KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the final buzzer sounded, the northeast corner of the gymnasium erupted in cheers at Park Hill High School.
The section full of travelling Blue Springs fans celebrated a seemingly improbable come-from-behind 64-63 win against Park Hill in a marquee matchup of Class 5 powers on Friday, Jan. 16. Blue Springs guard Tyree King hit a 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds remaining to complete a comeback from down seven with a minute to play.
Park Hill’s seven-game winning streak came to an end just days ahead of the start of the Bobcat Invitational at Basehor-Linwood High School.
“They’ll be ready to go,” Park Hill coach David Garrison said. “These kids are competitors. This is a loss that hurts. These aren’t kids who are going to go and quit. They’re going to come back from this a better team.”
Park Hill led 63-56 with 1:11 remaining, but King scored the next eight points for the Wildcats while the Trojans couldn’t muster a response. In between King’s baskets, Blue Springs fouled, and Park Hill seniors Landry Shamet — a Wichita state signee — and Louis Reinmiller — a Central Missouri commit — missed the front end of respective one-and-one opportunities at the free throw line.
“At the end of the game, those are two kids who are going to step up and hit those free throws,” Garrison said. “Tonight, they just didn’t go in. We knew we had the opportunity to get to the free throw line. We felt if we got the right people there it would be OK. If we had to do it again, I’d put those same two kids there. I know they are going to come through when that happens.”
Park Hill had a chance to inbound with 4.1 seconds remaining, but the play drawn up during a timeout did not pan out. Blue Springs collected a rebound from a wild attempt from half court by Reinmiller, who finished with eight points, as the horn blew.
“We wanted to try to get the ball to Louis up front,” Garrison said. “We hoped we would have Landry isolated down low. In the frantic pace, we got the ball in and didn’t get the look we wanted.”
Park Hill senior Deionte Wilson scored a game-high 21 points, including 14 after halftime. Shamet added 18, including a 7-for 11 performance from the free throw line.
Trojans forward Tanner Zeil scored five points, all in the second half. The junior scored four straight points in a 30 second span after Blue Springs tied the game at 34 at the 5:05 mark.
“It’s a learning experience,” Wilson said. “We’ve got to come back and work that much harder. We honestly felt that the team wasn’t that much better than us, if they were better than us at all. It’s a learning situation, and we have to bounce back.”
Park Hill boys 68, Pembroke Hill 58
The Trojans overcame a sub-par second quarter to earn a win Monday, Jan. 19 in the Bobcat Classic at Basehor-Linwood High School in Basehor, Kan. The Trojans advance to play Hayden (Kan.) in the second round at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22.
The championship and third-place games are slated for Saturday, Jan. 24.
Park Hill (11-2) recovered from its tight loss three days earlier behind 22 points for Shamet and 10 apiece for Dru Smith and Wilson.
Pembroke Hill closed within 29-26 at halftime with 17 second-quarter points. Park Hill responded with a strong third quarter to pull away for a mostly comfortable win.
Wilson hit three of Park Hill’s eight 3-pointers (8-for-19), and Shamet added two treys and five assists. Zeil also made a pair of 3s to go with a team-high six rebounds for the Trojans.
Park Hill boys 61, Lee’s Summit West 54 Ahead of the loss to Blue Springs, the Trojans outlasted Lee’s Summit West in a lengthy fourth quarter that featured 50 combined points.
Shamet and Wilson tied for the team-high with 16 points apiece for Park Hill, and Reinmiller added 15. The big performances helped the Trojans score 26 points in the fourth quarter and hold on to a game-long advantage.
Park Hill hit 18 of 23 free throws — 12 of 15 combined for Wilson and Shamet — and Reinmiller hit all five of the Trojans’ 3-pointers on just six attempts from beyond the arc. Shamet also recorded team-highs of eight rebounds, five blocks and four assists.
Park Hill South boys 51, Lee’s Summit North 42 Ryan Welty and James Byrd combined for 27 points to lead the Panthers to another victory on Tuesday, Jan. 13 and extend their winning streak to eight.
Park Hill South took that run into the opening round of the North Kansas City Tournament. The Panthers were scheduled to play Oak Park in the opening round on Tuesday, Jan. 20, but the results was not available at The Citizen’s deadline.
Against Lee’s Summit North, Welty led the way with 15 points, and Park Hill South led 27-17 at halftime. Welty hit three of the Panthers’ four 3-pointers.