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Boys Basketball: Jamaal Murray lifts Rich Central past Mount Carmel
Updated: December 20, 2011 9:13PM
With no Mount Carmel defenders in front of him on a breakaway, Rich Central’s Jamaal Murray could see it. He wanted that fast-break dunk.
But with two Caravan defenders chasing him down, Murray opted for the safer points, laying the ball into the basket.
“Two points is two points, and you’ve got to get the win,” Murray said. “I could kind of see them coming out of the corner of my eye.”
Murray’s layup gave Rich Central a double-digit lead late in the fourth and helped hold off a late Caravan charge in a 78-69 road win.
Murray finished with 24 points, 20 in the second half, with Lance Cole (12 points) and Jalen Miller (11) also contributing for Rich Central (3-8). Alex Austin’s 28 points paced Mount Carmel (2-7), with Christian Searles (15 points) and Devontae Charles (13) also chipping in.
Murray’s huge second half was out of necessity for the Olympians after a disastrous first half. After the opening tip, Central turned the ball over on seven straight possessions without getting off a shot, prompting a line change from coach Bobby Smith.
Five starters out, five bench players in.
“That’s been par for the course for us,” Smith said. “Every game we fall behind and have to jump back. It’s been hard to find four quarters of basketball.”
The strategy worked as Murray and the bench sparked the team, starting the slow climb back into the game after trailing by double digits in the first quarter. Central took the lead for good at 54-51 on a Cole three-pointer to end the third. Murray had eight points early in the fourth, and his layup put Central up 69-58 with 2:20 to go.
“The fourth quarter epitomized our season,” Caravan coach Mike Flaherty said. “We don’t go up strong with layups and didn’t make strong passes. Just not as physically aggressive as we need to be.”
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