By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
For the first three quarters, Tuesday wasn't one of Highland Park guard Juan'Tario Roberts' better games.
But the senior star came to life when Highland Park needed him the most, scoring 17 of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Scots outlasted Hayden for a 60-51 OT Centennial League win at Highland Park.
"Really my coaches just kept coaching me up and just kept telling me to keep going, keep shooting and not to worry about the missed shots,'' Roberts said. "Basically it was just sticking through and toughing it out.
"I can never stop shooting just because I'm having a bad game.''
Highland Park senior Juan'Tario Roberts scored a game-high 23 points, including 10 in overtime, as the Scots took a 60-51 win over Hayden. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Roberts scored six points in the first half but did not score in the third quarter before catching fire the rest of the way as Highland Park improved to 2-0 overall and in the Centennial League.
Roberts scored seven points in the fourth quarter and 10 of Highland Park's 11 points in overtime as the Scots outscored the Wildcats (0-1, 0-1) 11-2 in the extra session.
Tuesday's game remained close throughout, with Hayden leading 17-16 at the end of the opening quarter and Highland Park rallying late for a 28-23 halftime advantage.
Highland Park led by seven early in the third quarter but Highland Park rallied to take a 37-36 lead at the start of the fourth quarter on a free throw from sophomore Jacob Padilla.
There were three ties in the fourth quarter, including a 49-all deadlock at the end of regulation.
There was one last tie at 51 before Highland Park ran off the final nine points of the overtime.
In addition to Roberts' 23 points Highland Park got 18 points and four 3-pointers from junior Jahmir Kingcannon and 11 points and 11 rebounds from junior Ketraleus Aldridge.
Senior Trent Duffey led a balanced Hayden attack with 12 points while junior Joe Otting had 10, Padilla nine, senior Peyton Barlett eight and junior Jaker Muller seven points
The overtime loss put a damper on Dwayne Paul's debut as Hayden's head coach, but Paul as very happy with the effort his Wildcats put out.
"I'm proud of the way we battled,'' Paul said. "We fought back from some adversity and that's a very good Highland Park team. We had a chance at the end (of regulation) to win it and it could have gone either way.
"If we play that hard every game, the shots will fall.''
HIGHLAND PARK BOYS 60, HAYDEN 51 (OT)
Hayden 17 6 14 12 2 -- 51
Highland Park 16 12 8 13 11 -- 60
Hayder (0-1, 0-1) -- Padilla 3-6 1-2 9, Barlett 3-5 0-0 8, Muller 2-7 2-2 7, Duffey 4-13 3-4 12, Otting 5-8 0-5 10, Gorman 1-5 0-0 3, Rice 1-1 0-0 2, Ham 0-1 0-0 0, Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Alfonsi 0-0 0-0 0. Total 19-44 6-13 51.
Highland Park (2-0, 2-0) -- Adams 1-1 1-2 3, Aldridge 4-10 2-4 11, Richardson 0-2 1-2 1, Kingcannon 7-11 0-0 18, Roberts 8-17 7-11 23, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Clemmons 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 1-1 2-4 4. Totals 21-42 13-23 60.
3-point goals -- Hayden 7 (Padilla 2, Bartlett 2, Muller, Duffey, Gorman), Highland Park 5 (Kingcannon 4, Aldridge) Total fouls -- Hayden 19, Highland Park 12. Fouled out -- Otting.
