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Boys Basketball: Garrett O’Neal steps up as Brother Rice downs Leo
Updated: January 13, 2012 10:14PM
Filling in is good. Stepping up is even better.
Brother Rice senior Garrett O’Neill saw it as simply doing his job after the Crusaders kept their spot atop the Catholic League South with a 78-71 victory Friday over visiting Leo.
“I’m just going to do whatever I can do to help the team to win,” said O’Neill, who in place of starting point guard Jim Barista (elbow, shoulder issues) went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and finished with 19 points.
Alex Majewski paced the Crusaders (11-5, 5-0) with 24 points and eight rebounds, while Ray Rubio contributed 11 points and Cal Kennedy 10.
Tybias Scott had 26 points and Russell Woods 20 points and 10 rebounds for Leo (9-7, 3-2).
The Crusaders needed some late heroics after Leo made two monster comebacks against big deficits.
Both happened quickly.
The Lions trailed 21-8 with two minutes remaining in the first period before the 5-foot-8 Scott started driving to the basket, keying a run that saw them get to within 23-20 at the break.
Even more stunning was a third-quarter comeback in which Leo, down 59-39 with 1:30 showing on the clock, went on a 14-0 blitz.
“They were great,” Brother Rice coach Pat Richardson said of Leo. “I think they may have scored that many on anybody. We made some bad decisions during that stretch, but they were tremendous.”
The Lions got as close as 59-55 in the fourth period, and were still within five with 1:30 remaining, but Brother Rice held court at the line, Majewski and O’Neill combining to go 7 of 8. The free shot accuracy made the first- and third-quarter meltdowns moot, but Majewski didn’t dismiss the potential for disaster.
“We didn’t miss too many at the end,” Majewski said. “That really helped us win the game. Free throws and defense. But we do it all the time, lose focus at the end of quarters. We’ve got to keep our focus.”
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