Devils have a close call, and like it

Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006

Springbrook boys basketball coach Tom Crowell wanted a close game last Thursday at Richard Montgomery. That’s exactly what he got.

Sure, it was a little more taxing on his heart rate than usual. And for the first time all season, the Blue Devils (4-0 record) didn’t have victory secured by the fourth quarter. But thanks to clutch free-throw shooting and tenacious rebounding, Springbrook was able to capture a 61-50 victory over the Rockets (3-1).

The game was much closer than the score, with Richard Montgomery closing the lead to one with just four minutes to play. But Crowell was glad his undefeated squad finally had to sweat one out.

‘‘For those first few games, we played very good teams, but it seems like we’ve had the lead in all those games,” he said. ‘‘But this time we had to come from behind and then hold on to a close lead late in the game. Those are the kinds of games that help you later in the season.”

The Blue Devils’ transition game, which is their strength, was hampered by the loss of injured starting point guard Othello Banaci. But their two big-time perimeter scorers were able to do damage anyway. Shooting guard C.J. Garner led the Blue Devils in scoring, as he has done all year, with 18 points. And swingman Micah Perry added 16.

But despite being a full-court, whirlwind team, Springbrook was able to secure the victory Friday by slowing the game down. Midway through the fourth quarter, they let a nine-point lead slip to one. After several pretty drives by Rockets guard Vinnie Brown and a spinning bank shot by teammate Timmy Clarke (both of whom led the team with 13 points), the Blue Devils scored their final 16 points at the foul line.

Most of their free throws came after methodical possessions in which they ran the clock down or picked up offensive rebounds to squelch Rocket momentum. Forward Eric Johnson did most of the dirty work, collecting 14 rebounds, while center Marcus Cotton collected eight. Their work led to numerous second-chance opportunities for Springbrook, and allowed them to ice the close game with relative ease.

‘‘At first, we started to scramble and we started to do the things that people do during crunch time — people starting getting nervous,” Garner said, normally a fast-break demon who hit four of the fourth-quarter free throws. ‘‘And I just thought we needed to realize we can do this, we can do it together if we just slow the tempo down. Both teams have pretty much the same game, but at that particular time we needed to just calm down and run our offenses a little more slowly.”

The Rockets jumped ahead early— the first time all year Springbrook had to actually climb back from a deficit. Richard Montgomery led 15-6 late in the first quarter before allowing nine straight points, seven coming from Garner. The score remained nip and tuck all the way through the third quarter, where several jump shots from Perry and Cotton extended the lead to nine through the end of three.

Rockets point guard Alex Chice immediately hit a running jumper and a three-pointer in succession to help trim the lead, but ultimately the underdogs just couldn’t make it over the hump.

With four straight victories to open the season, the Blue Devils are quickly establishing themselves as one of the better teams in Montgomery County, and appear to have dropped off minimally from their 18-6 regular season a year ago. Despite losing all five starters off last year’s club, Springbrook’s new-look lineup has already proven it can win by playing either fast or slow. And while its coach discusses them humbly, they certainly have the potential to keep the wins coming.

‘‘We’ve got to do more if we’re going to stack up with the kings of Montgomery County,” Crowell said. ‘‘The Magruders and the Whitmans are very good teams. We take a back seat to them right now.”

But for how long?