By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
You only get one chance to make a first impression and the No. 2 ranked Highland Park boys (3-0, 1-0) certainly made one in a 95-42 win over Wyandotte (1-5, 1-2) in the Scots' first Meadowlark Conference matchup ever.
“We are on a mission man, we got a group of guys that are determined … there was a message that we wanted to send to the Meadowlark league,” Highland Park coach Michael Williams said.
Highland Park seniors Tre Richarson (left) and Bo Aldridge combined for 36 points in Highland Park's Meadowlark Conference 95-42 win over KC-Wyandotte. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Williams wants his team to win every December game, but also wants to have the team prepared for games months in the future, even if it means changing things up sometimes.
“We can press and trap the whole game and probably get anything we want,” Williams said. “But for a group that has postseason aspirations … there’s things that we got to manufacture and work on in the half-court.”
For Williams, the half-court emphasis started on the defensive end. There was a slow start, with the Bulldogs, led by junior Kamari Murray’s 12 opening-quarter points, jumping out to a 16-11 lead.
“We didn’t want to trap, we didn’t want to double team or whatever, we wanted to stick in the defensive principles in the halfcourt and you could see the score kind of open up a bit,” Williams said. “We are restricting you a little bit, but there is a part of the game that we got to grow at and be better.”
The improvements showed up soon after, with the Scots closing the quarter on an 11-0 run to lead 22-16 after one.
Highland Park didn’t look back, outscoring the Bulldogs 30-11 in the second quarter, with a 20-3 run in the middle part.
After leading 52-25 at halftime the Scots continued to grow the lead, with full-court pressure that led to several fast-break finishes for the home team.
Senior Tre Richardson went on a 7-0 run himself to begin a third quarter where his team would outscore Wyandotte, 26-14.
Even with a fourth-quarter running clock Highland Park still put up 17 points while allowing only three, giving them the 53-point, 95-42 win.
Four players scored at least 12 points, and eight scored at least five for Highland Park in an overall well-balanced game offensively.
“Depth is one thing but we are rolling guys out there, they may be a seventh, eighth, ninth man but those guys can play. That’s where it goes to another level,” Williams said.
Richardson led all scorers with 21 points, senior Bo Aldridge had 15, sophomore Jamon Wilson had 13 off the bench and senior Jahmir Kingcannon had 12, including eight in the first.
Murray finished with 19 for the Bulldogs, with senior Jakeem Hall the second-leading scorer with nine.
The Scots head into the holiday break undefeated for a second straight year and will look to stay just as sharp coming out of it.
“We had three games before Christmas, we wanted a few more but you can never have enough practice time,” Williams said.
Highland Park will pick up play in the new year on Jan. 6 on the road against Atchison.
HIGHLAND PARK BOYS 95, WYANDOTTE 42
Wyandotte 16 11 14 2 -- 42
Highland Park 22 30 26 17 -- 95
Wyandotte (1-5, 1-2) – Smith 0-4 0-2 0-0, Fletcher 0-0 0-0 0, Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Murray 7-10 2-4 19, Sims 1-2 0-0 2, Hicks 1-1 0-0 2, S. Carter 1-4 2-2 4, Cade 3-12 0-0 6, Hall 4-6 1-2 9, Holmes-Vaughn 0-2 0-0 0, J. Carter 0-0 0-0 0. Total 17-41 5-8 42.
Highland Park (3-0, 1-0) – Richardson 8-11 4-5 21, Aldridge 7-18 0-0 15, Kingcannon 4-9 4-4 12, Drew-Gregory 2-2 1-1 5, Williams 2-7 2-2 8, Taylor 5-8 3-5 13, Wilson 1-4 2-2 4, McMillon 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 2-2 2-2 6, Anderson 3-5 0-0 9, Davis 1-2 0-0 2. Total 34-68 18-21 95.
3-point goals – Highland Park 6 (Robinson 3, Williams 2, Aldridge 1), Wyandotte 3 (Murray 3). Total fouls – Highland Park 15, Wyandotte 17. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – Wyandotte (Hill).
