Park Hill Boys battling through stretch of 13 games in 26 days

Along with their female counterparts, the Park Hill Boys basketball team was also able to bring home a consolation game victory at Basehor-Linwood last week as they defeated Holton 64-49 last Friday night. It was the culmination of an up and down week for the Trojans who improved to 10-4 with the victory. Starting off the week with a poor performance against St. James by getting off to a slow start and followed by foul trouble throughout the game, led Park Hill to a matchup with St. Joe Benton. The Redbirds played the Trojans in a zone defense, a defense most likely used to limit the effect the Trojans were able to have with their dribble penetration. This led to Trojans to not only focus on attacking Benton’s defense, but a renewed determination on their own defensive end.

“Our big focus on that game was defense,” Coach David Garrison said. “Our goal was to get four consecutive stops in a row, and I think we got seven.”

The 52-31 victory over Benton set up a consolation game matchup against Holton. A physical and athletic Wildcat team featured five players who were 6’4” or taller, which presented a size disadvantage to the Trojans. The first quarter’s play was a good contrast of the teams’ styles of play with Holton pounding it down low in the post and getting some easy baskets while Park Hill made a couple three-pointers and mid-range jump shots leaving the score in Holton’s advantage at 11-10 midway through the first quarter. Although, not immediately effecting the score, Park Hill threw several different defenses at the Wildcats in the first half including a full-court man on man press and a 1-3-1 half-court trap set at one point.

“We put a little pressure on them,” Garrison said. “Tried to play some different things and do the best we could to make them feel uncomfortable.”

Despite a 32-29 deficit at halftime, it wouldn’t take long for Park Hill’s Justin Leathers to get two consecutive tip-in baskets to gain the Trojans’ first lead since the opening minutes of the game. This was the beginning of a 12-2 run for Park Hill as Leathers came through again midway through the third quarter with a one-handed dunk to put the Trojans up 41-34.

“In the second half we made an adjustment and the guys were all for just picking up the pace a little bit,” Garrison said. “Getting some steals and rebounds so we could just get out and push it.”

In the fourth quarter Holton seemed to shy away from their inside game and started kicking out to their perimeter players. Park Hill was not caught off guard by this and took full advantage as they were able to get several steals and breakaway layups. If not easy layups, they were able to draw fouls. Converting their free throws increased their lead and sealed the victory with a 64-49 win.

With Justin Leathers, De’Aris Flint, and Chris Nsenki having all been big point producers at various points in the season, Garrison noted the contributions of Brady Kreitzer and his role.

“Brady was in a tough spot today with some of those big guys and he’s picked up some steam for us,” Garrison said. “As we keep going, and get to a point where they’re all ‘on’ in the same night, we’re going to be a pretty good team.”

Park Hill is currently in the middle of a stretch where they will play 13 games in 26 days. They played St. Joe Central on Tuesday night and will play in the Nixa Tournament south of Springfield over the weekend starting Thursday. The tournament will offer the Trojans a chance to play some unfamiliar competition while tuning up for what could be a conference title run in the final weeks of the season.