By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
Highland Park hosted Kansas City-Sumner on Friday night for a Meadowlark Conference rematch of a 73-52 Scots loss to the Sabres earlier this season.
JoJo Kingannon led three Highland Park players in double figures with a game-high 21 points in Friday's 69-56 home win over KC-Sumner. [File photo/TSN]
And the Scots got their revenge in resounding fashion, rolling to a 69-56 Senior Night win.
Highland Park honored three seniors before tipoff and then made sure the outcome would be different this time.
Sophomore Davion Anderson opened the scoring for the Scots, but Sumner answered quickly. Senior Jaxon Davis attacked the rim, converted an and-one opportunity, and gave the Sabres an early 3-2 lead.
Junior JoJo Kingcannon responded by driving to the basket to reclaim the advantage. Davis continued to pressure the defense, knocking down two free throws to briefly put Sumner back on top, but senior Treonte Mitchell sparked the Scots with a 7-0 run midway through the first quarter, pushing Highland Park ahead 11-5.
Sumner countered with a 5-0 run of its own to cut the deficit to one, 11-10. Both teams closed the quarter strong, with the Scots holding a slim 15-14 lead after one.
Highland Park seized control in the second quarter. Mitchell scored inside to extend the lead to 19-14, then buried a 3-pointer to make it 24-17. The Scots followed with a 7-0 run that broke the game open at 31-19.
Mitchell scored nine of his 13 points in the quarter, helping Highland Park outscore Sumner 26-11 and take a commanding 41-25 lead into halftime.
“It feels really good,'' Mitchell said. "My teammates trusted me, and it was very important to us to get this win on Senior Night.''
Highland Park coach Nate Wallace praised his senior’s resilience and leadership.
“Treonte is one of the most coachable kids I’ve ever had,'' Wallace said. "He’s really buying into his role. This is the second game in a row where he’s scored 15 or 13. When he produces like that, we’re a tough team. He missed his sophomore and junior years for unfortunate reasons, so to see him show up and stay bought in all year has been huge for us.”
Wallace also credited the team’s energy and ball movement in the decisive quarter.
“The second quarter was huge. It gave us the lead and comfort,” Wallace said. “We had several guys check in and contribute. It was an all-around team effort. I loved the ball movement. We’ve been working on shooting and conditioning, so to see shots fall wasn’t a surprise. The way they moved the ball was the most impressive part.”
Kingcannon caught fire to open the third quarter, knocking down back-to-back 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 21 points and a 47-28 lead.
Sumner battled back in the period, trimming the deficit to 55-43 by the end of the third.
Anderson opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, part of his 17-point performance. With 3:51 remaining and Highland Park leading 63-50, Kingcannon fouled out. The Scots turned to Anderson to manage the game down the stretch.
“Davion’s one of the best sophomores around,” Wallace said. “He comes from a strong basketball pedigree, so I’m never surprised when he plays well. He’s our leader for a reason and controls the game for us.”
Highland Park maintained control in the final minutes, edging Sumner 14-13 in the fourth quarter to secure the 13-point victory.
The Scots now turn their attention to two pivotal road games next week at KC-Harmon on Tuesday and KC-Washington on Friday, with postseason seeding implications at stake.
“Those two games are going to be huge,” Wallace said. “Washington is one of the better Meadowlark teams and a tough place to play. Harmon is in a strong rebuild. We’d love to finish the regular season the right way. How we close could impact our sub-state seeding.”
HIGHLAND PARK 69, KC-SUMNER 56
KC-Sumner 14 11 18 13 -- 56
Highland Park 15 26 14 14 -- 69
KC-Sumner (10-12, 6-5) -- Davis 5-8 3-4 13, Reese 3-7 2-3 9, Mathew 4-6 0-2 8, Knight 2-8 1-2 6, Huddleston 0-5 3-4 3, Ross 4-9 2-6 10, Wayne 3-8 0-0 7. Totals 21-51 11-21 56.
Highland Park (6-15, 6-4) -- Kingcannon 8-18 2-2 21, Anderson 6-12 3-6 17, Mitchell 5-7 2-6 13, Nance 1-5 2-2 4, L. McMillon 0-0 1-2 1, Montgomery 1-4 3-6 5, Drew 2-5 0-0 5, Z. McMillon 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 24-52, 13-24 69.
3-point goals -- Sumner 3 (Knight, Wayne, Reese), Highland Park 7 (Kingcannon 3, Anderson 2, Mitchell, Drew). Total fouls -- Sumner 22, Highland Park 19. Fouled out -- Mathew, Davis, Kingcannon.
