For the first time in 11 years, the Park Hill South boys basketball team completed a regular-season two-game sweep of Park Hill, defeating their district rival 56-53 in a packed gymnasium at Park Hill South on Feb. 20.
It all came down to one final possession out of a timeout with 2.3 seconds left. With Park Hill South leading 56-53, Park Hill had the final chance to tie it up on an in-bounds play — seemingly a good opportunity for a Trojans squad that had already hit two buzzer-beaters from halfcourt earlier in the night.
This time, however, the entry pass was mishandled as time expired, and the home Rage Cage student section quickly stormed the court in jubilation after defeating their fierce rival. It was the second time they stormed the court against Park Hill this season, previously doing so on the road in another nail-biting finish on Jan. 9, when they won 48-47.
“This rivalry is important to our students, teachers and everyone,” Park Hill South head coach Max Sollars said. “Being able to play really well in front of those people means a lot for our school and our kids. I was just happy that we got to put on a really high-level, competitive game for our crowd.”
After defeating Park Hill on the road, the Panthers proved it was no fluke by winning on home court. The team fed off every bit of the crowd’s energy.
“You never want to lose at home to your rivals,” said Jax Navarro, who joined Park Hill South from Fort Osage. “It’s a new rivalry for me, but it feels like it’s been forever. All my teammates cheering, everybody playing good, and a good environment. It was fun.”
The second matchup of the season was back and forth all first half. Park Hill jumped ahead early and held a 13-8 lead before the Panthers ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 14-13 lead.
A triple from Carson Bjorn stretched South’s lead to two scores, but Park Hill gradually fought its way back. Scores from Donnovan Fonville and Rylan Ferrin suddenly put the Trojans back in front 28-23, and after South got back within a possession in the final 10 seconds, Isaiah Caston pulled up at halfcourt to nail a buzzer-beater to give the Trojans a 31-27 halftime lead.
Park Hill South’s Carson Bjorn drives to the hoop as he draws contact from Park Hill’s Javon Washington in the first half.
The contest began to shift towards Park Hill South’s favor in the second half as they battled their way back in front. Junior guard John Rastorfer led the comeback effort, hitting three triples from downtown to give the Panthers a 44-35 advantage late in the third.
Rastorfer’s last triple was quickly answered by Caston, who drilled another buzzer-beater from inside his own half to erase the momentum South had built. While the Trojans drew back within two scores, South had more in the tank as scored from Aaron Phillips, Ronnie Grant and Jackson Wheeler suddenly put the Panthers ahead by double-digits once again with less than six minutes remaining.
On the verge of letting the game slip away, scores from Max Tisdel and Caston revived the Trojans as they were back within five points. Caston continued to drag the Trojans back in the game, scoring back-to-back buckets to make it a one-possession game in the final two minutes.
The Trojans pulled as close as they would come to tying it in the fourth when Dontae Bronson got a steal before hitting a free throw to make it 54-53. Bjorn hit a pair of free throws to stretch the Panthers’ lead to 56-53 in the final minute, but was unable to ice the game from the line in the seconds before pressuring Park Hill to fumble away their last chance to tie it late.
Aaron Phillips finished with 19 points against Park Hill on Feb. 20.
“Just one play at a time,” Navarro said of the team’s mindset late in the game. “Just being dawgs. Me an my teammates were out there doing our thing, so that’s all we could ask for.”
While guarding a point guard of Caston’s quality was an uphill battle, with the Park Hill senior leading all scorers with 24 points with six triples, Sollars was impressed with the defensive effort from Phillips and Wheeler. Phillips was highly influential on the offensive end as well, shooting 7 of 13 from the floor with 19 points.
The victory provided some much-needed confidence after recent defeats to Oak Park, North Kansas City and Liberty took some wind out of South’s sails. After some hard practices the past two weeks, the Panthers hope this momentum boost can provide the boost they need heading into a the final two conference contests before a challenging district.
“We’ve been in a tough stretch with some tough losses,” Sollars said. “It’s tough for high school kids, but I think tonight refreshed us in our juices to get us ready and excited to play next week.”