Knights cruise past Gladiators

Century 76, Glenelg 43

Jordan was waived over to the bench, only to receive a quick high-five from his coach before speeding the rest of the way down the court.

‘‘Everyone just keeps coming together,” Jordan said. ‘‘Everyone is feeling each other out.”

The summer league version of the Century team is a tantalizing hint of their potential for this season. They have size with the 6 foot 7 Matt Duerr, who scored 16 points, and Cody Legget, who was good for nine points. They have speed in Jordan, who also dropped in 16. Tyler Cockey adds more slashing abilities, scoring seven points against the Gladiators.

And even with those four, it was actually Kevin Holt leading the scoring; hitting perimeter shots to pick up 18 points.

‘‘We’re playing as a team,” Holt said. ‘‘We’re trying to mold together. We play summer ball together, so we can work on stuff there, too.”

Holt, a rising junior that played on the Knights’ junior varsity last year, said that the biggest improvement that Century has picked up over the summer has been finding the open man.

‘‘When we’re coming down on fast breaks and we’re all setting up, we can see that one guy that the defenses are kind of moving off of and we hit him,” Holt said.

Century improved to 5-2 in the league, with their only losses to Westminster and Liberty. They’re currently tied for first in the standings with Liberty.

While the Knights have a slew of returning players, the larger roles of their rising juniors have stirred up their team chemistry. The addition of Jordan, who originally grew up in Howard County, has gone from an unknown ingredient to a dependable catalyst.

‘‘They’re picking up the pace,” Jordan said. ‘‘I noticed that people are starting to take it harder.”

He’s also starting to blend into the offensive attack; developing quick outlet passes to a variety of teammates.

‘‘I think I’m picking up a little on each person I play with on their game style,” Jordan said. ‘‘Some people are quick and some people like to set up and slow it down.”

Glenelg has had a rougher time in the league, recording only one win so far. On Tuesday, they were again operating with a five-man roster, which made things dangerous when Chad Felix was tagged with his fourth foul two minutes into the second half.

With the oppressive heat and cycling Century bench, the Glenelg team faded in the second half. Scott Menner scored 13 first-half points, but only three in the second. Felix scored six of his eight in the opening half. Tommy Osborne finished with nine points, while John Mayer had eight.