On most teams, the main focus of the point guard is to get his teammates involved, run the offense and handle the press or traps. Perry Hall senior point guard Brandon Williamson does all that — in addition to scoring in bunches.
After not scoring in the first quarter, Williamson scored 12 points in the second quarter on his way to a game-high 25 points in the Gators’ 64-48 victory at Catonsville.
“I had to get going because once I get going, my teammates get going and you saw that today,” Williamson said. “So I just had to get on the scoreboard and get my team energized and we came out with the win today.”
Catonsville’s Gavin Jones (13 points) and Gavin Edwards (15 points) got the Comets going early as Jones made a pair of 3-pointers and scored seven points, and Edwards scored six points in the quarter to stake the Comets to a 15-13 lead.
“This Catonsville team, they don’t have a whole lot of height, but they are sound. Their ball movement is outstanding and it got us,” Perry Hall coach Joe Carlineo said. “They had a lot of open looks in the first quarter and then in the second quarter, that’s when we kind of stuck them a little bit on defense and they didn’t have as many open looks,”
After Edwards scored on a three-point play that gave the Comets an 18-17 lead, the Gators (9-1) went on a 9-0 run to take a 26-18 lead that grew to 35-23 by halftime. Perry Hall picked up the tempo and defensive intensity and Williamson made two 3-pointers during the quarter.
“He’s fun to watch,” Carlineo said.
The coach also made defensive adjustments and the Gators repeatedly denied leading scorer Edwards the ball.
“[Edwards] is a really good player,” Carlineo said. “We talked about that at halftime and at the end of the first quarter when he was getting some shots off and getting easy looks at 3 and driving to the basket. He’s just a great player. You are not going to shut him down, you are just going to try to contain him to the minimum.”
Catonsville’s lack of height was exasperated by the absence of starting big man Will Turner, who was out with an ankle injury, and the loss of aggressive defender and rebounder Nate Holub-Smith to an ankle injury early in the third quarter.
The Gators dominated on the offensive boards, getting 17 offensive rebounds to the Comets’ eight.
“I heard they don’t crash for offensive rebounds, so that was the game plan was to crash offensive rebounds and get second chance points,” Williamson said.
Five of Ethan Harris-Robinson’s 10 rebounds were offensive and Terry Fields had three offensive rebounds.
Despite the lack of second-chance points, the Comets cut a 12-point deficit to eight after a pair of free throws and layup from Malik Henderson with just over two minutes left in the third quarter, but back-to-back baskets by Williamson helped the lead back to 49-37 at the end of the quarter and the Comets never got any closer.
“They were trying their hardest but we ended up fighting back and we came up with the win because of our effort, energy and how we played,” Williamson said.
The loss was the second straight for the Comets (4-5), who fell to New Town by eight on Wednesday after beating Pikesville by 41 on Monday.
“We showed up not ready to play and that’s what happens,” Catonsville coach Jason Harris said. “The last two games we didn’t have the intention to do the things that we need to do so when we were trying to chip away and claw back the entire time it’s kind of hard. With respect to Perry Hall, it’s all self-inflicted wounds. Everything was effort, attitude and attention to detail and that was not there today.”
The coach refused to blame his lack of big men for the loss.
“It had nothing to do with not having big men, it had everything to do with who wanted the ball more and today we did not want it,” Harris said.
Perry Hall’s only loss this season came against Calvert Hall. Next up for the Gators is a showdown at unbeaten Overlea (10-0) on Wednesday.
“We are looking forward to that one, all the guys are,” Carlineo said.
Perry Hall — 13 22 14 15 – 64
Catonsville — 15 8 14 11 – 48
PH: Brandon Williamson 25, Ethan Harris-Robinson 15, Terry Fields 9, Nnamdi Ezeaputa 6, Alex Rice 2, Justin Avery 2, Adam Butz 2, Malachi Lee 2, Markel Cason 1.
CAT: Gavin Edwards 15, Gavin Jones 13, Malik Henderson 6, Adonai Getachew 3, Tylan White 3, Nate Holub-Smith 2, Joele Johnson 2, Chris Carter 2, Aiden Nelson 2.
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