Since Christmas, the Park Hill boys’ basketball team (11-7) has won eight of its last 11 games, most recently splitting a pair of home Kansas City Suburban Conference Silver Division matchups against Lee’s Summit North (7-12) and Staley (17-1).
Park Hill senior Kendrick Bell shot six-of-10 from the field and two-of-three from deep to finish with 16 points in the Trojans 72-59 win over Lee’s Summit North on Jan. 24.
Entering senior night with a 2-1 home record when Lee’s Summit North came to town on Jan. 24, Park Hill took care of business to move to 3-1 at home and in the Silver Division. The first five baskets of the night were back-and-forth between the teams until the Broncos took a 14-8 advantage with under three minutes to play in the first quarter.
Park Hill went on a massive run from that point on until halftime. The Trojans closed out the opening frame on a 7-2 run after a pair of triples by Gavin Schaag and Cameron Jones and a free throw by Ty Schreck to close the gap to 16-15.
Park Hill retook the lead quickly and a fast break slam dunk by Marqueas Bell midway through the second quarter pushed the margin to double figures and the Trojans closed out the half on a 27-4 run. The Trojans headed into the locker room up 38-20 as Kendrick and Marqueas Bell outscored the Broncos, combining for 23 points.
The Trojans took their largest lead of the night with right around two minutes left in the third quarter after back-to-back transition layups by Jones and Schaag. That 56-29 lead was cut to 59-35 entering the fourth quarter, however the Broncos fought back to single digits late, but Park Hill won 72-59.
Marqueas Bell led the Trojans’ offense with 18 points – to go with four steals – and Kendrick Bell had 16 points, six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. The Bell brothers both knocked down two shots from deep, as did Schaag, who ended with eight points.
In the Trojans’ next game on Jan. 27, they were tasked with taking on the best team in all of Class 6, a Staley squad that entered the night with six wins in a row and only one loss on the season. The game started off tight with a back-and-forth opening frame when the Falcons led 13-11.
With Staley up 22-16 with four minutes to play in the second quarter, the road team finished the first half on an 11-2 run to take a 33-18 advantage at the break. The Falcons started with the ball in the second half and Kendrick Bell stole the opening sideline inbound pass and took it the distance adding another bucket less than a minute later to cut the margin to 33-22.
Staley kept a comfortable 8-plus point lead in the quarter as a trip by Marqueas Bell to the charity stripe with 20 seconds left made the score 45-36 entering the fourth period. The Falcons quickly pushed the lead back up to double digits until Jones sunk a pair of free throws with 1:21 to play in regulation to cut the deficit to 56-49.
That was the closest the game would be the rest of the way as the Falcons pulled away with a 63-51 victory. Kendrick Bell had a game-high 23 points when he made five of his 11 shots, in addition to two blocks and four steals.
Marqueas Bell outscored every Falcon when he ended with 18 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Schaag hit two of the Trojans’ four triples to end with six points and Jones added four points.