The Panthers clawed their way to the Class 6 District 8 Semifinals where they ran into a vigorous Staley squad (24-4) who proved its worth as the No. 1 seed, and the Park Hill South boys’ basketball team (17-11) lost 56-29 on March 1.
In what was the third matchup of the season between the Red Division opponents – and the third consecutive year the Panthers and Falcons met in the postseason – Staley repeated history and pulled off the win. Park Hill South got swept by the Falcons in the regular season and struggled on offense in the district contest when Staley eliminated the Panthers for the third straight season.
“A lot of credit goes to Staley, they played really well on defense,” Park Hill South head boys’ basketball coach Dan Parra said. “They made everything really hard on us, every shot was challenged; we rushed shots because of their length, and we didn’t take the best shots.”
Staley scored the opening eight points in the contest until Park Hill South senior James Williams, who was inserted into the starting lineup over a banged up Jack Bjorn, scored a layup with 5:03 on the clock. After Staley responded with its first of nine made 3-pointers, Park Hill South ended the first period on a seven to two run and trailed 13-9.
Following a Cahmai Crosby layup late in the first quarter, Park Hill South didn’t score another field goal for the next 10:56 of the game. Crosby added a pair of free throws to give the Panthers their only two points of the second period when the Falcons’ offense was clicking, and Staley took a 29-11 lead at the break.
“They spread the ball well and made our defense scramble and when you do that enough times in a row, it’s going to cause some open shots and some confusion. On defense we got confused a bit on our closeouts and about who we wanted to close out well on, and Staley shot the ball well,” Parra said.
Messias Dockery ended the Panthers’ scoring drought with a layup right over a minute into the second half, but the Falcons continued to push the margin to as much as 22 in the third quarter. Miles Fant and Crosby both scored five points apiece in the frame and Staley beat the buzzer with its eighth 3-pointer of the game to take a 45-23 lead.
Park Hill South only scored six points in the final eight minutes: a transition layup from Dockery, a pull-up jumper from J.D. Roberts and a Crosby layup. The Panthers ended their season with 17 wins – one in the postseason – and averaged 54.4 points per game throughout the year.
“We had ups and downs, but we beat some good teams – North Kansas City, Lee’s Summit and Park Hill, which is always nice since they’re our rival – I feel like we had a great year even though our record might not show it. We just had so many ups and downs and it just didn’t work out the way we wanted to tonight,” Parra said.
The Panthers had a loaded senior class, with seven total, and only had one non-senior in the starting lineup. Coach Parra told the Platte County Citizen how much the talented seniors mean to the Park Hill South basketball program.
Park Hill South senior Miles Fant, above, drives into the paint in the first half against Staley in the Panthers 56-29 postseason loss on March 1.
“There was a lot of tears in the locker room, that senior group means a lot to me. They’ve been together for four years and came up through the ranks and it means a lot what they’ve done for us the last few years; whatever they do in the future, they’re going to be successful and we’re going to miss them,” Parra said.
The Panthers will look like a brand new team next year after losing Trey Weith, Terrious Walker, Roberts, Dockery, Fant, Bjorn and Williams. Crosby, who is a junior this year, has led the Panthers in scoring the last two seasons and ended with 12.1 points per game this year and will be their most experienced player when next winter comes around.