Boys KVL standings

Justin Nutter

Eric McPherson shoots over Mill Valley's Patrick Muldoon in the Chieftains' 70-45 loss on Friday.

League record, Overall record

Lansing, 7-1, 13-1

Mill Valley, 7-1, 12-2

Basehor-Linwood, 6-2, 8-6

Piper, 6-3, 11-4

Tonganoxie, 3-5, 7-7

Bonner Springs, 3-6, 7-8

Bishop Ward, 1-7, 4-10

Turner, 0-8, 2-12

Slow starts have plagued the Tonganoxie High boys throughout the 2012-13 season. The team stumbled out of the gate Friday against arguably the Kaw Valley League’s top team, and the results spoke for themselves.

THS found itself in a 13-1 hole in the opening minutes and never recovered in a 70-45 loss at Class 5A Mill Valley.

“They came out physical and we didn’t match that intensity to start with, so we got down,” coach Shawn Phillips said. “We played awful timid, and that’s how you get yourself in a hole.”

The Chieftains (7-7, 3-5 KVL) didn’t hit their first field goal until a three-pointer by John Lean with 2:42 left in the first quarter. They cut the lead to single digits at the end of the period and hung with the Jaguars (12-2, 7-1) for most of the second quarter, but MVHS closed the half on a 7-2 run to take a 37-24 lead into the break.

Any thoughts of a second-half comeback were quickly erased when the Jaguars opened the third quarter on a 13-2 burst to go up, 50-26, and the deficit grew to as many as 29 points in the game’s final minutes.

“We’ve got a lot of really good teams that play in our league,” Phillips said. “I don’t think we’re far off from being a team that can compete with anybody, but we just can’t have those two-minute stretches where we play poorly. It’s one thing to play off, but you can’t play poorly against great teams.”

Jack Dale paced Tonganoxie with 13 points, while Lean and Tyler Ford each added 10. Mill Valley’s Wyatt Voorhes led all scorers with 19 points, including five three-pointers.

Phillips’ squad will try to get back in the win column when it travels Tuesday to Basehor-Linwood. The Bobcats handed the Chieftains a 69-50 loss in their first meeting on Dec. 14.

Related: Phillips, Bogart reunited with high school coach

Score by quarter

Tonganoxie 9  15  6  15 — 45

Mill Valley 18  19  19  14 — 70

Individual scoring

TONGANOXIE — Jack Dale 4-7 4-4 13, John Lean 3-8 3-4 10, Tyler Ford 3-6 2-2 10, James Grizzle 1-2 3-5 5, Jared Sommers 1-3 1-2 3, Eric McPherson 1-2 0-0 2, Ben Johnson 1-5 0-0 2.

MILL VALLEY — Wyatt Voorhes 6-13 2-2 19, Brett Hamilton 5-13 4-5 15, Logan Koch 3-3 2-4 8, Patrick Muldoon 4-6 0-0 8, Nathan Stacy 1-1 6-6 8, Kyle Kain 2-3 0-2 4, Austin Moylan 2-5 0-0 4, Evan Applegate 1-1 0-0 2, Staton Rebeck 1-3 0-0 2.