range, and added four rebounds and three assists. Taubes scored 13 points off the bench on 5-of-8 shooting, 3 of 5 from beyond the arc, and had two steals. Clepper finished with five points and a team-high eight assists, two more than Piedmont had as a team. Ernst, a freshman, grabbed a team-high five rebounds, and Jones added four points and two assists.
Head-Royce shot 36.5 percent (19 of 52) to 38.1 percent for Piedmont and held a 30-12 advantage in points from 3-point range. The Jayhawks also led 15-6 in assists and 8-2 in second-chance points, and their bench scored 24 points. The difference came at the line, where Head-Royce went 4 of 6 while committing 20 fouls to Piedmont's 16. Piedmont also won the rebounding battle 28-25 and held a 6-5 edge in points off turnovers, as Head-Royce committed 14 turnovers to Piedmont's 11.
Head-Royce is 6-3 after its second straight loss.
