By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Highland Park's boys basketball team is still searching for the consistency the Scots will need to become a Class 5A contender this season, and that issue crept up again Saturday in the second half of the Scots' Topeka Invitational Tournament seventh-place game against Topeka High.
Fortunately for Highland Park, the Scots had played well enough in a 33-16 first half to give them enough of a margin to hold off the Trojans for a 54-43 victory in High's auxiliary gym.
"(Inconsistency is) the most nerve-wracking thing I'm seeing right now,'' said Highland Park coach Michael Williams, whose Scots improved to 4-5. "The lack of consistency has been a thorn in the bush for us and it's been something that's consistently shown up.
"I think we showed 10 to 12 minutes or so minutes in the first half of that good kind of basketball that we're trying to get back to and because of that stretch right there, even though they kind of chipped into (the lead) a little bit, it gave us enough cushion to kind of stay over the hump.''
Highland Park was in command at the half after a 20-7 second quarter, but the 1-8 Trojans battled back to get within 7 points in the third quarter and got as close as 4 midway through the fourth before the Scots ended the game with an 8-1 run.
"Even in light of the inconsistency, even in light of being young but growing more gray hair than what I thought I should have right now, we are still trying to search for positives to build off of and hopefully this can give us some sort of momentum,'' Williams said.
Junior Juan'Tario Roberts led Highland Park with a game-high 19 points, including 4 3-pointers, while four other Scots scored at least seven points.
Topeka High got 17 points and 3 3-pointers from senior Jalen Smith.
HIGHLAND PARK 54, TOPEKA HIGH 43
Topeka High 9 7 18 9 -- 43
Highland Park 13 20 10 11 -- 54
Topeka High (1-8) -- Smith 7-11 0-4 17, McMillon 2-3 0-0 5, Wilson 2-5 1-4 5, Leesman 3-8 2-7 8, Canady 2-6 2-5 6, Kincade 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 1-2 0-0 2, Cameron 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-35 5-20 43.
Highland Park (4-5) -- Peppers 2-6 2-2 7, Powell 2-8 3-4 7, Daniels 1-6 5-6 7, Kingcannon 3-9 0-1 9, Roberts 5-8 5-8 19, Adams 0-3 0-0 0, Prosper 0-0 0-0 0, Simms 1-3 0-0 2, Richardson 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 15-45 15-20 54.
3-point goals -- Topeka High 4 (Smith 3, McMillon), HIghland Park 9 (Roberts 4, Kingcannon 3, Peppers, Richardson). Total fouls -- Topeka High 17, Highland Park 16. Fouled out -- Smith.
