A rally for the ages: Parks’ 31 helps Heights to 72-68 victory
Brent Maycock, Special to The Gazette
Thursday, March 6, 2008
HUTCHINSON — The first two-plus quarters of Northern Heights’ first State trip is a period of time the Wildcat boys would rather forget.
The last 12 minutes, however, is one the Wildcats and their fans might very well remember forever.
Down 46-31 to Galena with 3:56 left in the third quarter of Wednesday’s Class 3A State Tournament quarterfinal, Heights was seemingly out. A one-and-done result for the program’s first-ever State appearance.
Instead, the third-seeded Wildcats pulled off one of those comebacks that will only grow in legendary status over time. Led by a monster finish from senior standout Haydon Parks, Heights (22-2) outscored Galena 41-22 in the final 12 minutes to claim a 72-68 victory that put them in Friday’s 4:45 p.m. semifinal against No. 2-seeded Wichita Trinity, which snuck by Horton 49-45.
“In the third quarter, it was almost like, ‘Can we come back?’” said Parks, who finished with a game-high 31 points, including a pair of game-winning free throws with 12.4 seconds left. “We had dug such a big hole. I guess that just made it more exciting.”
Take away the ‘c’ and exciting becomes exiting, and that’s what it appeared Heights would be doing for pretty much most of the game. A comeback hardly seemed imminent simply because that meant at some point the Wildcats were going to have to keep Galena from scoring, and that was something they hadn’t figured out for 2 1/2 quarters.
When Heights pressed, the Bulldogs got behind the defense for easy buckets. When the Wildcats dropped back into a zone, Galena’s Troy Albright, Colton Leet and Jacoby Martin burned them with 3-pointers.
In building its 15-point lead, Galena made 18 of its first 36 shots, including 5 of 10 3-pointers.
“They were hot early,” Heights coach Lanny Massey said. “They were really clicking.”
About the only thing that stirred hope for a Heights comeback was the fact that Galena didn’t have an answer for Parks. And as Galena’s post players began to get in foul trouble and eventually foul out, the 6-foot-6 Parks took over.
His three-point play ended a 3-minute scoreless drought that had produced Galena’s biggest lead and also started a 14-9 run by the Wildcats that got the deficit to 10 by the end of the third quarter. Parks then scored the first three baskets of the fourth quarter, the last of those a breakaway dunk that got the Wildcats within 55-51 and sent the Heights’ fans into a frenzy.
“He just killed us down the stretch,” Galena coach Brad Krouse said. “It’s tough when both of my big-guy starters are on the bench. That hurt us defensively and offensively. We started pressing too much on offense and got out of sync.”
Indeed, the Bulldog team that had been efficient and hot suddenly struggled. The Bulldogs turned it over on three of their first four possessions of the fourth quarter.
Heights, meanwhile, just kept going to Parks. When he didn’t score, he opened things up for his teammates. Pete Symmonds’ three-point play cut the deficit to three, and then David Hanks scored on two straight trips to get the deficit down to one. After Galena missed the front end of two straight one-and-one chances, Parks gave Heights its first lead of the game, 61-59, on a three-point play with 3:27 to go.
Heights was far from clear, though. After building a three-point lead twice, the Wildcats saw Albright bury 3-pointers to tie it, the second of those with 21 seconds left in the game. The Wildcats went right back to Parks, who was fouled on a drive down the lane and made both charities.
Galena’s last gasp ended in a turnover when Dakota Walker stumbled near midcourt and lost the ball. Heights picked it up, and Levi Hizar put the finishing touches on the remarkable comeback with a layup at the buzzer, igniting a raucous Wildcat celebration.
“I put on the board before the game, ‘We aren’t done,’ and at halftime when we were down, I told them again, ‘We aren’t done,’” Massey said. “We’ve fought back from (being down) before. I wasn’t too sure we could get it done against this team, but I didn’t want our kids to give up and be happy with where they were at.
“It’s the greatest feeling in the world right now.”
Parks finished 11-of-15 from the field and 9-of-11 from the free-throw line and also grabbed eight rebounds and had three assists and three blocks. Symmonds added 11 points, helping offset a rough night by Hizar (2-of-12).
Galena (18-5) was led by Albright, who finished 4-of-5 on 3-pointers and with 19 points. Martin and Jacob Gougler each added 13, but Gougler was one of three Bulldogs to foul out trying to stop Parks.
Parks had begun the game by making four straight shots in a 2:19 span to help the Wildcats keep pace early.
But Parks only got one shot attempt in the second quarter, and when he disappeared, so did Heights’ offense. Heights made just 3 of 8 shots in the second quarter and turned it over six times, allowing Galena to bolt to a 39-28 lead.
Northern Heights 72, Galena 68
Wednesday at Hutchinson
Galena 22 17 16 13 — 68
No. Heights 16 12 17 27 — 72
Galena (18-5) — Martin 4-5 4-6 13, Walker 1-3 0-1 3, T. Albright 6-13 3-4 19, Gougler 5-10 3-5 13, M. Albright 2-3 2-2 6, Keyser 0-1 0-0 0, Leet 4-9 0-0 9, Clark 2-4 1-2 5, New 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-49 13-20 68.
Northern Heights (22-2) — Glass 2-4 0-0 5, Bronson 1-2 2-2 4, Symmonds 3-5 5-9 11, Hizar 2-12 0-0 5, Parks 11-15 9-11 31, Murray 2-2 0-0 5, McClellan 1-2 1-2 3, Hanks 3-5 2-3 8. Totals 25-47 19-27 72.
3-point goals — Galena 7-12 (T. Albright 4-5, Martin 1-1, Walker 1-2, Leet 1-2, Gougler 0-1, New 0-1), NH 3-9 (Glass 1-2, Murray 1-1, Hizar 1-4, McClellan 0-1, Bronson 0-1). Rebounds — Galena 29 (Gougler 9), NH 25 (Parks 8). Assists — Galena 12 (Walker 5), NH 20 (Glass 4, Bronson 4). Turnovers — Galena 20 (Gougler 7), NH 19 (Hizar 5). Total fouls — Galena 22, NH 15. Fouled out — Galena: M. Albright, Gougler, Leet.