Capital City had no answer for Kanyon Hummel.
The 6-foot-8 forward racked up 26 points on the way to a 55-36 Rock Bridge Bruins win against the Capital City Cavaliers during Central Missouri Activities Conference action Tuesday night at Capital City High School.
Hummel helped propel the Bruins to an early 8-0 run in the Cavaliers’ late home opener.
Brady Bowers started the game with a pull-up jumper for Rock Bridge, then Hummel turned an offensive rebound into two points from the free throw line.
Hummel continued the run when he used a post-entry pass from Mark Hajicek for a layup, then he collected a tip pass from Andrew May on a fast break to put the Bruins ahead 8-0 with 2:30 left in the first quarter.
Colby Gates got the Cavaliers on the scoreboard when Corde Brown turned a steal into a fastbreak assist, then Robert Gray dished a pass to Ashden Carson at the top of the key for a 3-pointer, bringing the Cavaliers within 8-5 with 1:32 left.
After a 3 from Hudson Dercher, the Bruins took an 11-5 lead into the first break.
Capital City’s offense got going in the second quarter.
John Hightower dished an assist to a cutting Brown, then Brown grabbed a batted pass and heaved it to Mitch Renfrow in the left corner for a 3, cutting the Bruins’ lead to 11-10.
Rock Bridge extended back to 18-12, but Gray crossed up his defender for a driving layup, then used a Brown assist for a step-back 3 from the left wing to cut the lead to 18-17 Bruins with 3:35 left.
Rock Bridge got four more points from Hummel, while Renfrow hit another 3 for Capital City, this one in the right corner, to send the Bruins into the break up 22-20.
“I thought we did a decent job in the first half,” Capital City coach Darrin Young said. “The biggest thing when you’re playing disciplined teams like Rock Bridge, you need to play good help defense. You’ve gotta do two things. One, you’ve got to have really good offensive possessions. Two, when you get a stop, you’ve got to value the ball and make sure you’re converting. … In games like that, it’s all about momentum and we were the ones who were forced to play catch-up the entire game.”
Rock Bridge jumped ahead in the third quarter, scoring 17 points to Capital City’s nine.
Hummel led the way with 12 points, including two traditional three-point plays, shooting 5-for-5 in the eight-minute period and outscoring the Cavaliers on his own.
“You’ve gotta give him credit, he did a really good job of creating space, beating us to the spots where he wanted the ball and we struggled a bit to get him off the boards,” Young said. “He was a dominant force.”
Rock Bridge held Capital City scoreless for the final two minutes of the third quarter, then spanned the break and didn’t allow a basket until Kendric Johnson turned a steal into a layup with 5:03 left in the fourth quarter. By that point, the Bruins had extended their lead to 43-31.
The Bruins ended the game on a 12-5 run, with all five of Capital City’s points coming from Brown, who led the team with seven.
Brown complemented his team-high scoring with a co- game-high four assists as well as three rebounds. Renfrow had six points on two 3s to complement three boards, while Gray dished out four assists, grabbed three rebounds and scored five points.
Kesete had six points on 3-for-5 shooting for the Cavaliers, while Carson brought down four boards.
Hummel complemented his 26 points with a co-game-high five rebounds, while Bowers had 10 points and five boards for the Bruins. Dercher joined them in double digits with 11 points on 3-for-5 shooting from 3 to complement four rebounds.
Capital City (6-6 overall, 0-2 CMAC) goes on the road to face Battle for a 7 p.m. matchup Thursday. Rock Bridge (5-4, 1-0) plays host to Kansas City Central at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Rock Bridge beat Capital City 51-34 during junior varsity action Tuesday. John Hightower led the Cavaliers with 11 points.