Blue Valley Northwest, Oak Park among KC-area high school basketball winners Friday night

Here are high school basketball scores and game recaps from across the KC metro on Friday night...

Oak Park 58, North Kansas City 51 (boys)

North Kansas City looked ready to pull off an upset win over its district rival. But Oak Park, the No. 1 team in Missouri Class 6 and the 810 Varsity Top 25 metro rankings, had different thoughts.

The Northmen used a 9-0 run in the fourth quarter to pull away from North Kansas City for a 58-51 win on Friday night. Juniors Caleb Estes and Zeek Brown led the surge with a combined 13 points in the final stanza. With the win, Oak Park notched its second straight Suburban Red Conference title.

After trailing 23-18 at halftime, North Kansas City (19-5) cranked things up with 21 points in the third; Samuel Dada netted half his team-high 12 points in the quarter, while Jake Willman scored all six of his points for a 39-37 Hornet lead.

But Oak Park ruined the potential rally for the home crowd as Estes hit two 3s to help seal the game. Estes led the Northmen with 17 points behind five 3-pointers, while Zeek Brown hit three trifectas en route to 16 points. Josh Kori (13) and Corbin Allen (10) also hit double digits for Oak Park, now 22-3 on the season.

Blue Valley Northwest 68, Blue Valley North 54 (boys)

It took a bit, but Blue Valley Northwest got rolling against its rival Blue Valley North.

The Huskies improved to 17-2 and wrapped a share of the Eastern Kansas League title with a 68-54 win over the Mustangs — their sixth straight win over Blue Valley North.

After a tight first quarter against the Mustangs’ 2-3 zone, Northwest heated up as Jake Fritz paced the Huskies with 26 points. Joey Matteoni added 16 for the Huskies, No. 3 in the 810 Varsity Top 25.

Fritz and Trevor Garlinton hit multiple 3-pointers in the second half to boost the lead up to 20 points.

Many fans on both sides wore green and helped raise money for #PlayForLeck, to raise contributions to the family of Dustin Leochner, the head coach of Blue Valley Southwest who passed late this week after a battle with West Nile virus.

“Any time we can beat our rival is a great night, but it was more than just about that tonight — we had a chance to honor coach Leochner, and everyone’s thoughts are with his family,” said Blue Valley Northwest head coach Aaron Ihm.

North Kansas City 55, Oak Park 51 (girls)

The Hornets won the Suburban Red Conference outright with a 55-51 win over district rival Oak Park.

Macey Willmann led North Kansas City with 17 points, while Holly Barlow netted 16.

Oak Park was paced by Lilian Everly’s game-high 25 points, but Oak Park was plagued by 15-of-29 shooting from the free-throw line.

North Kansas City, ranked No. 12 in the 810 Varsity Top 25, boosted its record to 19-4, while Oak Park tumbled to 14-9.

Park Hill 62, Lee’s Summit North 60 (boys)

Park Hill sent its elder statesmen out with a win on senior night.

Junior Cam Jones help boost the way for the seniors with a game-high 16 points, including the game-winning free throws. With the score tied 60-60, Jones drove to the rim and was fouled with one second left. Jones coolly hit both charity tosses for the win.

Senior guard Akoi Akoi added 13 for Park Hill, now 12-12.

Tre Paulding’s 13 points paced Lee’s Summit North, which dropped to 13-11.