Highlands boys defeat Deer Lakes in tip-off tourney

By: George Guido
Saturday, December 11, 2021 | 8:21 PM

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After winning its season opener by 64 points Friday night, the Highlands boys basketball team finally was able to pull away in the fourth quarter Saturday night for a 61-40 victory over Deer Lakes.

The Golden Rams opened the final period with an 18-3 run to secure the victory.

Tip-off tournament MVP Jimmy Kunst had 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for 2-0 Highlands.

“Deer Lakes is a well-coached team and an experienced team,” Golden Rams coach Corey Dotchin said. “We knew we were going to have our hands full with them. But we trusted in our gameplan that over time, we’d be able to wear them down and make a run. We have the firepower and the shooters to match any type of defense we’re going to see through the year.”

After leading by just one at the end of one quarter, Highlands built an 11-point lead when Kunst fired a pass to the inside to Chandler Thimons. Thimons was fouled and converted a three-point play to give the Golden Rams a 25-14 lead with 2 minutes, 8 seconds left in the half.

Bryce Robson, who led the 1-1 Lancers with 20 points, scored eight in the third period to keep the Lancers within striking distance.

“This was one that we wanted tonight,” Lancers coach Terence Parham said. “There was no fear coming in after looking at their score last night. We felt we could play, but we only showed it the first and third quarters. You can’t have lapses like we did in the second and fourth quarters. I thought if we could keep them in the 50s, we’d have a chance. That was anticipating that we’d start hitting some shots.”

Kunst snaked his way through the key and spun around to make a key shot to put Highlands up, 49-31 with 5:41 remaining. Carter Leri followed with a 3-pointer to help ice the decision.

“He’s a special kid,” Dotchin said of Kunst. “He’s one of those players who doesn’t come along very often. He’s the hardest worker on the court, he goes non-stop and he’s always about the team.”

Deer Lakes was plagued with often being limited to one shot per possession. The Golden Rams outrebounded the Lancers, 35-18.

“I wasn’t happy with that. That’s effort,” Parham said “Shooting is one thing. You can’t control the shot, so to say, but you can control what happens after the shot. There were beating us to the punch.”

Leri had 12 points for Highlands, and Thimons collected nine rebounds.

Armend Karpuzi scored 10 and pulled down seven rebounds for Deer Lakes.

Highlands faces a test Monday with a home game against Imani Christian in a 7 p.m. start with no junior varsity game. Deer Lakes will take on Avonworth on Tuesday.

Besides Kunst winning the MVP, the all-tournament team included Golden Rams sophomore Brayden Foster, Robson and Karpuzi of Deer Lakes, Aden Wisniewski of Mt. Pleasant and Elijah Guillory of Moon.

Tags: Deer Lakes, Highlands