The Park Hill South basketball teams opened the conference season last week by getting swept by rival Staley on the road with the ladies falling 66-51 on Thursday, Jan. 13, and the men coming up short 43-39 on Friday, Jan. 14.
The series between the Panthers and Falcons has become a classic must-see the past three seasons. In the past two seasons, both teams have split the regular season matchup only to meet again in the district tournament with the Falcons getting the win in both of those postseason games.
In three games last year, neither team reached the 50-point mark in the three games. Staley Head Coach Christopher Neff told the Platte County Citizen after the game it’s what the players, coaches, and fans have come to expect.
“That’s a Park Hill South-Staley game,” Neff said. “We play about three times a year and they’re all like that. Credit to Coach (Danny) Parra and his kids and what we’re trying to do. They have years and years of tradition of excellent basketball.”
“I think we just mirror each other so well,” Parra told the Citizen after the game. “We both preach defense like crazy. We’re a lot alike with our bigs, and our guards are good. We just really like to challenge each other and I think we bring out the best in each other.”
Early in the game, the Panthers were able to contain the Falcons’ offense and took a 12-7 lead with three minutes left in the first quarter when South senior guard Messias Dockery drained a three-point shot. However, the Falcons found something and went on a 7-0 run to close out the period that ended with a basket by Falcons’ junior guard Kyan Evans.
Staley got a pair of free throws from Jared Lee to extend the lead to 16-12 early in the second period but Dockery immediately answered for South with a three-point shot to reel the Falcons back in. South senior Jack Bjorn gave the Panthers a 19-18 lead with an offensive rebound putback layup with 5:38 left in the half.
Staley answered with a run of its own that was finally stopped with a bucket from Dockery with 58 seconds left but Evans quickly answered with a bucket to give the Falcons a 26-21 halftime lead.
South’s defense in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter was fantastic but the Falcons’ defense wasn’t too far behind. Both offenses had trouble scoring, but the Panthers were able to chip away and seemed to grab some momentum when Dockery cut the Falcons’ lead to one point when he got free for a slam that fired up the well-traveled South student section.
South was able to tie the score but could never take the lead with Staley going to the final period with a 34-32 edge. With 57 seconds left in the game, Staley completed a traditional three-point play after getting a foul on Bjorn who had been there to block so many of the Falcons’ shots in the game.
The play gave Staley a six-point lead. Both teams got big defensive stops in the second half including some big blocks by Bjorn. Parra said even with the loss his team got better and perhaps has found something that will work going forward.
“We’ve got to find our identity,” Parra said. “Defensively I think we found something that works for us. When we’re physical, when we’re challenging at the rim and we’re going after blocked shots and rebounds that we make it hard for other teams to score so hopefully we found our identity more so today than any other game.”
A floater in the lane by Dockery brought the Panthers within four points but only 37 seconds remained on the clock. The game was essentially iced when Evans found Falcons’ senior Emmanuel Byrd behind the defense for a slam, and after the game, Staley’s head coach had some high praise for Dockery who led all scorers in the contest with 15 points.
“A senior guard trying to lead his team I thought he was excellent; I was impressed with him,” Neff said. “We threw a bunch at him; we tried to stay in front of him but I thought he was excellent.”
Evans was also fantastic for the Falcons scoring 14 points to lead Staley with Byrd behind him with 11 points. Parra gave a lot of credit to the junior guard for leading the Falcons to a win.
“We really tried to make Kyan work,” Parra said. “The first half he kind of had his way with us. The second half I thought we took him a little bit out of his game. He’s maybe the best point guard in the city so that was our goal to just limit him as much as we can just to hopefully wear him out and get him a little tired.”
Cahmai Crosby was the only other Panther to score in double figures with 11 points. Bjorn had seven points for South. Parra said the good thing that came out of the contest was the effort his team gave which is something the program can build on as the season progresses.
“The effort was there; we played our butts off,” Parra said. “When the effort is there like that we just have to execute a little bit better. It was a really good basketball game; it’s too bad that somebody had to lose.”
Big third quarter allows Staley to pull away
The Staley Lady Falcons’ basketball team used a big third quarter run to pull away from Park Hill South 66-51.
Both teams had trouble getting things going on offense to start the game. About midway through the first period, South scored on back-to-back possessions and took a 5-2 lead but the Lady Falcons answered with a bucket and a three-point basket to take a 7-5 lead they would never give back.
Three different times during the second quarter the Lady Panthers got a bucket to pull within a point of Staley but the Lady Falcons would answer on the other end. The Lady Falcons took a 31-24 lead into halftime.
The game took a big turn in the third quarter when Staley came out firing getting a three-point basket to start the period. On the other end of the court, the Lady Falcons’ defense shut down South’s offense.
The Lady Panthers were held to only one bucket in the third period. The Lady Falcons took a 17-point lead into the fourth period but South wasn’t ready to just coast away.
The Lady Panthers hit a quick three-point basket to start the fourth and after a stop, South’s leading scorer in the game, Avery Simmons, completed a traditional three-point play after being fouled. South was able to get Staley’s lead down to nine points before the Lady Falcons offense got back going at the free-throw line while the Lady Panthers were using their fouls to get back in the game.
Staley took 22 shots from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and was 24 of 36 from the line for the game. Bennett said his team did a better job getting rebounds in the second half, which led to the big win.
Simmons led the Lady Panthers with 17 points including 5 of 7 shooting from the free-throw line followed by Reagan Williams with nine points and Tatum Kells and Jayme Dixon with seven points each. Gabby Schultz chipped in six points.