Dragons score 32 fourth quarter points, on senior night, to knock off Pallotti
1/29/2010
Justin Johnson scored a team-high 19 points to keep the Dragons' balloon from popping against Pallotti on Senior Night
Keron Deshields lines up one of his 35 points for Pallotti, but it was not enough to defeat Glenelg Country.
(From left) Brian Gibbons, Anyars Salih, Jimmy Tangires, Rob Nishigawa and Justin Johnson celebrated senior night at Glenelg Country.
by Aaron Gray
With the postseason looming and teams starting to jockey for position in the standings, the Glenelg Country School boys basketball team may look back on Friday's performance as the the turning point in the season.
The Dragons finished with three players in double-digit scoring and came back from a 10-point, third-quarter deficit to knock off visiting St. Vincent Pallotti, 70-60, in a MIAA B Conference game Friday.
Glenelg (15-4 overall, 9-2 in the conference) secured first place in the B Conference Black division with the victory and will travel back to Pallotti (16-5, 6-3) for a rematch Wednesday.
"On senior night, you always have to rely on your seniors and they stepped up big tonight," said Dragons coach Charlie Stewart, whose team netted 32 points in the final period after scoring just 20 in the first half. "I just have to take my hat off to them tonight. They never get rattled. We struggled at times to score but we kept our heads up and when shots presented themselves, we knocked them down."
Senior guard Justin Johnson scored a team-high 19 points for Glenelg, sophomore forward Isiah Miles had 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocks while senior guard Brian Gibbons added 13 points, including three three-pointers.
Sparked by a game-high 35 points from senior Keron DeShields, the Panthers never trailed until the final period and actually held a 43-33 lead with 1:03 left in the third quarter. But the Dragons altered their defense and DeShields, who scored 14 of his team's 16 points in the third, was limited down the stretch.
"We put Brian Gibbons on (DeShields) and he was our lock-down defender," said Johnson, who also finished with three rebounds and two assists.
Gibbons stripped the ball several times from DeShields, but the Towson Catholic transfer felt the pressure from multiple players every time he put his head down and drove the lane in the fourth.
"It has to be a team effort," said Stewart, whose squad has won four of its last five. "We always preach to our kids that it's a five-man game and I think we did a really nice job helping on penetration in the second half."
Freshman guard Isaiah Tripp converted a baseline three-pointer at the buzzer to trim Pallotti's lead to five going into the fourth. Gibbons knocked down a trey to open the final period and a three-point play from freshman Warren Powers gave Glenelg its first lead of the game with 5:15 remaining.
After DeShields knotted the score, 46-46, the Dragons responded with a 10-2 scoring run highlighted by a Miles' basket and the foul. Glenelg opened a double-digit lead after consecutive free throws from Miles with 2:25 left and cruised to the victory.
"We came in and we were happy to build a lead but we knew they would eventually make a run," Pallotti coach Shae Johnson said. "When it came down to the last three minutes and they went up by four, our team panicked. We pretty much lost it from there."
Senior Darrien Thomas scored six of his eight points in the second half for the Panthers while junior Sebastian Opon scored a basket and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Attacking Pallotti's 3-2 zone proved futile in the first half but the Dragons made their adjustments, stretched the Panthers' defense and converted six shots from beyond the perimeter. It was also the biggest comeback the team has orchestrated this season, according to Justin Johnson.
"We like to dribble drive but we couldn't really do that tonight," he said. "Instead, we started to look outside and shoot."
As for the fourth-quarter rally?
"We haven't done that at all this season," Johnson said. "I guess there's a first for everything."
Glenelg Country 70, St. Vincent Pallotti 60
SVP - 13 - 14 - 16 - 17 - 60
GC - 12 - 8 - 18 - 32 - 70
SVP: Thomas 8, Manning 7, Deshields 35, Charles 4, Addy 4, Opon 2. GC: Johnson 19, Jordan 3, Tripp 3, Salih 7, Powers 8, Gibbons 13, Boyd 2, Miles 15.
