By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
By his own admission, Shawnee Heights boys basketball coach Ken Darting has never been overly quick to pass out compliments.
Senior Brennon Dodge scored a game-high 17 points in Shawnee Heights' 59-41 UKC romp past Basehor-Linwood. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But given his high standards, the Hall of Fame coach was almost effusive in his praise of his No. 9-ranked (Class 5A) T-Birds after Tuesday's 59-41 United Kansas Conference home romp past Basehor-Linwood, Heights' 10th win over its past 11 games.
"You don't hear me say this very often, but I'm really, truly pleased,'' Darting said. "We've got a ways to go, but we're playing in the best 5A league in the state. We're going to have three or four or our teams in the state tournament and we've beat all of them except Piper so we're playing good and you can't beat that.''
Now 10-3 overall and 7-2 in the UKC, Shawnee Heights trailed Basehor-Linwood (6-7, 4-6) 16-14 at the end of the first quarter and the Bobcats led by a slight margin much of the second quarter before the T-Birds used a 15-3 run at the end of the second quarer and start of the third to take control and never looked back.
Shawnee Heights went on to lead by 20 points in the third stanza and 21 in the fourth.
"It was really solid,'' Darting said. "That's what we're doing right now that's really good. Early (in the season) we'd get 10 points in two minutes and then don't score for five minutes. Now we're just two, two, two. Our maturity's growing so much and our accountability, which we hadn't had, so that's a big deal.''
Sophomore Da'Quan Lee (15) grabs a rebound in Shawnee Heights' 59-41 UKC win over Basehor-Linwood Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights senior Jayden Moore hits a 3-pointer in the T-Birds' 59-41 UKC win over Basehor-Linwood. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Brennon Dodge led the T-Birds with a game-high 17 points while juniors Deacon Pomeroy and Jaret Sanchez added 10 points apiece and five other players scored between two and seven points.
While Shawnee Heights was good on offense, the T-Birds were even better on the defensive end, limiting Basehor-Linwood to 25 points over the final three quarters, including 7 and 4-point quarters.
"We're pretty solid (on offense) and defensively we're great,'' Darting said. "There's no getting around it, we're absolutely great.''
Juniors Breckin McBride and Micah Gibbs scored nine points apiece for Basehor-Linwood.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 59, BASEHOR-LINWOOD 41
Basehor-Linwood 16 7 14 4 -- 41
Shawnee Heights 14 14 23 8 -- 59
Basehor-Linwood (6-7, 4-6) -- Hinkle 1-2 0-0 2, Scott 3-6 0-0 6, McBride 4-10 0-0 9, Gibbs 3-8 3-5 9, Brown 2-4 2-6 6, Wilson 3-4 1-4 7, Hofer 0-3 0-0 0, Morrison 1-2 0-0 2, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Young 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-40 6-15 41.
Shawnee Heights (10-3, 7-2)-- Pomeroy 2-4 5-6 10, D. Sanchez 2-5 0-0 6, Dodge 6-13 4-7 17, J. Sanchez 2-7 5-6 10, Holly 0-1 0-0 0, Emmot 2-4 2-3 7, Ross 1-4 0-0 2, Lee 2-4 0-0 4, Moore 1-1 0-0 3, Alston 0-1 0-0 0, Parker 0-1 0-0 0, Delgado 0-0 0-0 0, Scott 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-45 16-22 59.
3-point goals -- Basehor-Linwood 1 (McBride), Shawnee Heights 7 (D. Sanchez 2, Pomeroy, Dodge, J. Sanchez, Emmot, Moore). Total fouls -- Basehor-Linwood 17, Shawnee Heights 17. Fouled out -- Wilson. Technical foul -- none.
