Jackson Heights boys basketball defeats Immaculata

A third-quarter, 25-point explo­sion helped propel the Jackson Heights Cobra boys to a 55-42 win over Immaculata during what was likely the Cobras’ final trip to the Leavenworth school on Tuesday.

“Our balanced effort and huge third quarter were the keys,” Head Coach Chris Brown said of the win, which lifts the Cobras to a third-place, 7-2 record in the Northeast­ern Kansas League and 8-5 overall. Immaculata, currently at sixth in the NEK League with a 2-6 record, is now 3-8 overall.

The first half of Tuesday’s game appeared to be a neck-and-neck contest, the Cobras emerging from the half with a slight 22-19 lead on the strength of eight points from junior Topher Dohl and a pair of treys from senior Mason Thomas.

The third quarter, however, was a different story, with the Cobras going on a 25-point bomb run, led by senior Wyatt Olberding with 10 points in the frame, and holding the Raiders to nine points. Imac came alive in the fourth and outscored the Cobras 14-8, but Heights’ third quarter was too much for the Raid­ers to overcome.

Olberding led the Cobras in scoring on the night with 16 points, followed by Thomas with nine points, all from downtown, and Dohl and seniors Mason Hamilton and Kaleb Keehn with eight points each.

Up next is the annual King and Queen of Courts game at home on Friday, in which the Cobras will host Maur Hill, currently second in the NEK League with a 8-2 league record and 11-3 overall after beat­ing Horton 46-33 on Tuesday. The Ravens beat the Cobras 44-41 ear­lier in the season.

Scoring

Jackson Heights 55, Immaculata 42

Jackson Heights 10-12-25-8—55

Immaculata 8-11-9-14—42

Jackson Heights: W. Olberding 7 (1) 1-2 16, M. Thomas 3 (3) 0-0 9, Hamilton 4 0-0 8, Keehn 3 2-2 8, Dohl 3 2-5 8, Holliday 1 2-4 4, Rethman 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 (4) 7-13 55.

Immaculata: Bugarski 5 (1) 1-4 12, Schwinn 3 (2) 3-6 11, Robinson 3 (3) 2-2 11, Vardiman 2 (2) 2-2 8, Todd-Nichol 0 0-1 0. Totals 13 (8) 8-15 42.

JV: Jackson Heights 29, Im­maculata 16.