OAKLAND, Calif. St. Joseph Notre Dame JV turned 24 Head-Royce turnovers and a 10-0 edge in second-chance points into a 61-43 win over the Head-Royce boys junior varsity on Thursday. The Jayhawks fell to 8-4.
Head-Royce came out firing after St. Joseph Notre Dame scored the first four points. Makaio Popp, Owen Sunwoo and Jayan Shah hit 3-pointers on three straight trips, and Popp added another on a feed from Sunwoo. That 12-0 run put the Jayhawks ahead 12-4, their biggest lead of the game. St. Joseph Notre Dame answered with an 8-0 run, a 3-pointer followed by five straight free throws, to tie the score at 12. Kian Patel restored the lead with a 3-pointer and a basket on back-to-back possessions, both assisted by John Wheeler, for a 17-12 advantage.
The game turned on the next stretch. St. Joseph Notre Dame scored seven straight, tying it with a 3-pointer off a turnover and taking a 19-17 lead on a second-chance basket. Shah made two free throws to tie it at 19, the third and final tie of the game. St. Joseph Notre Dame then went on a 6-0 run that included two more second-chance baskets for a 25-19 lead, and Head-Royce never pulled even again.
The Jayhawks stayed within reach for a while. Adagio Williams scored off a turnover on a pass from Sunwoo to make it 27-23, and Popp's basket off a turnover cut the gap to 29-25. St. Joseph Notre Dame answered with six straight points for a 35-25 lead, and the margin kept growing. It reached 21 points at 61-40 before Sunwoo's 3-pointer, assisted by Patel, closed the scoring.
Popp and Azaan Zaka shared the team lead with 11 points each. Popp went 3 of 8 from the field, including 2 of 5 from 3-point range, and made all three of his free throws. Zaka scored all 11 of his points off the bench after St. Joseph Notre Dame took the lead for good, going 5 of 6 at the line and grabbing four rebounds. Sunwoo added six points and a team-high four assists. Williams had four steals and six rebounds, and Wheeler also pulled down six rebounds. Patel scored five points on 2-of-3 shooting.
The numbers favored the visitors. Head-Royce shot 12 of 43 (27.9 percent) from the field and 6 of 18 from 3-point range, while St. Joseph Notre Dame shot 45.1 percent. St. Joseph Notre Dame forced 24 turnovers with 12 steals and scored 9 points off them, compared with 4 for the Jayhawks. The visitors outrebounded Head-Royce 32-25, including 9-6 on the offensive glass. Head-Royce made 13 of 17 free throws and got 13 points from its bench.
The loss dropped Head-Royce to 8-4 and completed a season sweep for St. Joseph Notre Dame, which also won the first meeting 54-43 in Oakland on Jan. 13.