By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
For three quarters Tuesday night, Shawnee Heights' boys flirted with a semifinal collapse until a freshman put the T-Birds on his back and ensured they would survive their home sub-state match with De Soto, 49-37.
When his team needed someone to step up, freshman Quincy Dixon ripped off 13-straight points to make sure that Shawnee Heights, and retiring coach Ken Darting, would play again Friday.
Shawnee Heights freshman Quincy Dixon scored a game-high 19 points in Tuesday's 49-37 sub-state win over De Soto. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
With Shawnee Heights clinging to a 33-31 lead, Dixon converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 5.4 seconds left in the third period. The freshman continued that theme, scoring two more three-point plays in the fourth quarter. Then Dixon hit four consecutive free throws to seal the win. Dixon hit 7-7 free throws on the night while the rest of the team hit just 6-14.
“From Day 1, Quincy’s been a senior-plus,” Darting said. “He’s the guy that takes over when nobody’s scoring. If he doesn’t have to score, he’ll distribute. He’s a mature basketball player.”
“Whatever my team needs me to be, I’ll be,” Dixon said. “If I need to be the leader, if I need to pick guys up, or if I need to follow the seniors, or if I need to lead the seniors, I’ll do whatever for my team to win.”
The fourth-seeded T-Birds got all they wanted from the 13 seed. Shawnee Heights came out sluggish, shot poorly and turned the ball over often in the first half. The home team trailed 14-10 after one period and 25-21 at the half. In the first half, Shawnee Heights hit just 8-23 attempts while allowing the Wildcats to shoot 10-17 from the field.
“In practice and in every other game, we always talk about adversity and how we’re going to bounce back, don’t let it get in our heads,” Dixon said. “Tonight, we had adversity, we bounced back. We just played together, we all stepped up and I think we all did our part.”
The T-Birds locked in at the defensive end, holding De Soto to just six points in the third period, and just six more in the fourth. That allowed Dixon’s 13-point spree to turn the tables.
“Give De Soto a lot of credit,” Darting said. “The first half, we were turning the ball over. It was lethargic, but (the Wildcats) are really good defensively. They’re really fundamentally sound. They make you play. I love playing De Soto because, I don’t care how short on talent they are, they’re fundamentally good.
“Second half, we started driving the ball. They were mixing zone and man and kind of causing indecision. So, people just stand and dribble or pass it. We talked about at halftime, ‘You’ve got to get to the paint. Even if you don’t get a shot, then they’ve got to cover and now somebody else gets a shot.’ ”
Senior Ja'Veon Alston scored 13 points in Shawnee Heights' 49-37 win over De Soto. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Dixon led the T-Birds with 19, followed by Ja’Veon Alston with 13. Alston’s eight first-quarter points helped keep Shawnee Heights within shouting distance until it could right the ship.
On Friday, the T-Birds will face Leavenworth, a 61-60 upset winner at St. James Academy, in a sub-state final at Shawnee Heights.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 49, DE SOTO 37
De Soto 14 11 6 6 -- 37
Shawnee Heights 10 11 15 13 -- 49
De Soto (7-16) – Patterson 2-6 0-0 4, Dickinson 2-5 0-0 4, Narayan 3-6 2-2 8, Waite 3-5 1-2 7, Serna 0-3 0-0 0, Salas 3-7 0-0 8, Brady 2-2 0-1 4, Krier 0-0 0-0 0, Rapp 0-1 2-2 2, Newton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-37 5-6 37.
Shawnee Heights (16-8) – Alston 5-7 1-6 13, Cook 2-4 0-0 6, Ross 2-11 5-6 9, Scott 0-3 0-2 0, Dixon 6-16 7-7 19, Halloran 1-1 0-0 2, Lee 0-0 0-0 0, Terrell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-42 13-21 49.
3-point goals – De Soto 2 (Salas 2), Shawnee Heights 4 (Alston 2, Cook 2). Total fouls – De Soto 17, Shawnee Heights 12. Fouled out – Scott. Technical fouls – none.
