By Maurice Patton

BRENTWOOD – Summit nearly dug out of a 24-point halftime hole Tuesday night, but couldn’t convert late as host Ravenwood finished off a 73-61 District 11-AAA victory.

With Destin Wade sidelined for the entire second quarter after picking up a pair of fouls in the first period, the Spartans (5-10, 5-6) were unable to keep pace as Ravenwood scored 18 unanswered points and stretched a 12-10 lead out to 42-18 by halftime.

“Our effort was good in the second half,” Summit coach Jim Fey said. “In the second quarter, we wanted to make excuses. We didn’t get the calls we thought we should get, and we played soft.

“We’ve got to be able to adapt and adjust.”

Ravenwood (14-7, 10-3) limited the visitors to one shot and took advantage of turnovers in what turned out to be the pivotal second quarter, as Summit regrouped after intermission. Wade, Tre Hunter and Konata Werts combined for 28 second-half points.

“I was happy with our effort in the second quarter; not so much in the second half,” Ravenwood coach Patrick Whitlock said. “We know Summit’s not going to go away. They’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of pride. They like to get ‘downhill’ and they’ve got some younger guys that can shoot it.

“They had a lot of momentum late.”

Andrew Smith connected on both ends of a one-and-one to pull Summit within six, 65-59, with 2:50 remaining, then countered a Lee Mollette basket with a short jumper at the 2:14 mark. But Ravenwood spread the floor for the final two minutes and scored the game’s last six points.

Hunter finished with 13 points to lead Summit, with Wade adding 12 despite his prolonged absence.

“He’s got to do a better job of not getting into foul trouble,” Fey said. “He’s aggressive and he’s physical, but when he leaves the floor, it hurts us.”

Alex Pollard scored 11, with three 3-pointers, and Konata Werts – the catalyst, according to Fey – scoring 10.

“He got us where we needed to be,” the coach said. “He ran things as well in the second half as well as we’ve run all year.”

Matt Williams scored a game-high 16 points, leading four in double digits for Ravenwood.

Summit resumes district play Friday against visiting Independence in a boys-only matchup, while Ravenwood travels to Brentwood.

Ravenwood boys 73, Summit 61

S 10 8 30 13 – 61
R 12 30 17 14 – 73

Summit (61) – Andrew Smith 9, Destin Wade 12, Tre Hunter 13, Konata Werts 10, C.J. Jones 6, Alex Pollard 11
Ravenwood (73) – Matt Williams 16, Lee Mollette 12, Nick Dang 6, Andrew Lamuno 3, Owen Grismore 8, Ben Bonga 11, Jake Mulder 11, Noah Clifford 6
3-pointers – Summit 4 (Smith, Pollard 3), Ravenwood 6 (Williams 2, Mollette, Grismore 2, Mulder)