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Boys Basketball: DeJuan Marrero, Bowman glad to be back home
Updated: January 10, 2012 10:28PM
GARY — Recently, the Bowman Academy gymnasium has been begging for basketball. The Eagles’ boys team had not scored a single point there since Dec. 10 — since then, they’ve traveled to games in Indianapolis, Marion and even Muskegon, Mich.
So on Tuesday night, Bowman enjoyed coming home again for the first time in the new year with a 93-46 romp over Lake Station.
Senior DeJuan Marrero produced a double double (22 points, 16 rebounds) and nearly every Bowman player scratched the scorebook to give the team its sixth win on the season.
“We’re just happy to be home,” Bowman coach Marvin Rea said. “We’re happy to be playing in front of our fans.”
From the outset, it would seem that the Bowman Eagles and the Eagles of Lake Station would capitalize on their distinct advantages.
For Bowman, this appeared obvious as soon as the stretched-out, lanky players removed their warm ups — the Eagles had the size with 6-foot-5 Marrero, 6-4 senior Michael Ford and sophomore Justin King rounding out the front court with his 6-7 frame.
For Lake Station (6-3), a smallish starting five featured the 5-7 senior guard Ricky Garcia and his long-distance shooting. Lake Station stayed in striking distance and only trailed 19-14 after the first quarter after Garcia made two triples and a mid-range jumper.
However in the second, Bowman began to beat Lake Station at its own game by stepping out to the perimeter.
“Their length and athleticism just hurt us,” Lake Station coach Bryon Clouse said. “We’re making silly passes. A couple of our guys came out intimidated.”
Lake Station opened with a zone defense but created two quick fouls on back-to-back possessions and Bowman dropped in four points from the free-throw line. Then, Bowman showed a shooting touch — from the flow of the offense like sophomore guard Austin Daniels’ top-of-the-key 3-pointer to sophomore D’Mario Smith’s triple in transition — and turned this game into a lopsided affair. Bowman led 42-23 at halftime and continued to build the lead.
Although Garcia and senior Demetrius Adams each finished with 15, the team could not overcome its 30 turnovers.
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