OAKLAND, Calif. Tucker Peay scored off a turnover to break a 42-42 tie, and Head-Royce held on for a 44-42 win over College Prep on Tuesday night, improving to 11-10 on the season. The Jayhawks won by protecting the ball and controlling the glass: they forced 17 turnovers and outrebounded College Prep 31-21.
The game swung back and forth from the start, with seven lead changes and five ties. Tua Montoya opened the scoring with a basket off a turnover, and Jack Peay followed with a 3-pointer for a 5-2 lead. After College Prep went ahead 6-5, Montoya answered with a 3-pointer off another turnover, and Nick Taubes added a second-chance basket for a 10-7 edge. College Prep then scored six straight points to lead 13-10, but Tucker Peay put Head-Royce back in front at 14-13. Montoya's free throw tied it at 20-20, and Tucker Peay's 3-pointer knotted the game again at 25-25.
College Prep then scored the next five points, a basket and three free throws, to build its biggest lead at 30-25. Head-Royce responded with the run that decided the game. Jack Peay scored on a basket, a free throw and a layup off a turnover to tie it at 30-30. Ezra Goldfarb, assisted by Jack Peay, scored to give the Jayhawks the lead for good, and two more Jack Peay free throws finished a 9-0 run that made it 34-30.
After College Prep cut the margin to two, Head-Royce scored six straight points. Tucker Peay hit a jumper, Jack Peay made a free throw and Sanjay Ernst hit a 3-pointer, assisted by Jack Peay, for a 40-32 lead, the largest of the night. College Prep answered with five points off turnovers, and after Jack Peay made two free throws for a 42-37 lead, the visitors scored the next five points to tie it at 42-42. Montoya found Tucker Peay for a basket off a turnover, and it proved to be the last score of the game.
Jack Peay led Head-Royce with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including 6 of 7 from the free-throw line, and grabbed nine rebounds, five on the offensive end. Tucker Peay added 11 points, nine rebounds, a steal and a block. Montoya scored seven points with two assists and no turnovers, and Ernst made his only shot, a 3-pointer, and had two steals off the bench.
The Jayhawks shot 32 percent (16 of 50) from the field, below College Prep's 36.6 percent (15 of 41), but made up the difference elsewhere. Head-Royce committed 10 turnovers to College Prep's 17 and outscored the visitors 9-7 in points off turnovers. Head-Royce had 11 offensive rebounds to College Prep's three, which led to a 6-2 edge in second-chance points. Each team made eight free throws and four 3-pointers.
Head-Royce (11-10) returns home to host Bentley on Wednesday, Feb. 11.