Valley Center Tournament: Turner defense stops Maize South

Maize South boys coach Kip Schultz emerged from the locker room with a firm assessment of his team Thursday afternoon after the Mavericks lost 48-43 to Kansas City Turner in the January Jam.

“We’re soft,” Schultz said. “We’re not ready to battle. When you settle for shooting three balls all game long and you make 2 of 16, you’re not going to win many games.”

Maize South (3-6) lost its fifth consecutive game and dropped into the annual tournament’s losers bracket. The Mavericks will play Wichita Northwest (3-7), which lost 72-61 to unbeaten No. 1 seed Olathe Northwest.

Maize South’s offense never got on track against Turner, which won its third straight to improve to 4-6. Still, Maize South led 26-16 two minutes into the third quarter.

But Schultz didn’t sense the Mavericks were in control, and indeed they weren’t. Turner extended a 2-1-2 zone defense near midcourt, and it helped generate 13 Maize South turnovers in the second half.

“We play through our defense,” Turner coach Ryan Hintz said. “It gives us our energy, it gives us our intensity and that’s who we are.”

Junior Russell Reed, playing his first game of the season after being ineligible in December, scored 10 of his game-high 19 points in the first half to give Turner some semblance of offense. The Bears made 3 of 19 field goals in the first half and trailed 20-14 at the break.

Freshman Jaylin Richardson fueled Turner’s comeback effort, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the second half. His steal and dunk with 1:31 remaining in the third gave Turner its first lead at 31-30.

Richardson added a three-pointer for the first points of the fourth to make it 37-32, and Turner protected the lead the rest of the game.

“Jaylin’s a very confident player for a freshman, and we play off his confidence,” Hintz said. “He wants to lead and he does a good job of it.”

Meanwhile, Schultz said his search for leaders continues as Maize South tries to break out of its funk.

“Right now, we’re trying to find out who we are and who the leader is and who’s going to take care of business,” he said. “We just don’t have that guy yet.”

Olathe Northwest 72, Wichita Northwest 61 – Wichita Northwest emptied the tank with a second-half comeback attempt, slicing a 22-point deficit to six. But Olathe Northwest, No. 3 in the Class 6A coaches association rankings, held on to improve to 8-0.

“We didn’t finish it,” Wichita Northwest coach Bryan Chadwick said. “We’ve got to stop digging these holes in the first half. We did it against East and had to rally, and we did it again tonight.”

Olathe Northwest built a 33-11 lead in the first half on the strength of 6-foot-8 senior Matt Vanderslice and 6-5 Luke Waters. Waters finished with a team-high 17 points and led four Ravens in double figures.

Wichita Northwest, which got 18 points and seven rebounds from Michael Duncan, pulled within 62-56 on Jamir Cupps’ three-pointer with 2:34 to play. But the Grizzlies couldn’t get closer.

Valley Center 62, Ulysses 61 – Junior Tyler Brown scored 43 points for Valley Center (5-4), which advanced in the winners bracket despite missing its final six free throws.

Brown made 13 of 28 shots, including four three-pointers, and hit 13 of 16 free throws. But he was one of four Hornets who missed free throws in the final minute.

Ulysses (5-5) got 27 points from guard Jaidon Taylor, including a four-point play with 16 seconds remaining that cut Valley Center’s lead to 62-61. But after Valley Center’s Wyatt Lange missed two free throws, Taylor couldn’t connect on a floater in the lane that would have given the Tigers the lead.

Ulysses got another chance after Kadin Pearson missed two free throws with two seconds remaining, but Zach Zerr’s shot from beyond halfcourt sailed wide left.

Brown scored 28 points in the first half as Valley Center trailed 38-37.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 8:38 PM with the headline "Valley Center Tournament: Turner defense stops Maize South."