OAKLAND, Calif. Albany shot 65.4 percent from the field and used a 16-0 first-half run to beat Head-Royce 48-38 on Sunday. The loss dropped the Jayhawks to 7-4.
Head-Royce scored first on two free throws by Jack Peay. Albany took the lead with a 3-pointer, but Nick Taubes answered with a 3-pointer off a turnover, assisted by Loryan Boyette-Tindall, and then made a free throw for a 6-3 lead. That was the largest lead of the day for Head-Royce. Albany kept it close, and a basket by Taubes made it 10-7.
The game turned from there. Albany scored a second-chance basket and made a free throw to tie the game at 10, then kept scoring. Albany made three 3-pointers during a 16-0 run that built a 23-10 lead. Peay ended the drought with a second-chance basket and scored all seven Head-Royce points in the next stretch, but Albany went into halftime ahead 28-19 after two free throws by Sanjay Ernst.
Albany opened the second half with two free throws and a basket off a turnover to lead 32-19. Head-Royce answered with an 8-2 run. Peay and Boyette-Tindall each made two free throws, Taubes added a basket and Boyette-Tindall scored off a turnover to cut the deficit to 34-27. The Jayhawks got within seven points twice more, at 36-29 and 38-31, before an Albany 3-pointer made it 41-31. Head-Royce did not get closer than eight points after that. Boyette-Tindall scored a basket and made a free throw to make it 46-38, and Albany scored the game's last basket.
Peay led Head-Royce with 15 points. He made all nine of his free throws, shot 3 of 6 from the field and had four rebounds, three of them offensive. Taubes scored 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, made one 3-pointer and went 3 for 3 at the line, with an assist and a steal. Boyette-Tindall had seven points and a team-high three steals. Ernst added four points, making his only field goal attempt and both free throws.
Head-Royce went 17 for 17 from the free throw line, which accounted for 17 of its 38 points, but Albany had the better of the play from the field. Albany shot 17 of 26, made 6 of 8 from 3-point range and had 10 assists. The Jayhawks shot 10 of 25 (40 percent) and made 1 of 9 from beyond the arc. Albany also outrebounded Head-Royce 12-7. The Jayhawks forced eight turnovers and committed only four, which gave them a 5-2 edge in points off turnovers. Each team scored four second-chance points, and the Head-Royce bench did not score.
Head-Royce fell to 7-4 on the season with the loss, its first after a 7-3 start.