By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
Coming off a loss to city rival Topeka High four days earlier, Highland Park's boys bounced back with a big 60-32 Meadowlark Conference win over visiting Kansas City- Schlagle Tuesday night.
The Scots would get off to a hot start, with junior JoJo Kingcannon scoring the team's first 8 points to give his team an 8-4 lead early in the first quarter.
Schlagle would answer with a 6-0 run of their own before the Scots would let them know what the nickname Runnin Scots is all about as they would go on a 25-2 run and go into halftime with a commanding 35-13 lead.
“I thought we were out of position several times in the first quarter. We gave them the lead early on just because we weren’t in rotations the right way,'' Highland Park coach Nate Wallace said. "Once we tightened up, we started buying into sharing the ball, we started sharing it pretty well and pretty often, and it gave us a lot of opportunities to get good looks.”
The third quarter would see the Stallions outscore the Scots 14-9 and leave the Scots with a 44-27 lead going into the fourth.
“We didn’t want to say too much to them coaching wise in the third because we wanted them to figure it out,'' Wallace said. "There is a lot of learning lessons that have to be done, I feel like that was a good, comfortable area to let them try to figure it out and try to get recorrected by themselves, because I am a firm believer in player-led groups, and the one big thing about being a player-led group is you got to take ownership.
"So the third quarter, I sat back and wanted to see and observe a little more if they were going to communicate, if they were going to notice, if the other team was going on a run or not, were they going to slow down, just trying to help grow their basketball IQ’s. And then we talked about it at the end of the quarter, and I feel like we made a stronger force.”
The Scots would outscore the Stallions 16-5 in the fourth to beat the Stallions by 28 points.
The Scots would get huge nights from Kingcannon and sophomore Davion Anderson as Kingcannon would lead all scorers with 21 points on 8-11 shooting and three 3s.
“I put a lot on his plate, I put a lot on his shoulders, he’s been bought in since Day 1,'' Wallace said. "He would do two a days at football and then come into the gym and do basketball. He’s been on varsity for three years now with me being an assistant the last two years.
"I am a firm believer in JoJo, he was a huge part of us last year, and I always knew he can score, and he’s scoring efficiently and that’s what I look for.”
Anderson backed Kingcannon with 15 points, including three 3-pointers.
“I knew from the jump when I got the job and looking at the roster, I was like he is my point guard,'' Wallace said of Anderson. "I told him, 'It is yours to lose.' He’s showing up. He’s staying confident. I tell him all the time as a sophomore, you’re going to make mistakes and I am going to live through your mistakes as a sophomore.”
The Scots have a huge league matchup on Friday as league rival and Class 4A No. 2 and 8-0 Atchison will make the hour trip south to Topeka to face the Scots in a game that has determined the League championship since the Scots entered the league.
“That’s a big breakfast is what we call it,'' Wallace said. "They've got all that you want, They've got bigs, they've got guards, they've got bigger wings and they've got shooters. We are going to stay true to our defensive principles. We are going to make it hard on them and play Runnin Scot basketball, push our way through and see what the outcome is in the fourth quarter.”
HIGHLAND PARK 60, KC-SCHLAGLE 32
KC-Schlagle 11 2 14 5 -- 32
Highland Park 16 19 9 16 -- 60
KC-Schlagle (2-5 1-1) -- Dyer 7-11 1-4 16, White 3-11 2-4 8, Howard 1-3 0-0 3, Frazier 1-1 0-0 2, Jones 0-6 0-2 0, Brown 0-2 2-2 2, Johnson 0-0 1-2 1, Evans 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-35 6-14 32.
Highland Park (2-4 2-0) -- Kingcannon 8-11 2-2 21, Anderson 6-12 0-0 15, Montgomery 3-6 0-0 7, Mitchell 3-5 0-0 7, Drew 2-4 0-0 6, Pollard 1-3 0-2 2, Smith 1-5 0-0 2, Nance 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 24-47 2-6 60. 3-point goals — Schlagle 2 (Howard, Dyer) Highland Park 10 ( Kingcannon 3, Anderson 3, Drew 2, Montgomery, Mitchell) Total Fouls -- Schlagle 12, Highland Park 13.
