By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' boys came out of the holiday break hitting on all cylinders, knocking off Hayden 79-60 at Shawnee Heights Friday.
Junior Cam Ross led all scorers with 28 points in Friday's 79-60 Shawnee Heights boys win over Hayden. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
A game between two teams looking to improve their fortunes in the new year went the way of the T-Birds, who got 30 first-half points from the high-scoring tandem of junior Cam Ross and senior Ja’Veon Alston. The T-Birds jumped out to a 19-5 lead in the first four minutes. By halftime, Shawnee Heights had an 18-point lead, which it stretched to 23 points early in the third period.
“I feel like we came out pretty strong,” Ross said. “We were coming out after a loss (to Topeka West) and I feel like we played a little harder, rebounded a little more. We’re not a very tall team, so we’ve got to get to the rebound more and be team players instead of individuals. When everybody’s contributing, the team just plays well.”
Shawnee Heights got 28 points from Ross and 19 from Alston. JaiMarion Cook and Aiden Scott each contributed nine points, and Quincey Dixon added seven. The T-Birds hit 27-53 field goals and 15-19 free throws. But they scuffled enough in the second half to give coach Ken Darting plenty to work on.
“Anytime you talk about negatives, there’s a thousand positives,” Darting said. “As a coach, what I see is what needs fixin’. So, no matter what happens, I’m not totally happy. But all I’m saying is, if we don’t get it fixed, we won’t be as good as we can be.”
The T-Birds evened their record at 3-3. Each of the three losses – to Piper, Manhattan and Topeka West – was by a margin of five points or fewer.
“We’re doing things hard enough and good enough that we’ve gotta stop ‘almost’ beating (our opponents),” Darting said. “We’ve got to beat them. We’ve got ourselves in position (to win against good teams) and that’s quite an accomplishment. So, we’ve got a bunch of kids playing their rears off, but our margin of error is a lot smaller than a (Topeka) West or a Piper or a Seaman.”
Hayden dropped to 3-5 on the season. The Wildcats were led by Connor Hanika with 20 points, Mason Becker with 17 and Carter Compton with 11.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS BOYS 79, HAYDEN 60
Hayden 13 13 13 21 -- 60
Shawnee Heights 26 18 16 19 -- 79
Hayden (3-5) – Mitchell 1-7 5-7 7, Hanika 8-13 4-10 20, Mason Becker 5-9 4-5 17, Kidd 1-3 0-2 2, Compton 3-8 4-4 11, E. Tourtillott 0-3 0-0 0, Wolff 1-2 0-0 3, Masqueda 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony 0-0 0-0 0, Max Becker 0-0 0-0 0, B. Tourtillott 0-1 0-0 0, McDonald 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-45 17-28 60.
Shawnee Heights (3-3) – Alston 8-13 1-1 19, Cook 3-8 0-0 9, Ross 11-18 2-2 28, Scott 3-4 2-2 9, Dixon 0-5 7-11 7, Campbell 1-3 0-0 2, Lee 0-1 2-2 2, Doby 0-1 0-0 0, Halloran 1-1 1-1 3, Vega 0-0 0-0 0, Terrell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 27-53 15-19 79.
3-point goals – Hayden 5 (Becker 3, Compton 1, Wolff 1), Shawnee Heights 10 (Ross 4, Cook 3, Alston 2, Scott 1). Total fouls – Hayden 17, Shawnee Heights 21. Fouled out – Campbell. Technical fouls – None.
