THS defeated Pleasant Ridge, 58-31, near Easton as the Chieftains limited the Rams to nine points in the second half. PRHS hit a long-distance three at the buzzer, but it still marked the third game in which Tonganoxie won by 24 points or more.

Tonganoxie rolled past Heritage Christian, 71-33, on Jan. 26 in Olathe and Wamego, 62-38, on Jan. 23 in the fifth-place game of the Tonganoxie Invitational.

The teams were tied at 15 after a quarter, but THS built a 13-point lead in the second quarter and then put the game away with a 16-4 advantage in the third quarter.

THS coach Phil Jones said his players were dialed in Friday. Pleasant Ridge won handily against Tonganoxie in a summer league game in 2019, so the Chieftains had that on their mind during the nonconference game.

“We were way too sped up and gambling,” Jones said about the Chieftains early on against the Rams.

But then Tonganoxie settled down and motored ahead. Jones credited his team’s defense for creating plenty of opportunities offensively.

“When we play great defensively, we can hang with anybody,” Jones said.

Heston Robbins scored a double-double for Tonganoxie, as the senior had 25 points and 14 rebounds in 24 minutes of work.

Classmate Rylee Beach also was in double figures with 11, with 9 points coming off three-pointers.

Blake Poje, Andrew Willson and Zane Novotney each had 5, Dallas Bond 3 and then Tamar Brown and Thailan Simpson 2 each.

Tonganoxie improved to 8-3 after winning its fourth-straight game THS is 3-1 in Frontier League play, but had another non conference game Tuesday with a trip west to play Shawnee Heights in Tecumseh. The game took place after The Mirror’s print deadline Tuesday.

The T-Birds handed THS its first loss of the season Dec. 11 in Tonganoxie. Shawnee Heights won that game, 58-52, but Jones looks to get his first victory against his alma mater on Tuesday. He’s 0-3 so far against SHHS as THS coach.

Tonganoxie returns to Frontier League play Feb. 5 at home against Bonner Springs and then is on the road Feb. 8 for another league game at Spring Hill.

THS has a mix of Frontier League and nonconference games left on the regular season schedule as the squad prepares for the postseason in a few weeks.

Tonganoxie will be in a Class 4A substate with Bishop Miege, Eudora and Baldwin.

Balanced attack helps Chieftains against Chargers

Tonganoxie had four players in double figures in its 71-33 victory against Heritage Christian.

Poje (14), Willson (14), Robbins (12) and Beach (11) all were in double figures for THS.

Robbins also led the team in rebounds with 9.

Others scoring for the Chieftains were Novotney with 5, Simpson with 5, Bond with 4, Caleb Clark with 4 and Brown with 2.