Lee’s Summit boys rebound from loss with victory at North Kansas City

The Lee’s Summit boy’s basketball team rebounded from its first loss of the season earlier in the week by winning at North Kansas City Friday night.

The Tigers’ 61-54 victory was paced by Luke McDonald’s double-double. The junior point guard finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

“That’s what he’s done all year for us,” Lee’s Summit coach Blake Little said. “He is probably the best guard rebounder in the city. He gets about eight to nine a game as a point guard — that tells you.”

But it was no easy task for Lee’s Summit (9-1) to bounce back as the North KC Hornets (4-3) stayed within striking distance.

Lee’s Summit dominated in the early stages, taking an 18-8 lead into the second quarter, but Northtown rarely dropped into a double-digit deficit. It would have been a five-point game at halftime if not for a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Lee’s Summit’s Alex Benassi.

Typically aggressive play by the Hornets kept them in the game and made for a stop-start spectacle that produced a staggering 56 free throws. The Hornets also managed to draw a technical foul against Lee’s Summit junior guard Brycen LaRue that further stoked the intensity.

In the end, 34 of those free throws fell the way of Lee’s Summit and ultimately gave the Tigers the edge.

“North Kansas City always plays hard,” Little said. “They’re a physical team, they’re athletic, they’re well-coached by Coach Gerry Marlin.

“And so we knew we had to match their physicality. In a game like that, it’s going to be physical, and I was proud of our guys. I thought they played hard. That’s just a tough, hard conference road game.”

If any Tiger embodied that toughness, it was McDonald.

The junior had notched 10 rebounds by halftime, leaving him just four points shy of the double-double. He got 10 more after intermission.

Benassi and LaRue, who finished with 11 and 12 points, respectively, also got into double digits.

McDonald put up a unique line for a point guard, registering a single assist and not attempting any shots from beyond the arc. But his speed and agility inside were crucial for Lee’s Summit.

“He’s our toughest (player) — sometimes too tough,” Little said. “But tonight he was pretty darn special. It was good stuff.”

Five Tigers teammates finished with three or more rebounds. North KC’s starting trio of Jon Elful, Cyan Evans and Jack Hanson were a handful, too: The trio combined for 21 of North KC’s 28 boards.

Lee’s Summit finished with 30 as a team.

“For us, we’re not the biggest team. We’re not the biggest team. But we play a lot of guards, and for us, it’s that mindset of going to get it,” Little said.

“We lost one the other night where our mindset wasn’t very good, and we’ve had two great days of practice. We’ve backed it up tonight, so I’m really proud of the way that we played. Our energy was great, and energy leads to rebounds.”

This story was originally published January 29, 2021 at 9:50 PM.