Oak Park, Blue Valley West impress in 810 Varsity Showcase boys basketball action

Below are highlights from 810 Varsity Showcase 43, held Saturday, Jan. 10, at Piper High School.

Oak Park 70, Piper 59

Piper tried to give the No. 1 team in Missouri Class 6 a tussle in the finale of 810 Varsity Showcase 43. But Oak Park kept the Pirates an arm’s distance away for a 70-59 win Saturday night at Piper.

The Pirates held close early behind seven first-quarter points from Cooper Crawford, who finished with 17 points. Piper trailed just 24-20 as Derrick Jackson hit a second-quarter 3, en route to a game-high 30 points. The senior also scored his 1,000th career point in the fourth quarter.

But Oak Park continued to build a 31-23 halftime lead, as senior guard Adam Tanner scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half. Then the Northmen opened the game up in the third, building a 51-37 lead as senior forward Josh Kori hit a couple of buckets and a 3 in the period toward a team-high 20 points.

Piper couldn’t pull within single digits until under two minutes left. Meanwhile, Oak Park’s Landon Vanpelt (14) and Howie Chase (13) helped a balanced attack.

Blue Valley West 60, Blue Springs 42

Blue Valley West stayed undefeated with ease in the opener of Saturday’s event, 60-42. The Jaguars, who improved to 11-0, opened the lead to 26 points at one juncture.

Senior Cade Wysong led all scorers with 18 points, while junior DaQuan Hicks paced Blue Springs with 14.

Blue Valley Northwest 69, Piper 34 (Girls)

Blue Valley Northwest shot the lights out and blitzed Piper 60-34 on Saturday. The Huskies drained 10 3-pointers in jumping out to a 25-11 lead and a 38-22 halftime margin.

Senior Regan Becker netted a game-high 28 points, while Rylie Edwards added 16. The duo each hit three trifectas in the game.

Faith McCallop paced Piper with 13 points.