Shadle Park offense struggles in season-ending loss

Basketball is a simple game.

The game’s founder, Dr. James Naismith, determined if one team puts more balls through the cylinder than the other team, they win.

The Shadle Park boys couldn’t make shots and Kennedy Catholic made just enough to escape the 3A state regional game with a 40-32 decision Saturday at University High School.

The Highlanders (16-7) made just 12 of 49 shots from the field, 2 of 20 from 3-point range.

“Free throws and we didn’t shoot the ball,” Shadle coach Tim Gaebe said. “We picked a bad game to not play very well.”

In addition to the poor field goal shooting, Shadle made just 6 of 18 foul shots.

It may have been Shadle’s worst game of the season. And the Highlanders still had every chance to win.

After falling behind 9-0 early, Shadle limited Kennedy Catholic (17-9) to four points the final 13 minutes of the first half. That allowed the Highlanders to claw back and take a 14-13 lead into halftime.

Andreas Brown made a shot to give Shadle a 16-13 lead to open the second half.

But when Kennedy Catholic took the lead at 21-20, Shadle would play from behind the rest of the way.

When the Highlanders tried to make a charge in the fourth quarter, turnovers became a problem.

“We had no rhythm,” Gaebe said. “We defended pretty well. I was happy with our defensive effort.”

Gaebe had no idea why his team struggled. After all, it played well most of the regular season.

“I don’t know,” he said. “It was all self inflicted. We had some key turnovers, too. We just didn’t play well.”

Still, Shadle only trailed 26-24 going into the fourth quarter.

Kylan Kelley hit a 3-pointer to pull Shadle within 32-30 with 4:56 to go.

But the Highlanders couldn’t make any more shots down the stretch.

Tanner Groves led Shadle with 11 points and 22 rebounds, 15 in the first half. He fouled out with 2:17 to go.

Kobe Reece also had 10 rebounds for Shadle.

Keannu Royster led Kennedy Catholic with 12 points and Emilio Mancol had 10.