To be so close yet so far would sadly be the final story for the RBHS boys’ basketball team Tuesday night, as the fast and athletic Lee’s Summit West opposition held onto an early lead to win 46-42. Lead by star junior forward Elijah Childs, West was able to take advantage of a rough shooting night for the Bruins. RBHS’s woeful shooting percentage would help the Titans hold a 36 minute lead, which at one point was held as high as 15 points.
Even though the scoreboard showed dominance for LSW, the Bruins still played a highly competitive game, consistently keeping the action intense and exciting. The defense for both teams would set the tempo as Freshman Ben Cooper had a pair of steals early on, and senior Tre Williams stood tall over the paint grabbing five big rebounds and rejecting multiple Titan attempts.
RBHS had a much different tale on the offensive side of the ball though, as head coach Jim Scanlon’s team only got two three pointers all night and watched his team lose major second chance opportunities from poor ball movement and positioning.
“We weren’t playing our own game, which is frustrating,” Scanlon said. “We know we can shoot better than that, but every time we tried something it eventually fell through.”
Scanlon wasn’t far off at all, as West did a great job being able to stop the Bruin’s momentum just as the team started to heat things up. This late surge helped LSW keep their decisive lead, and left RBHS frustrated.
“In the end it fell through in those final minutes,” Scanlon said. “but I know that we had a million opportunities to win.”
One of these key late game moments came when both Junior Eysan Wiley and senior Trey Smith were blocked at the basket by Elijah Childs with a score of 40-38 with a minute and a half to go. For junior Justin Hajicek, this felt like the nail in the coffin.
“We just had a really rough night shooting, and that became a major part of it.” Hajicek said. “It was definitely one of the main reasons we lost tonight.”
For a now 5-3 team, the Bruins will travel to Northeast High School to face the Vikings who have only played one game so far this season, winning by 14 points.
“Tonight was definitely a game to build on, and we know it wasn’t totally terrible,” Hajicek said. “Now we just need to make it all come together against Northeast.”