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No. 1 Spalding boxes up St. Maria Goretti 50-34

Posted by Michael Glick on Dec 15 2002 at 04:00PM PST
No. 1 Spalding boxes up Goretti, Davis, 50-34 Unbeaten Cavaliers use box-and-one defense to limit Gaels star to 4 points By Pat O'Malley Sun Staff Originally published December 16, 2002 The almost always reliable box-and-one defense carried top-ranked Archbishop Spalding to a 50-34 victory over St. Maria Goretti of Hagerstown yesterday in Severn. It was the second win in the combined Catholic League and Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference for the host Cavaliers (4-0, 2-0). The game was a rematch of last season's Catholic League/MIAA A final, which was won, 45-36, by Spalding, and it was the league opener for the Gaels (3-3). Senior guards Jesse Brooks, Matt Latonick and Dave Douglas anchored the Cavaliers' box-and-one defense that took the Gaels' leading scorer and only returning starter, Derrick Davis, out of the offense. "Their defense got to us in the second half, and they monitored Derrick excellently," said Goretti coach Cokey Robertson, who is eight wins from becoming only the second coach in state history to win 700 games. "They took Derrick out, and we didn't have anybody to step up." The Cavaliers held Davis, who averages about 20 points, to four points. "We tried to get him out of the game early, didn't want to get him started because we know he's a good player, and he could have lit us up with a lot of points, " said Brooks, who, with teammate Gus Durr, were the only players to score in double digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively. In their zone defense, the Gaels double-teamed the Cavaliers' 7-footer, Will Bowers, who did not have a field goal and had six points from the foul line. "And they did a good job of taking Rudy Gay out of the game," Spalding coach Mike Glick said of his 6-8 forward who was held to four points. It didn't matter because the Cavaliers have too many weapons and made 24 of 33 foul shots, while Goretti only went to the line seven times, converting five. "I think a key thing was our big men rebounding in the second half," said Douglas. "We had him [Davis] in the box, but Will stepped up on the boards. He didn't score as many points as he wanted to, but his rebounding was key in the game." Bowers had nine rebounds, including five on the defensive side in the second half, as he prevented the Gaels from getting second shots. He also altered a number of Goretti's shots. Davis, who was 1-for-8 from the field, was shut out in the first half and got his only field goal in the third quarter. Spalding's hustling defense held the Gaels to 2-for-15 shooting from the field in the third quarter and 14-for-48 (29 percent) for the game. While the Cavaliers, who led 25-24 at halftime, scored only seven in the third quarter to push their lead to 32-28, they secured the victory by making 14 of 19 free-throw attempts in the final quarter. G--Nelson 7, Spierenberg 8, Davis 4, Breslin 9, Costello 4, Tornetta 2. Totals 14 5-5 34. S--Brooks 13, Douglas 6, Gay 4, Bowers 6, Durr 12, Latonick 4, Brackney 3, Dixon 2. Totals 12 24-33 50. Half: S, 25-24. Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun

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