For the fourth straight season, the Park Hill South boys’ basketball team (16-11) had its season come to a close in districts against Staley (26-2).
Park Hill South senior Mike Collins (#5) goes up for a layup against a pair of Staley defenders in the Panthers’ season-ending loss in the district semifinals on March 3.
Staley has had Park Hill South’s number for nearly half a decade – winning each of the last seven games in the series – sending the Panthers home in each of the last three postseasons and the result was the same in round four, doing so with a 70-38 victory. This was in the Class 6 District 8 Semifinals as the Falcons were the No. 1 seed and the Panthers were the No. 5 seed on March 3.
The Panthers opened the postseason with an exciting matchup with fourth-seeded North Kansas City (18-9) on March 1. In a game that saw 21 lead changes, Park Hill South prevailed 62-54.
“We were getting stops, but they kept getting those rebounds and putbacks,” Park Hill South boys’ basketball coach Dan Parra said. “(Tyler) Parks is tough down low and they also drive so hard, but at the end Cahmai (Crosby), Mike (Collins) and Jaylen (Lockhart) were really rebounding the basketball.”
Park Hill South senior Cahmai Crosby goes up for a layup over North Kansas City’s Tyler Park in the opening round of the Class 6 District 8 Tournament.
This was the second matchup of the season between North Kansas City and Park Hill South with the Hornets coming out with a 62-55 win after leading by as much as 26 and scoring the first 14 back on Jan. 31. The postseason matchup was much more competitive than the regular season one with Cahmai Crosby and Brayden Parra showing up in the first half.
The senior duo combined for 22 first half points and entered the locker room as the only two Panthers who made a shot from the field. Parra knocked down four shots from deep and Crosby had 10 points – with Park Hill South being up 26-25 at the break – as the only other Park Hill South points were free throws.
Brayden Parra made four 3-pointers in the Panthers’ upset win over the Hornets.
“Those are seniors that don’t want to see their season and their careers end. Brayden and Cahmai have been great all week in practice and all season; those are our captains, so I think they took it upon themselves saying ‘Hey, we’re going to start off well, and we’re not going to fall behind like we did last time against them,’” Dan Parra said.
Jaylen Lockhart showed up in the second half – scoring all 12 of his points in the final 16 minutes – to help the Panthers pull off the upset. There were eight lead changes in the first four minutes of the third quarter, but a transition layup by Crosby put Park Hill South up 35-34 and the No. 5 seed led for the remainder of the frame.
The Hornets buzzed back to take a 50-49 lead with a jumper by Israel Randall and after a Lockhart layup, Tyler Parks put them back up 52-51 with 4:07 to play. The Panthers responded with a layup by Lockhart and a triple by Zahir Ragsdale to retake control and never relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
Crosby led the way with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals while Parra had four of the team’s six 3-pointers to finish with 13 points. This was a key win for the Panthers, making it three straight at the time after a tough 5-game losing skid in the closing stretch of the regular season.
Park Hill South junior Jaylen Lockhart scored all 12 of his points in the second half on March 1.
“We had a 1-point loss to Park Hill in overtime, we had a last second overtime loss to Lee’s Summit, and Liberty beat us at the buzzer so really those three games we lost, they could have gone either way. We’ve been kind of just hammering it out, staying with the plan with who we are, and it worked out,” Dan Parra said.
Park Hill South ran into a juggernaut in the district semifinals, being tasked with the best team in the state. Staley handled Park Hill South twice in the regular season with a pair of wins by a total margin of 138-79 and won its last seven games ahead of districts.
“We haven’t played great against them so one good thing is we’ve got nothing to lose. I think we’re playing really well right now; Jaylen (Lockhart) and Mike (Collins) are playing good underneath and Cahmai (Crosby) is really demanding a lot of attention and making the right play every time,” Dan Parra said about Staley after the North Kansas City game.
Zahir Ragsdale came off the bench this postseason and will look to play a larger role next season as Park Hill South is graduating a heavy senior class.
The Falcons soared to an 8-0 lead in the first 1:37, but the Panthers called a timeout and kept it close for the rest of the opening quarter. It took Park Hill South four possessions to finally get a shot up that hit the basket as Crosby knocked down a floater after trailing 10-0.
Parra knocked down a triple, Crosby sank a pair of free throws and Lockhart scored twice to bring the game to 16-11. Lockhart scored his second basket with 37 seconds left in the first quarter, but the Panthers went cold for almost eight minutes of play, and Staley responded with a 3-point play before the first quarter buzzer.
Park Hill South went on to score only five points in the second quarter, three of which were from the charity stripe. Ragsdale made a layup with right under a minute to go in the half for the Panthers first field goal of the frame and Staley went into the break with a 35-19 advantage, increasing the margin in the final 16 minutes to eliminate the Panthers.