By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
After Shawnee Heights rolled out a 29-point victory over Topeka West in late December, few would have expected it to happen again, least of all T-Birds coach Ken Darting.
Senior Jaret Sanchez scored 26 points Friday night as Shawnee Heights rolled to a 66-48 home UKC win over Topeka West. [File photo/TSN]
But after holding the Chargers to just five points in the second period, another blowout was on. The T-Birds built a 32-point lead in the third period and held on to win 66-48 Friday at Shawnee Heights.
“I told our team…that they could beat us by 29 tonight,” Darting said of the Chargers. “Not because we’re not playing good. That’s how scary they are.”
The T-Birds combined lock-down defense and better than 50 percent shooting to build the big lead. With the clock running in the fourth period, they allowed the Chargers to cut the final point spread to 18 points. The final score was misleading.
Senior Jaret Sanchez put the T-Birds on his back in the second period, scoring 12 of the team’s 16 points. Sanchez single-handedly outscored the Chargers 21-19 in the first half. He finished with 26.
“He’s a unique player, and a unique kid, period,” Darting said of the 6-foot-6 Sanchez. “When Jaret doesn’t play selfish, but lets the game come to him, he’s a top-five player in the state. What he does so well is – I call it ‘hunting.’ Every second, he’s looking for who’s not covering what area. Jaret plays to the defender and to the open spot on the floor. He can score getting grabbed in (the paint) or he can score from 25 feet.”
Sanchez credited Darting’s scouting report and strategy for the win over Topeka West, the sixth-ranked team in Class 5A according to the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association.
“The last two days, we had lengthy practices, going through everything, scouting against them,” Sanchez said. “We knew what we needed to do, and we played beautiful rotation defense, helping each other, knowing that we’ve got somebody there going to get our back. That was the best defense we’ve played all season.”
“I don’t look at five opponents a year on film,” Darting said. “I believe that we play a certain way, and we’re going to play that, and if it ain’t good enough, we’re going to get beat. But I saw probably four games of West on TV, so we had a Plan A, B and C in place. We knew that they were coming in with a (desire) to beat us by 30. So, we truly prepared for that.”
Injuries prevented Darting from doing a lot of substituting. Six T-Birds got nearly all the minutes in the game. Shawnee Heights got 11 points from Deacon Pomeroy, eight each from Cam Ross and Ontarius Emmot, seven from Da’Quan Lee and six from JaiMarion Cook.
“This shows that we’re one of the top three, top two teams in the state,” Sanchez said. “We knew that we could be that, but we started believing it tonight, that we can go out there and compete with the best.”
Topeka West was led in scoring by Malakyah Duncan with 20 and Kamoni Ford with 11. The Chargers fell to 8-4 on the year.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS BOYS 66, TOPEKA WEST 48
Topeka West 14 5 11 18 -- 48
Shawnee Heights 21 16 25 4 -- 66
Topeka West (8-4, 7-3) – Ford 5-8 0-0 11, Duncan 7-12 2-2 20, Paul 1-8 2-4 5, Chambers 5-7 0-0 10, Foy 0-2 0-0 0, Traylor 0-6 2-7 2, Lassiter 0-0 0-0 0, Munganga 0-1 0-0 0, Webb 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-43 7-15 48.
Shawnee Heights (10-2, 6-2) – Cook 2-5 0-0 6, Pomeroy 4-6 0-0 11, Sanchez 10-17 2-3 26, Ross 3-7 2-2 8, Emmot 3-6 0-0 8, Lee 3-3 1-3 7, Ledell 0-0 0-0 0, Doby 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 25-45 5-8 66.
3-point goals – Topeka West 5 (Duncan 3, Ford 1, Paul 1), Shawnee Heights 11 (Sanchez 4, Pomeroy 3, Emmot 2, Cook 2). Total fouls – Topeka West 14, Shawnee Heights 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
