Johnny Crise shakes off injury, leads No. 3 Highlands past No. 1 Knoch
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Tuesday, January 28, 2020 | 10:31 PM
Highlands Korry Myers goes in for a layup during the Golden Rams’ matchup with Knoch on Jan. 28, 2020.
Highlands Johnny Crise drives through the lane during a matchup with Knoch on Jan. 28, 2020.
Knoch’s Scott Fraser looks for an open teammate during a matchuip with highlands on Jan. 28, 2020.
Highlands Jimmy Kunst gets set to go up for a layup against Knoch on Jan. 28, 2020.
Things didn’t look good in the pre-game for Highlands standout Johnny Crise.
Recovering from a knee injury sustained against Allderdice on Sunday night, Crise took just a couple of practice shots and spent the remainder of warm-up time getting worked on in front of the Highlands bench.
But Crise was ready by game time and put on another stellar performance, scoring 24 points and collecting 10 rebounds as the No. 3 Golden Rams knotted the Section 1-4A race with a 72-65 victory over No. 1 Knoch before a sold-out Highlands gym.
Crise scored the team’s first six points to go over the 1,000 mark for his career then notched two key baskets in the opening minute of the fourth period.
“Coach (Tyler Stoczynski) left it up to me and the trainer,” Crise said about the decision on whether to play. “I did a lot of icing, a lot of therapy and we decided to go for it. I didn’t want to leave my teammates out to hang.”
“Me and Johnny kept in contact over the last 48 hours,” Stoczynski said. “Every time I asked him, he would give me nothing except, ‘I’m good. I’m good.’ I asked him at game time, and he said he was 100%. That’s the type of competitor he is.”
Both teams are in first place with 7-1 records. Highlands is 17-2 overall, Knoch 16-2.
Senior Korry Myers was also a big factor for the Golden Rams, pouring in 23 points, including four 3-pointers.
Said Stoczynski: “Korry been working so hard over the spring, summer and fall, working on his shooting and his consistency. He deserves everything he got tonight. He stepped up like a senior and did it.”
Highlands was in command early, leading 17-9 at the end of one quarter. But Knoch, riding a 16-game winning streak, got hot in the second period with six 3-pointers to take a 36-28 lead.
“What I liked was that we were down, 8-0, and Highlands was in control of the game, and our kids responded,” said Knights coach Ron McNabb. “They didn’t panic and they fought back and started hitting some shots.”
After a see-saw third quarter, a basket with 10 seconds left in the period gave Highlands the lead for good, 51-49.
Two baskets by Crise and one by Luke Cochran in the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter gave Highlands a 57-49 lead and forced McNabb to use a timeout.
Knoch returned to their sharpshooting, hitting four 3-pointers in the fourth period, but couldn’t catch up.
The Knights had only three team fouls with 1:38 left in the game and had to scramble to get Highlands to the foul line.
“I saw some real good things, defensively, tonight,” McNabb said. “I also saw us do some uncharacteristic things like lose our man a couple of times.”
Knoch trailed 70-65 with 32.4 seconds to go, but a steal by freshman Jimmy Kunst and a drive to the hoop with 7 seconds left decided the issue.
Kunst finished with 11 points, six key steals and four assists.
The Knights shot 26 fouls in the game against Highlands on Jan. 7. But the Knights didn’t go to the line at all in the second half.
The win puts Stoczynski in second place on the all-time Highlands coaching victory list with 112, passing the late Tom Myers.
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