SM Goretti falls to Towson Catholic

February 10, 2001|By ADELINE STAEBLER / Staff Correspondent

SM Goretti falls to Towson Catholic

The St. Maria Goretti boys basketball team knew stopping Carmelo Anthony was the key to defeating Towson Catholic.

While the Gaels were semi-successful in the first half, they allowed Anthony to score 17 of his 29 points in the second half to lead Towson Catholic to a 56-54 win over the Gaels in the Baltimore Catholic League.

"(Anthony) hit some great shots. We couldn't stop him and he took the game over so that was the difference in the second half," Goretti coach Cokey Robertson said. "He was the main force. We tried everything and it didn't do it. We went from man-to-man, changed zones, we just couldn't stop him. We expected to have to stop him. We did in the first half, we didn't in the second."

The Gaels (17-8, 7-3) were leading 28-22 going into the half, but a shot by Anthony tied the game at 33-33 with two and a half minutes left in the third quarter. Towson Catholic went on to outscore Goretti 18-8 in the quarter to take a 40-36 lead.

"The second half started off kind of slow, they were getting fast breaks and we were kind of turning it over too much," Goretti's Rodney Gibson said. "We kind of had to fight our way back into the game by playing good defense."

While the Owls led for most of the fourth quarter Gibson hit a shot with 14 seconds to pull Goretti within, 56-54. But the Gaels were unable to tie or take the lead.

Gibson had 23 points and five rebounds. Matt Tanner had 20 points, Josh Carter had five assists and Tommy Walls had four steals for the Gaels.

"The kids played hard, Walls did a good job on defense. Gibson and Tanner played their usual tough game," Robertson said.

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