OAKLAND, Calif. Head-Royce forced 19 turnovers and turned them into 16 points as the Jayhawks beat Stevenson 65-54 at home Saturday. Head-Royce improved to 5-3 on the season.
Stevenson scored first on a basket off a turnover, and that 2-0 edge was its only lead of the game. Jack Peay tied it at 2. Nick Taubes and Tucker Peay then scored off Stevenson turnovers, the second on a feed from Tua Montoya, to finish a 6-0 run. Taubes followed with a 3-pointer from Jack Peay for a 9-3 lead. After a Stevenson basket, the Jayhawks scored nine straight points. Idan Benharush started it with a second-chance basket, Jack Peay and Taubes each scored off turnovers, and Sanjay Ernst hit a 3-pointer off the bench on an assist from Taubes to make it 18-5.
Stevenson did not get closer than 10 points the rest of the way. Leading 25-15, Head-Royce hit three straight 3-pointers, from Loryan Boyette-Tindall, Taubes and Jack Peay, for a 34-15 lead, its biggest of the game. Stevenson answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the gap to 34-21 and later got within 41-31 on three straight free throws. Montoya then set up two more 3-pointers, from Jack Peay and from Benharush off a turnover, to push the lead back to 47-31.
The Jayhawks kept Stevenson at a distance in the closing stretch. Benharush hit a 3-pointer and Tucker Peay added a basket for a 56-38 lead, and Tucker Peay later hit a 3-pointer from Taubes to make it 59-42. Stevenson outscored Head-Royce 7-1 over the next stretch to get within 60-49, but Benharush and Taubes answered with second-chance baskets, and Taubes' basket on an assist from Montoya made it 65-52. Stevenson closed the scoring with two free throws.
Jack Peay led Head-Royce with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range, and added eight rebounds, a steal and a block without a turnover. Benharush, a freshman, scored 14 points and made 3 of 7 3-point attempts, and all three of his rebounds came on the offensive glass. Taubes scored 12 points and had five assists. Tucker Peay added nine points, six rebounds and two steals, and Montoya had a team-high seven assists. Ernst and Boyette-Tindall each made their only shot of the game, a 3-pointer.
Turnovers decided the game. Head-Royce committed only seven and outscored Stevenson 16-2 in points off turnovers. The Jayhawks shot 24 of 56 (43 percent), made 11 of 32 3-point attempts and had 16 assists on their 24 field goals, twice as many as Stevenson's eight. Stevenson won the rebounding battle 26-24, but Head-Royce had nine offensive rebounds to Stevenson's five and a 6-2 edge in second-chance points. Stevenson shot 40 percent from the field and made 12 of 20 free throws. The Jayhawks' bench scored eight points.
Head-Royce, now 5-3, hosts College Prep on Friday, Jan. 16.
