North Kansas City basketball advances to semifinals at William Jewell Holiday Classic
Seemingly every time Lee’s Summit West closed the gap, North Kansas City junior Malik Johnson had a response.
One of those moments came midway through the fourth quarter of the teams’ Cardinal Division opening-round game Friday when Johnson, a 6-foot-2 guard, calmly drained two free throws to boost the Hornets’ lead to three points.
The cushion was enough for North Kansas City to hang on and garner a 65-64 victory at the William Jewell High School Holiday Classic at Larry Holley Court.
“They are a good team,” said Johnson, who went 8 for 10 from the field and made all six of his free throws for 23 points. “They killed us rebounding. If we would have rebounded better, we could have won by a little more.”
North Kansas City, 5-2, returns to action 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals.
“Thank God we had a cushion,” North Kansas City coach Gerry Marlin said of a 12-point, first quarter lead. “We did get off to a good start. The story for us is half our team has the flu. We only dressed eight. We are missing our starting center and our starting wing man. We had some guys play in some crucial minutes.”
Marlin was definitely pleased the way Johnson stepped up.
“He had a very big game when we needed him to,” Marlin said.
Perhaps the biggest moment for Johnson came with three minutes left in the third quarter, when Lee’s Summit West took its only lead at 36-34 on a basket by junior Colby Baggett.
After North Kansas City tied the game at 36-36 on a two-point field goal by senior guard D’Anthony Pennington, Johnson followed with a three-pointer and several seconds later, two free throws that gave North Kansas City a 41-36 lead.
Lee’s Summit West kept fighting back. It took baskets by Athuai Ding and Pennington to hold off the Titans.
“We have good guards,” Johnson said. AD (Ding) and D’Anthony Pennington are really good. When we needed a bucket, we got a bucket out of them.”
The first half was similar to the second half.
In the first four minutes of the game, Lee’s Summit West showed the traits of a team that was going to be out of the game before the second half started. North Kansas City was making shots while Lee’s Summit West had no offensive rhythm.
As North Kansas City’s lead ballooned to 12-0 behind the scoring of Johnson and Pennington, Lee’s Summit West coach Michael Schieber was forced to call two timeouts early in the first quarter.
It worked.
The Titans settled into the game and started playing tighter defense. Shots started falling. By the time the first quarter ended, North Kansas City held a 12-7 lead.
Lee’s Summit West started the second quarter with a bang, or more accurately, a thunderous dunk through traffic by Baggett.
The Titans eventually tied the game at 16-16. A basket by Johnson followed by two free throws from Pennington pushed North Kansas City advantage back to four. The Hornets went into halftime ahead 22-20.
“Lee’s Summit West never quits,” Marlin said. “They play you buzzer to buzzer. We needed every second on the clock to pull it out on a night we were short-handed.”
In other games Friday
Park Hill South 67, Kearney 50
Early in the second quarter, Park Hill South stared at an 18-10 deficit. It got the Panthers’ attention. They went into halftime with a 29-28 lead on a basket by senior Connor Robertson. The Panthers continued to hit shots in the third quarter. By early in the fourth quarter, Park Hill South held a 56-40 lead. The Panthers, who will face North Kansas City 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the Cardinal Division semifinals, were led by senior Josh Prososki, who finished with 16 points.
Raytown 68, Liberty North 67
The way the final 10 seconds played out left the crowd breathless and thrilled at the same time. Liberty North took a one-point lead with 6 seconds remaining when senior Jalen Perry drove to the basket for a layup.
Raytown didn’t flinch. The Blue Jays quickly got the ball into the hands of speedy senior point guard Cortez Howlett. He raced down the court and laid the ball in at the buzzer, giving Raytown the one-point win.
“I saw there was an open lane,” said Howlett, who finished with 14 points. “They are big, but I was never rattled making that layup because I have done it before. Fourth quarter, 10 seconds left, I put the team on my back.”
Junior Aaron Franklin led Raytown in scoring with 21 points. Liberty North got 21 points from senior Benny Kaplan and 17 points from Perry.
Raymore-Peculiar 59, Odessa 25
The combination of the inside play of 6-7 senior forward Kian Scroggins and 6-6 senior forward Conrad Hawley and some timely outside shooting from senior guard Jordan Jermain was too much for Odessa to handle. The three players combined for 36 points.
Raymore-Peculiar returns to action 6 p.m. Saturday against Raytown in a Cardinal Division semifinals game.
Central 60, Oak Park 41
St Joseph Central outscored Oak Park 22-10 in the final quarter and came away with a double-digit victory in the Nelson Division consolation bracket. The Indians will play Blue Springs South 1 p.m. Monday in the fifth-place game.
Blue Springs South 69, Fort Osage 54
Junior Devin Tomlinson scored 16 points and senior Khayden Hooks added 14 for Blue Springs South, which jumped out to a 17-9 lead in the first quarter. Fort Osage senior Triston Turner kept Fort Osage in striking distance through most of the game, scoring 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field.
Truman 60, Blue Springs 51
Truman bounced back from a tough overtime loss with a nine-point win. The Patriots finished strong, scoring 20 points in the final quarter. Senior Kaimen Lennox scored 19 points for Truman and senior Macio Moananu added 18. Truman will face Lee’s Summit at 11:30 a.m. Monday in the Patterson Division fifth-place game.
Lee’s Summit 69, Winnetonka 46
Lee’s Summit jumped to a 25-11 lead in the first quarter and cruised to a 23-point win. Leading the way for the Tigers were sophomore Max Whisner, who scored a game-high 16 points and senior Felix Anudike, who added 11.
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 7:14 PM.