Rockhurst blasts Ray-Pec in Missouri district tourney

The Rockhurst basketball team is at its best when it can get out in transition, and Thursday night it was able to do just that.

The quick and athletic Hawklets rolled over Raymore-Peculiar 72-41 to advance to the Class 5 District 16 championship. Second-seeded Rockhurst will face top-seeded Lee’s Summit West at 7 p.m. Friday at Raymore-Peculiar for a spot in the Class 5 state tournament.

“Sometimes you’ll pressure but you get into foul trouble and have to pull off the pressure, but this time we were able to pressure without fouling,” Rockhurst coach Peter Campbell said. “When you are able to do that, those are the times you are able to get steals and take it the other way.”

Rockhurst held Raymore-Peculiar to just six points in the first quarter and eight in the second while building a 31-14 lead before the break. In that time, the Hawklets committed only seven fouls.

In the second half, the Hawklets continued to stifle the Panthers, outscoring them 41-27 and leading by as many as 24 points.

“They are very good at running their offensive man-to-man sets, and we are a predominately man-to-man team. So instead of giving them opportunities to run their sets and make good passes and set good screens, we decided to pressure them and take them out of their comfort zone,” Campbell said.

Rockhurst was also effective from beyond the arc, hitting 11 three-pointers, including three from Luke Winterman, compared with just three total from Raymore-Peculiar. Patrick Geha and Adam Bowers each added a pair of three-pointers as well.

Rockhurst had five players finish in double figures, led by Lance Boehm with 12 points. Winterman, Geha and Cartier Dean finished with 11 points each and Will Bazzle added 10.

“We really just came together as a team,” Geha said. “We didn’t shoot very well, but defensively and offensively we came together.”

Jason Wilson led Raymore-Peculiar with eight points, six of which came in the fourth quarter. Jason Chambers added six points.

Entering its Thursday night matchup with Ruskin, Lee’s Summit West had not played in more than a week.

Although a little bit of rust showed early, the top-seeded Titans

were able to shake it quickly and rout the Eagles 71-40 to advance to Friday’s Class 5 District 16 championship.

The teams traded baskets for the first couple of minutes before Lee’s Summit West put together a 9-2 run to take a 15-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Titans

used a crushing 14-0 run, with 11 points from junior Jarred Dixon, to push the lead to 39-15 by halftime.

“I thought after we got comfortable we did a lot better job especially defensively,” Lee’s Summit West coach Michael Schieber said.

“Ruskin is a good, well-coached team and we held them to 15 points (in the first half) and again, I think that says a lot about our defensive effort.”

Dixon had a game-high 21 points for the Titans while Monte Harrison and Gary Davis added 20 and 15 points respectively. Nathan Washington led the Eagles with 19 points.

This story was originally published March 6, 2014 at 10:16 PM with the headline "Rockhurst blasts Ray-Pec in Missouri district tourney ."