Lee’s Summit wins gritty district championship game against Blue Springs South

When Lee’s Summit junior Drew Lock stepped to the free-throw line with a chance to seal a district title for his Tigers, he looked back to a time where he could not convert for added inspiration.

Sure enough, Lock knocked down the free throw with 9 seconds left, securing a 78-74 victory over Blue Springs South on Friday in the Missouri Class 5, District 13 championship game at Raytown High School.

“Before I shot it, I remembered a time where I missed a free throw to beat North and that kept replaying in my head,” Lock said. “I knew I had to hit this one to win this game.”

The Tigers survived five ties and 13 lead changes before finally sealing the victory.

With 1:04 left in the game, Blue Springs South junior Kevin Puryear tied the score at 72-72 with a three-point play. Lock responded with a free throw that put the Tigers back on top. That’s when the defense took over.

The Tigers forced back-to-back turnovers on the next two possessions while extending their lead with four consecutive free throws from sophomore Blake Spellman before Jaguar junior Brandon Kilgore cut into the lane for an unguarded layup with 12.7 seconds on the clock. Then it came down to Lock’s free throw.

“Our first hour of practice is nothing but defense,” Lee’s Summit coach Blake Little said. “Our guys didn’t like playing defense at first, but if you were there in our huddle at the end, they knew that we just needed a stop and a stop wins the game.”

The Tigers struggled to contain Puryear and sophomore KJ Robinson who scored 30 and 25 points for the Jaguars. However, Lock countered with 23 points of his own.

Next up, Lee’s Summit will face Fort Osage at 8:15 p.m. on Wednesday at the Independence Event Center.

Lee’s Summit North capitalized on a third quarter run to defeat Blue Springs 44-30 in the Missouri Class 5, District 13 girls title game. The Broncos improved to 21-5 with the victory, while Blue Springs dropped to 13-15.

“We’ve come a long ways over the last couple of years,” said Lee’s Summit North coach Tricia Lillygren, who was selected District 13 coach of the year. “We’ve been in positions where we’ve had chances to close things out and we couldn’t do it so this is a big accomplishment.”

Lee’s Summit North only led 23-16 at halftime but outscored Blue Springs 13-3 in the third quarter to take control of the game. The Broncos were also able to minimize the damage from Wildcats junior Aliyah Lee, who scored 12 points in the first half but was held to just four after the break.

Senior Imani Johnson led the Broncos with 14 points.

This story was originally published March 7, 2014 at 11:12 PM with the headline "Lee’s Summit wins gritty district championship game against Blue Springs South ."