By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Highland Park's boys basketball team put together a heck of a comeback Wednesday night after falling behind by 11 points in the second quarter and by 15 in the third, but it wasn't quite enough as St. James Academy held off the Scots for a 67-59 Class 5A sub-state semifinal road win.
St. James, which improved to 11-9, looked to be on the verge of turning the game into a rout when it opened up a 44-29 advantage midway through the third quarter, but 12-8 Highland Park cut its deficit to 8 points (48-40) by the end of the period and then opened the fourth with back-to-back 3-pointers from Jahi Peppers and Juan'Tario Roberts to get within 2 points with 7:15 remaining.
Moments later the Scots missed a shot with a chance to take the lead and the Thunder held on to advance to Saturday's sub-state championship game at De Soto, a 61-41 winner over Shawnee Heights.
"It was good to see that we made some really big plays at the right times,'' St. James Academy coach Stan Dohm said.
While obviously disappointed with the loss, Highland Park coach Michael Williams was proud of the fight his team showed.
"That been this team over the course of this season and over the course of the last two or three years,'' said Williams, whose Scots advanced to the 5A state tournament a year ago. "They've never given up and they've given themselves chances down the stretch to be in games and today was another example of that.
Highland Park's Juan 'Tario Roberts slips in for a basket against St James Academy. ( Photo by Rex Wolf TSN )"They gave their all to the program.''
St. James Academy, which competes in arguably the toughest league in the state (Eastern Kansas), won for the sixth time over its last seven games and Dohm said there's no doubt his team's tough schedule got it prepared for postseason, playing the likes of 6A state powers Blue Valley Northwest and Blue Valley North and 4A power Bishop Miege.
"Our league is always good, but it was really good this year and to finish the regular season the way we did kind of propelled us and gave us some momentum, knowing that we had been in a bunch of close games and pulled some of them out for the first time in a while,'' Dohm said. "That just kind of breeded confidence in our guys.''
Junior Garrett Lynch came off the bench to register game-highs of 19 points and 8 rebounds for St. James while junior Sam Somerhalder added 14 points and junior Tyler Claiborne and sophomore Brian Hawthorne scored 13 apiece.
Roberts, a junior, led Highland Park with 17 points, including three 3-pointers while senior CJ Powell added 16 points and 7 rebounds and senior Peppers 14 points with four 3s.
ST. JAMES ACADEMY BOYS 67, HIGHLAND PARK 59
St. James 11 18 19 19 -- 67
Highland Park 14 9 17 19 -- 59
St. James Academy (11-9) -- Claiborne 4-7 3-4 13, Cahill 2-8 0-2 5, Somerhalder 7-8 0-0 14, McKnight 0-1 0-0 0, Hawthorne 5-9 2-2 13, Lynch 8-9 3-5 19, Kenagy 0-1 0-0 0, McIntyre 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 27-44 8-13 67.
Highland Park (12-8) -- Powell 8-16 0-0 16, Richardson 0-3 0-0 0, Daniels 1-5 1-2 3, Kingcannon 3-6 0-0 9, Roberts 6-13 2-2 17, Peppers 4-12 2-2 14, Simms 0-1 0-0 0, Prosper 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-56 5-6 59.
3-point goals -- St. James Academy 5 (Claiborne 2, Cahill, Hawthorne, McIntyre), Highland Park 10 (Peppers 4, Kingcannon 3, Roberts 3). Total fouls -- St. James Academy 12, Highland Park 15. Fouled out -- none.
