McPherson shows class in opening-round win over Blue Valley West

McPherson point guard Mason Alexander dribbled the seconds away, envisioning what was going to be an exclamation point on the first half.

He lobbed a pass to fellow senior Ben Pyle, who twisted midair and touched the pass in before the buzzer. The bucket exemplified the control McPherson had throughout its 55-41 victory over Blue Valley West on Thursday in its opening round victory. It also highlighted a connection that has been perfected since fifth grade.

“We’ve been playing together for so long, and he just kinda gave me that look,” Alexander said. “I put it up high where he could get it. I had trust, and he had trust.”

Pyle came into the game as AV-CTL III’s second-leading scorer at 21.2 points per game and only helped that rate with a 31-point night, one of his best of the season.

The Bullpups weren’t dynamite to start the game. Outside of Pyle, McPherson players combined for five baskets in the first half.

Coach Kurt Kinnamon said he doesn’t want to rely on Pyle score 30 a night, but he said he knows he can.

“Not everybody has that luxury, so I gotta count myself lucky,” Kinnamon said.

McPherson (10-1) poured it on in the second half, especially the third quarter defensively.

Blue Valley West (3-6) had two points in the third. The Jaguars shot 2-of-16 from the floor, including 0-of-8 from beyond the three-point line.

Kinnamon said to stifle a team offensively in that way, the entire team needs to adopt a certain mindset.

“It’s ‘We’re gonna guard. We’re gonna keep the ball in front of us,’ ” he said.

The Bullpups didn’t shoot any better than they had in the first half, but after outscoring the Jaguars by 10 in the third quarter, they didn’t need to be.

“We held them to 41 points, that’s a great job defensively,” Alexander said. “Shots weren’t falling, so we knew we had to get it to the basket.”

Often, that was Pyle’s duty.

Kinnamon said Pyle is so dangerous because he is too quick for most 6-foot-8 players and far too strong for anyone smaller than that.

Pyle said that was a point of emphasis for him coming in.

“I just felt like I had a step ahead of everybody,” he said. “I felt like I was bigger and stronger and could finish above everybody else.”

He did with frequency, but none were prettier than the play before the half.

Kinnamon said that play is one he draws up often before the end of a quarter or a half because he knows it works.

“That requires a really good pass, and it requires somebody who has the ability to go up and finish,” he said. “A lot of times, it’s a dunk.”

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 10:33 PM with the headline "McPherson shows class in opening-round win over Blue Valley West."