When St. Maria Goretti met Towson Catholic on Jan. 2, it turned out to be a one-sided affair with the Gaels falling, 64-30.
Towson Catholic coach Mike Daniels knew he had to have his talented Owls ready to play on Friday at the Gael Center, knowing Goretti was coming off Tuesday's big win at Calvert Hall.
"We came here not expecting to beat them by 25," said Daniels. "When you come here to play Goretti, you gotta be ready to play and you gotta beat Cokey (Robertson). No more, nothing less."
The Owls are big and quick, and they were still too formidable an opponent, as Goretti had a hard time sustaining its effort in a 48-35 loss in a Baltimore Catholic League matchup.
With three Division I prospects and a starting lineup that ran 6-foot-3, 6-4, 6-7 and 6-7 to go along with 5-9 point guard Carroll Mitchell (and that didn't include 6-8 Dante Green, who was out with the flu), Towson (19-4, 8-1) took advantage of 15 Goretti turnovers and converted them into 21 points, starting with a barrage of 3-pointers late in the second quarter that took the wind out of the Gaels' sails.
Joe Spierenberg scored a bucket at the 6:11 mark of the second quarter to give Goretti (15-7, 4-4) an 8-7 lead.
Kyle Cannon, one of Towson's top college prospects, hit a trey from the left corner that put Towson on top 13-10 with 3:05 left in the half, and the Owls were never knocked off their perch after that.
Late in the quarter, Goretti committed consecutive turnovers, and each time sophomore Malcolm Delaney, a 6-3 sharpshooter, made the Gaels pay, hitting from behind the arc to send Towson Catholic to a 22-15 halftime lead.
"Those 3s kind of pulled things our way," said Daniels.
"They are quick and they've got the size to go along with it," said Robertson. "And, Delaney surely made us scramble."
Goretti held tough, playing even with the Owls in the third quarter, but again, Delaney operated the offense, and the Gaels weren't able to keep up in the final quarter.
Goretti cut the deficit to 26-21 with 2:20 left in the third on a rebound and putback by Gene Johnson and a free throw by Andrew Chambers. But the Owls' 6-7 strongman Lawrence Nwevo scored a bucket and freshman Larry Bastfield added a field goal to put Goretti down, 30-23.
Delaney went to the line and hit all eight of his free throws in the final quarter.
His teammates went 6-for-6 down the stretch as Towson kept Goretti at bay. The Gaels went 1-for-4 at the line, while Towson finished 17-for-19.
Just as effective was the Owls' defense, a 3-2 collapsing zone that made it very difficult for Joe Spierenberg and Johnson to operate inside.
Except for Johnson's yeoman effort (7 of 13 shooting, a team-leading 14 points, eight rebounds), the Gaels shot poorly. Goretti hit just 16 of 41 shots on the heels of its 10-for-52 performance the first time around against Towson Catholic.
"We certainly came in to this game feeling good about our chances," said Robertson. "We've been playing well and we thought maybe Towson would come in a little overconfident after pounding us the first time."
Only three starters scored for Goretti through all but the final minute, when Tim Alexander drilled a 3. Chambers netted 10 points and Spierenberg had eight, to go along with seven rebounds.
"We just didn't have perimeter attack," Robertson said. "We didn't have anyone step in their seams."
Delaney led Towson Catholic with 18 points and Mitchell added 14.
