The Hornets buzzed their way back in the second half of the North Kansas City Tournament Championship Game when the Park Hill South boys’ basketball team (11-5) fell to North Kansas City (12-2) 53-41 on Jan. 21.
The Panthers jumped out to an early lead over the Hornets as they never trailed in the opening half. Park Hill South led by as much as eight points in the opening 16 minutes, but North Kansas City fought back to tie the game at 22 with 17 seconds left in the first half.
“I think in the first half we made some shots and that propelled us to get a lead and then we got some stops when we needed it,” Park Hill South head coach Dan Parra said. “We played more loose in the first half, but in the second half it looked like we were pressed a little bit; their size underneath kind of wore our guys out driving.”
A pair of layups by Cahmai Crosby and J.D. Roberts to start the second half helped Park Hill South retake the lead until a fast break layup by North Kansas City with 2:12 remaining gave the Panthers their first deficit of the night at 31-30. Miles Fant answered with a bucket before the Hornets scored the final five points of the third quarter and never trailed again.
“They executed their game plan a lot better than we executed ours. They owned us on the rebounds, a lot of 50-50 balls went their way,” Parra said.
Park Hill South’s Cahmai Crosby, above, scored 14 points and had five steals in the North Kansas City Championship Game on Jan. 21.
Crosby scored six of the Panthers’ nine points in the fourth quarter, but they were never able to narrow the gap to within one possession during the final frame. Park Hill South blocked seven shots on the game – three of which were in the opening three minutes of the contest.
“We are long, and that has to be our strength – our defense – and they are kind of the same way, they got length underneath so there were a lot of blocked shots. They just blocked more than we did in the second half,” Parra said.
Park Hill South opened up the tournament with a dominant 74-50 victory over St. Pius X (7-8) when Roberts scored 25 points and snagged 11 rebounds, while Trey Weith ended with 16 points and two steals on Jan. 17. In the semifinals, the Panthers were without Messias Dockery, who injured his ankle against the Warriors, and Park Hill South took down Oak Park (12-3) 61-60 in overtime on Jan. 19.
“I think we grew up a lot because we had to play Oak Park without our starting point guard, so we saw some younger guys step up. Cahmai and J.D. kind of took over in overtime; Cahmai hit a shot and a free throw at the end to propel us to give us that win,” Parra said.
Crosby scored 16 points on the night, while Roberts and Fant both added 13 points. Park Hill South will take on Oak Park once again when the Panthers host the Northmen on Jan. 28.