Since losing four out of five games in a two-week span earlier this season, City League leader Bowsher seems to have righted the ship, and tonight the Rebels picked up their sixth straight boys basketball victory, 71-65 over visiting Waite.
But coach Joe Guerrero sure wishes his fast-paced Rebels could find a better way to close out a win.
First-place Bowsher (11-4, 6-0 CL) saw the never-say-die Indians trim a 15-point deficit – from midway in the third quarter – down to two points at 65-63 with 49 seconds remaining before finally icing the game at the free-throw line.
“Sometimes, when we get a lead, we tend to get a little too excited instead of getting good possessions,” Guerrero said of the nail-biting ending. “We want to go fast, but sometimes we end up going too fast and we think the game’s over.
“I knew Waite was a gritty team, and they fought back. They’ve got some nice players, and they played well.”
Key to closing this win was senior guard Antonio Carter, who led the Rebels with 24 points, and hit five of six free throws in the final 34 seconds to spoil Waite’s upset bid.
“My boys got me the ball,” Carter said of his late free throws. “They know I’m the best free-throw shooter on the team, so they put the ball in my hands, and I knocked down the free throws.”
How they the Rebels nearly squander their big lead?
“We didn’t switch on screens, and we let them shoot the ball when they set those screens” Carter said. “So, they hit the open shots. It was tough. Waite is a good team. The difference in the game was, we moved the ball and played as a team.”
Bowsher got 16 points and nine rebounds from 6-7 forward Dalonte Brown, and Darryl Robinson added 11 points for the Rebels.
“After we lost four out of five, we kind of turned a corner and the players all started believing in each other,” Guerrero said. “It seems like our attitude has changed, and we’ve been on a roll. I like where our team is at right now.”
The Indians (9-7, 1-5), who were edged at home by Bowsher 65-63 on Dec. 7, had come in riding a four-game winning streak overall and with eight wins in their last 10 games.
Bowsher, with an 8-2 run, built its lead to 15 points (51-36) on two technical-foul free throws with 4:20 left in the third quarter.
But Waite answered with a 6-0 surge, and kept chipping away at the Bowsher lead.
Waite’s Mohammed Elmajzoub hit a 3-pointer with 2:56 to play, teammate Carl Banks added two free throws with 1:01 left, and Jimmie Overton got his only points of the game on a layup with 49 seconds to get the Indians within 65-63.
But Waite could get no closer thanks to Carter’s foul shooting.
In the first half, Bowsher’s high-tempo game appeared ready to run the Indians off the court.
But, the Rebels matched Waite’s 11 turnovers in the first two quarters, and Banks, a 5-foot-8 junior guard, almost single-handedly kept his team within 39-30 at the break.
Banks mixed four 3-pointers and a couple creative drives into his 19-point first half, which had seen Waite down by as many as 15 points (39-24) after Bowsher’s Carter (14 first-half points) converted a steal into a layup with 1:10 left in the half.
The Indians closed the half on back-to-back 3-pointers from Elmajzoub (nine points) and Banks to trim the deficit to nine points.
“We’re proud of our guys but we turned the ball over too many times in the first half, and a lot of it was unforced,” Waite coach Adam Rodriguez said. “It’s been a long time since Waite has been ranked in the Blade Poll, and with these kinds of expectations I think our kids were a little nervous.”
But the Indians eventually found their rhythm late.
“We went back to our 1-3-1 [zone defense] and kind of did what we normally do,” Rodriguez said. “We can’t run with a lot of the teams in the City League, and our kids know that. They have really bought into that.
“Carl played really well, but we’re really at our best when we’re a little more balanced. Tonight, we needed some more of the other guys to step up.”
Waite got 10 points and 11 rebounds from Ronnie Sanders, and Keyshawn Leach added 10 points and seven boards.
First Published January 28, 2017, 3:50 a.m.
