ALLEN — Mission Valley’s pressure defense had the Northern Heights boys surprised and a little flustered early on in Thursday night’s game. After coach Lanny Massey called an early timeout, though, the Wildcats got refocused, and they were good to go.
Heights outguarded and outexecuted the Vikings and had them all but knocked out by halftime, coasting to a balanced and satisfying 59-40 win.
“At first, we struggled with the press,” guard Teeino Tabares said. “And then, we started setting screens for each other... and the middle started opening up. We got on a roll and just kept on going.”
Once they settled down, the Wildcats got it done inside and outside. Down low, Ryan Swanson nearly worked his way to a double-double, putting up game highs of 11 points and nine rebounds. Guard Roman Murray and forward Nick Tabares each had 10 points, despite each shooting under 40 percent for the game, and both had a pair of 3-pointers. Teeino Tabares had eight points and dished out six assists.
After seeing the Vikings’ pressure and going the first several minutes of the game without getting on the board, Heights finally got a consistent scoring attack going by the end of the opening quarter.
“Coach called the timeout, calmed us down a bit, we got through it,” Murray said
Both of Nick Tabares’ threes and one of Murray’s came in the first, helping to give Heights a 15-11 lead. About a minute into the second quarter, with the Wildcats up 17-13, Teeino Tabares got back to defend a break and stepped in front of a driving Alvin Harris to take a charge. Heights put up 10 straight points after that play, the first two coming when Roman Murray penetrated into the middle of the lane and found Nick Tabares with a crisp bounce pass under the basket for a layin.
They went up 23-13 on a stickback by Derrek Swanson off a Teeino Tabares miss, then Teeino connected on a jumper to make it 25-13. In the final minute of the half, Mission Valley’s zone defense pushed Teeino back off the left wing, but he spotted Nathan Campbell cutting under the basket and lobbed it high to him for a layin to make it 29-15.
Heights (4-2, 3-1) continued in the second half with great defense — it held the Vikings to 36 percent shooting for the game — and flashes of great offensive execution. Nick Tabares’ pass from the left baseline to Seth Arndt, who was cutting down the middle of an open lane, resulted in a layin late in the third quarter that gave the ’Cats their first 20-point lead at 43-23.
“We were able to start setting picks and get back cuts into the middle of the lane and back cuts to the block that opened up,” Massey said. “Our kids recognized (that) and started getting the ball where it needed to be. I was real proud of the way our guards distributed the ball to each other and to our posts.”
The Wildcats won the battle on the boards 34-23, including 14 offensive rebounds. On one possession late in the first half, Nick Tabares got a fourth-chance basket after he missed a shot, Murray rebounded and missed, Bryant Heins rebounded and missed and Tabares finally banked it home underneath.
“The offensive boards — I don’t know. Personally, I don’t know how we came down with ’em,” Murray said. “We managed to, we scrapped around, got the offensive boards, put ’em back. But I just felt that our defensive pressure was pretty good tonight.”
“I was glad to see our rebounding come around,” Massey added. “Chase County outrebounded us Tuesday night, and we kind of made it a point of emphasis last night in practice that, ‘hey, we got a couple of big kids, but for the most part we’re not a real big team, so everybody’s gotta help out. Tonight, I felt like our guards were in there digging and clawing to help us out...”
Along with the Ladycats, the Wildcats will be playing their third game in four days tonight. West Franklin is tonight’s opponent, but after Thursday’s win, Murray couldn’t help but think about the upcoming Flint Hills League tournament and the possibility of avenging Heights’ earlier loss to Osage City.
“I want to get another shot at Osage, because I feel we didn’t play our best, and tonight, I thought, was one of our better performances of the season,” Murray said. “I’m just happy with the way we played.”
Northern Heights boys 59, Mission Valley 40
Mission Valley 11 4 9 16 — 40
Northern Heights 15 14 14 16 — 59
Mission Valley (2-4, 1-3) — Mercer 0-3 0-0 0, Runyan 1-1 0-0 2, Marcotte 2-2 0-2 4, Cook 0-4 0-0 0, Cripps 0-0 0-0 0, Rudeen 1-5 5-12 7, Branch 1-7 1-1 3, Isom 5-10 0-2 10, Marling 0-0 0-0 0, Harris 2-4 0-0 4, Lisk 3-5 0-0 8, Fritz 1-3 0-2 2, Singles-Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-44 6-19 40.
Northern Heights (4-2, 3-1) — D. Swanson 1-4 4-4 6, Denton 0-0 0-0 0, N. Tabares 4-11 0-0 10, Lee 1-1 0-0 2, Boyce 0-0 0-0 0, Arndt 2-5 0-0 4, Mendez 0-1 0-0 0, Atchison 0-0 0-0 0, K. Bronson 1-3 0-0 2, Heins 0-2 1-2 1, T. Tabares 4-8 0-0 8, Campbell 2-2 0-1 5, D. Bronson 0-1 0-0 0, Murray 4-12 0-0 10, R. Swanson 4-7 3-3 11, Young 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-57 8-10 59.
3-point goals — Mission Valley 2-7 (Lisk 2-4, Cook 0-2, Branch 0-1), Northern Heights 5-15 (Murray 2-4, Tabares 2-6, Campbell 1-1, K. Bronson 0-1, Arndt 0-1, T. Tabares 0-1, D. Bronson 0-1). Fouled out — Northern Heights: D. Swanson. Rebounds — Mission Valley 23 (Rudeen 6), Northern Heights 34 (R. Swanson 9). Assists — Mission Valley 9 (Cook, Rudeen, Isom 2), Northern Heights 16 (T. Tabares 6). Total fouls — Mission Valley 12, Northern Heights 18.