By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
In the regular-season finale, Shawnee Heights boys basketball exacted revenge for a loss at Seaman by trouncing the Vikings 70-49 Friday night at Shawnee Heights.
Shawnee Heights senior Deacon Pomeroy (1) scored a game-high 21 points in Friday's 70-49 win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights senior Jaret Sanchez (3) scored 19 points in Friday's 70-49 win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights propelled itself into the postseason, winning an intense – at times chippy – game against its United Kansas Conference rival. The T-Birds finished the regular season 17-3, 13-3 in the conference.
The outcome was dramatically different from when the T-Birds lost 68-66 at Seaman Feb 11. But the intensity was the same.
“We had literally a street fight out there,” Shawnee Heights coach Ken Darting said. “So, we spent all week knocking each other into the stands, knocking people down. We decided we were going to quit being the sweetheart of the block. We fought back well.
“Games like this, we trade punches, we trade punches, and then somebody gets a couple of jabs in and it gets away a little bit. But it’s never as bad as the score indicates.”
Seaman clung to a slim lead after the first period. It looked like they gained a big advantage when Shawnee Heights senior Jaret Sanchez picked up his third foul with 4:33 left in the second period. But the T-Birds rallied without their leading scorer, outscoring the Vikings 18-5 in the period.
Shawnee Heights senior Deacon Pomeroy stepped into the void and scored 21 points, 19 after Sanchez’ third foul.
“Deacon carried us. He took over,” Darting said. “He really physically got tough, made shots, rebounded, blocked shots. That’s what you get when you’ve got kids of great character.”
“I always have that team-first mentality,” Pomeroy said. “So, if I’m needed to score, I’ll score. If I don’t need to score, I’ll pass, rebound, whatever. So, I needed to score in that moment and give our guys the momentum back.”
While the Shawnee Heights’ offense took off from that point, it was the defense of Ja’Veon Alston that perhaps turned the game around. Seaman’s KaeVon Bonner tallied nine points in the first period. Alston locked in on Bonner at that point and held him to just two more points.
“He’s the most underrated defender, most underrated player in the conference,” Pomeroy said of Alston. “(Bonner) is good, but Ja’Veon, not many people are going to get by him. He did great.”
Pomeroy enjoyed getting some revenge in the final regular season game of his career.
“It was a back-and-forth game at Seaman. We knew that wasn’t us,” Pomeroy said. “They’re a good team. But we got punched, and we came back with that chip on our shoulder and we punched back.”
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS BOYS 70, SEAMAN 49
Seaman 15 5 10 19 -- 49
Shawnee Heights 18 18 20 -- 70
Seaman (13-7, 10-6) – Finley 6-11 0-0 14, Bonner 2-13 5-6 11, Wiltz 0-5 0-0 0, Smith 1-5 6-8 8, McConnaughey 2-4 0-0 4, Brian 1-7 2-2 4, Ralph 1-2 0-0 2, Zuniga 0-0 0-0 0, Scholes 0-1 4-4 4, Becker 1-1 0-0 2, Esser 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-49 17-20 49.
Shawnee Heights (17-3, 13-3) – Pomeroy 8-13 2-3 21, Sanchez 6-12 5-6 19, Alston 3-5 0-0 7, Emmot 3-12 0-0 7, Ledell 1-2 0-0 3, Cook 1-3 0-0 3, Ross 2-4 2-4 6, Lee 2-2 0-0 4, Wallace 0-0 0-0 0, Doby 0-1 0-0 0, Campbell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-54 9-13 70.
3-point goals – Seaman 4 (Finley 2, Bonner 2), Shawnee Heights 9 (Pomeroy 3, Sanchez 2, Alston 1, Emmot 1, Ledell 1, Cook 1). Total fouls – Seaman 16, Shawnee Heights 18. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – Darting, Cook.
