Hot first half gives Blue Springs South a win in Cardinal Division title game
A second before the halftime buzzer sounded, Blue Springs South junior K.J. Robinson tossed up a long three-pointer that had the look of a last-second shot Tuesday evening at the Mabee Center.
It went in.
Blue Springs South was on fire the entire first half, scoring 49 points on the way to an impressive 75-53 victory over Lee’s Summit West in the Cardinal Division championship game of the William Jewell Holiday Classic.
Robinson’s three-pointer that looked like last second desperation was actually a well-run play.
“My teammate John Rolls gave me a good pass and also my teammate Marcus Meyer gave me a good screen to get me open,” said Robinson, who finished with 13 points. “I just let it fly.”
With the win, the Jaguars improved to 9-0 and captured their second straight title at the Jewell Tournament. Last year Blue Springs South won the Nelson Division.
“We came into the game knowing they were going to bring a lot of pressure,” Blue Springs South coach Jimmy Cain said. “We wanted to attack that pressure. Our kids did a great job of doing that as well as take care of the ball.”
Lee’s Summit West’s run of four straight titles at the Jewell tournament came to a halt, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort from senior Jarred Dixon, who scored 12 points in the second quarter and finished with a game-high 29.
Dixon’s offensive outburst was not enough to keep pace with the firepower the Jaguars threw at Lee’s Summit West.
It started with senior Kevin Puryear, who scored eight points in the first quarter. Robinson added seven. Puryear finished with 22.
By the time the first quarter ended, Blue Springs South held a 24-8 lead, and Lee’s Summit had already used two timeouts to try to slow the Jaguars down.
“The first half we played really well,” Robinson said. “We took care of the ball.”
Dixon got going in the second quarter, but Blue Springs South was still operating at a high offensive level. Five players scored at least four points, sending the Jaguars into halftime with a 49-27 lead.
The passing from Robinson, Brandon Kilgore and Briley Moore-McKinney to Puryear and Meyer was simply electric.
Blue Springs South showed its teamwork midway through the third quarter when Lee’s Summit made a bit of a run and closed 53-37. Moore-McKinney slipped a pass to Puryear in the paint and Puryear powered in a dunk.
The resounding bucket let the Titans know there wasn’t going to be an amazing comeback on this particular night.
But Lee’s Summit West will get two more opportunities since the Titans and Blue Springs South play in the Suburban Gold Conference.
“They are a good team and a tough team to run against,” Robinson said. “We played really good defense tonight.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2014 at 9:41 PM with the headline "Hot first half gives Blue Springs South a win in Cardinal Division title game."