Park Hill senior Desire Tonye-Nyemeck’s had his first career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds in the Trojans’ 47-41 win over Park Hill South on Jan. 5.
PARKVILLE – The atmosphere was imminent in the annual rivalry basketball game between Park Hill (7-5) and Park Hill South (6-6) as the traveling Trojans walked away with the victory on Jan. 5.
The first of two regular season matchups between the rivals had a sluggish start as a left corner 3-pointer by Park Hill South senior Michael Good was the only made field goal in the first six minutes. There were some made free throws early on and after back-to-back buckets by Donovan Fonville and Cameron Jones, Park Hill led 7-5 after one.
When trailing 10-9, the Panthers took back control with five points by Damon Stacker – a pair of free throws and a step-back triple – and an and-one bucket by Carson Bjorn to make the score 18-14. Hagan West sank a 3-pointer for the Trojans with 27 seconds left and they retook a 20-18 halftime lead with a made free throw by Akoi Akoi and a putback layup by Desire Tonye-Nyemeck ahead of the buzzer.
“We had a couple of our top scorers tonight struggle a little bit and we had other guys step in and help us out,” Park Hill head boys’ basketball coach Chad Jones said. “We had Hagen West stepping off the bench and hitting a huge three in the first half for a role player.”
Park Hill was ahead for the rest of the contest, but Park Hill South kept it close. Gavin Schaag and Isaiah Caston both scored five points in the third quarter, each knocking down a 3-pointer, yet the Panthers wouldn’t go away.
Colby Kiedrowski scored three buckets in the paint and Stacker added three points to cut the margin to 32-29 with right over one minute left in the third period. Akoi added a layup and after Keegan Feder split a pair of free throws, Tonye-Nyemeck hit a buzzer-beating corner three.
“He dominated the glass all night, he kept us alive in the first half by chasing the offensive rebounds and did an amazing job. He’s such a tremendous athlete that when he gets after it, there’s really nobody who can match up with him, so we need to get his motor up to where we like it every single game,” Jones said about Tonye-Nyemeck.
Entering the fourth quarter trailing 37-30, Park Hill South was in an uphill battle for the final eight minutes. Kiedrowski scored the next nine points for the Panthers, including a steal and fastbreak layup the other way to make the score 42-39 with 1:11 – but that was as close as it got.
“We hit some big free throws to keep (Park Hill) South at arm’s length. Our guys just did a great job of executing when we asked them to – whether it was the press breaker or finishing layups late or knocking down two free throws at a time,” Jones said.
Stacker made a layup with 14 seconds left for Park Hill South’s only points down the stretch and Park Hill knocked down five free throws to come away with a 47-41 win. Tonye-Nyemeck had a season-high 16 points and had his first career double-double after snagging 12 rebounds.
Kiedrowski led the contest with 18 points on 2-of-2 shooting from deep and 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Stacker added 12 points and six rebounds and Bjorn blocked three shots.
Park Hill was coming off a 66-40 loss to Liberty (7-4) on Jan. 2 and will look to use this win as momentum going forward, starting with a home game against Lee’s Summit (4-5). Park Hill South had its season best 3-game winning streak snapped and will look to bounce back at Staley (9-4).