What a difference a day made for the New Town High boys basketball team.
After falling to top-ranked Mount St. Joseph Tuesday, the No. 10 Titans slashed, harassed, and rebounded its way to a 17-0 first-quarter lead en route to a commanding 80-42 victory against visiting and 15th-ranked Catonsville in a battle of Baltimore County Division II foes Wednesday evening in Owings Mills.
“I told the guys to flush yesterday, but don’t forget it,” Titans coach Derrick Wise said. “Let that fuel you and motivate you the next time we get on the floor. Let that be something that you refer to as we go along the journey.
“We bounced back today. I think our guys understood what took place yesterday, understood this is a division game. We’ve still got our goals in sight. We needed to respond to stay the course.”
While a 19-0 run helped bury the Titans (6-2 overall, 2-0 Division II) in a 95-43 loss Tuesday evening, it was the 17-0 onslaught that essentially put Wednesday’s contest out of reach as the Comets (6-2, 1-1 Division II) climbed no closer than 11 points the rest of the way on a 3-pointer from the left wing by Dominic Brogdon (10 points) early in the second quarter.
Things got worse for Catonsville following that basket as the Comets trailed 41-22 going into halftime and 60-33 heading into the final quarter, thanks to the trio of Cam Sparrow (19 points, eight rebounds), Arrington Greenfield (16 points, six rebounds), and Jaden Brown (10 points). They helped build those decisive advantages by constantly exploiting Catonsville’s 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone defenses time again on dribble drives to the basket, in transition off of steals, or off clean outside looks on dribble penetration and dishes to open teammates.
“It was big for us to come out and play better,” said Sparrow, who managed only a first half 3-pointer Tuesday. “It was way better than we showed (Tuesday) night. I’m proud of my guys. We came out here and got the win. We’ve got to keep moving forward. We just have to do better as a group. We’ve talked about it.
“After a loss like that, everybody’s pretty frustrated and angry at each other. We came out as a team and put it on them and got the win.”
Jaleel Hawkins came off the bench to chip in 12 of his 15 more points in the second half for the Titans, who knocked down eight 3-pointers Wednesday.
Catonsville didn’t score its first points Wednesday until Colin Harshman (18 points, eight rebounds) drilled a 3-pointer with 1:28 left in the first quarter. The Comets turned the ball over nearly 30 times against New Town’s stifling halfcourt man-to-man and full court zone defense.
Comets coach Jason Harris said his team’s defensive effort wasn’t up to par.
“We were trying to rotate the best we could; I just feel like we were a little half-step too slow on our rotations (and) gave them too many opportunities to drive into the paint,” Harris said. “It’s just something we’ve got to get to practice and work on.
“If we’re going to give up that many points, then we’ve got to put some points on the board, too. Our emphasis was no rebounds and play good defense, but if your offense is that stale, also, that’s a bad combination.”
NO. 10 NEW TOWN 80, NO. 15 CATONSVILLE 42
Catonsville: Colin Harshman 18, Dominic Brogdon 10, Trey Gould 7, Mike Owens 3, Aaron Mekonen 2, Romhai Getachew 1, Kyle Patterson 1. Totals: 12 13-27 42.
New Town: Cam Sparrow 19, Arrington Greenfield 16, Jaleel Hawkins 15, Jaden Brown 10, Cam Kirkland 8, Jamal Batts 5, Amir Allen 4, Eric Foreman 2, Jameel Suleiman 1. Totals: 31 10-20 80.
Catonsville 5 17 11 9 - 42
New Town 20 21 19 20 - 80
