Gay leads No. 1 Spalding to 56-52 victory Turnovers foil Annapolis in 76-52 loss to T. Johnson By Pat O'Malley Sun Staff Originally published December 8, 2002 COLLEGE PARK - High-flying Rudy Gay took over in the paint in the second half, scoring 13 of his team-high 18 points as top-ranked Archbishop Spalding soared to a 56-52 win over Archbishop Molloy of Briarwood, N.Y., in yesterday's Morgan Wootten Invitational at the Comcast Center. Gay, a 6-foot-7 junior transfer from Eastern Tech, also had nine rebounds, and 7-foot Maryland signee Will Bowers had 12 points and grabbed three of his six rebounds down the stretch. Junior guard Jesse Brooks, who had 10 points, fed them inside and had eight assists. "Their size was the difference," said Molloy coach Jack Curran, who is in his 45th year with 817 wins and has over 1,300 wins coaching baseball. "They did a pretty good job. No. 21 [Gay] was great. He was the difference." The Stanners came in as the No. 5-ranked team in the New York area. No. 3 Annapolis was the only other local team in the four-game event, named in honor of the retired DeMatha coach, and the Panthers committed 27 tu rnovers in losing, 76-52, to Thomas Johnson of Frederick. In the Spalding victory, the Cavaliers started slowly, were down 15-13 after the first quarter and 28-24 at the half after a three-pointer by the Stanners' Sundiata Gaines, who had a game-high 25 points. Gay hit a short jumper in the paint and followed with a two-handed dunk to cut the deficit to 33-30 early in the third quarter before a three by Molloy's Marlon Smith put the Cavaliers behind by six. After a Bowers free throw reduced Molloy's lead to 37-36 with 38 seconds left in the third period, Matt Latonick made a three-pointer with two seconds left to send the Cavaliers into the final quarter leading 39-37. Playing with four fouls, Gay then scored nine of his 18 points. The last two came on another dunk off a perfect lob from Brooks with 30 seconds left to give Spalding a 52-45 lead. Thomas Johnson 76, No. 3 Annapolis 52: The state's two winningest active public school coaches in Tom Dickman of the Patriots and John Brady of Annapolis met in the first game. Thomas Johnson capitalized on Annapolis' sloppy play to build a 40-26 halftime lead and coasted from there. Thomas Richard, a 6-2 junior guard, led the Patriots with a game-high 26 points, and 6-7 senior Josh Johnson led Annapolis with 17 points and 12 rebounds. It was obvious from the beginning that Annapolis could not handle Thomas Johnson's pressure defense. "We didn't take care of the ball," said Brady, who has the highest winning percentage among active coaches at .850 on his 534-94 record as he starts his 26th season. "They're too good of a defensive team that you have to make good passes and crisp cuts or they will burn you." Said Dickman, who holds the all-time public school record for most wins, notching No. 570 (570-134, .810) starting his 31st season: "We were just using our head-up pressure, not trapping and it got us some early layups." Dickman had his Patriots double-team Panthers All-Metro guard and leading scorer Laronja Owens, and held him to 11 points. Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun