Landon 45 Georgetown Prep 61

Landon Basketball 45 Georgetown Prep 61 By Vernon Holleman Tonight, the Bears dropped their third straight IAC game, and turnovers were the story of the loss like they have been the last few games. With Bear starting point guard Canin Reynolds sick, the Bears struggled to find someone who could bring the ball up the court consistently, and lacked a big play maker. That being said however, the Bears were able to start off this game very well, and were actually in control at points. The game started off well for the Bears on the defensive end causing 7 Prep turnovers in the first quarter, and converting 8 of their 15 first quarter points off of these turnovers. Mailed Davis his 2 big jump shots, Julian Larosiliere was playing big in the paint, and the Bears scored 8 points in the paint in the first quarter, and only allowed 6. It appeared that the great defense that the Bears had played against St. Stephens last Friday would carry over, and for much of the first half, it did. This allowed the Bears to score transition points, and put even more pressure on the Hoyas. The first quarter seemed to be dominated by the Bears, but two big 3 pointers from former Bears Kamdyn Curfman had the Hoyas and Bears tied up 15-15 at the end of the first. The second quarter started off extremely well for the Bears, and they went on a quick 6-0 scoring run after Dane Camphusen had 4 big points off of offensive rebounds, and Miles Davis added a jumper to give the Bears the 21-15 lead. The Hoyas then called timeout, and this was very effective, as they went on their own 6-0 scoring run to tie the game at 21-21. Justin Patterson then had a big layup to give the Bears the lead back, but the Hoyas would take back this lead, and not give it up for the rest of the game. The Hoyas ended the half on a 7-0 scoring run, and while the Bears defense was playing reasonably well, the offense struggled mightily, and gave up many unforced turnovers that led to Hoya baskets. The Bears trailed by 7 at the half, but did not seem out of it sitting at a low scoring 23-30 game. The second half was much worse for the Bears, as their shots just could not fall, and the Hoyas offense improved mightily from the first half. The Bears ended the game with 16 turnovers, many of which came in the second half. This allowed the Hoyas to score 10 points off of turnovers, which is actually a good percentage of stops for the Bears, but those were 10 points that the Hoyas just should not of had. Many of these turnovers were unforced too, as only 7 of the Bears 16 were steals by the little Hoyas. This blew the air out of the gym for the Bears, and the lack of depth with injuries started to show. Without a #1 scoring option, and a good ball handler, the Bears struggled to score baskets, and only put up 10 points in the third quarter, while giving up 17 to Prep. The Hoyas inside game began to get going, and the Bears trailed 32-47 going into the final quarter of play. This quarter was more evenly matched for the Bears, but it seemed like the comeback was too daunting, and the Bears just could never put together a run to really threaten the Hoyas. They would have a big basket, a stop, but then have a turnover that led to Prep points. The Hoyas only scored 14 points, but it seemed as if they all came at times that were just horrible timing for the Bear’s comeback hopes. That being said, the Bears fought hard and only were out scored by 2 in the final quarter. With Chazz Harley and Julian Larosiliere on the bench in could trouble, Dane Camphausen stepped up, and finished with 9 points. The Bears were able to get the bench cleared, and Mac Hollensteiner had some great defense at the end of the game to keep the score reasonable. The Bears ended up falling 45-61, but showed heart, and that even without debatably the best player on the team, can still give some fight. The Bears will return to action for the last time in the regular season on Friday February 9th at 7:00 at Bullis. The Bears played Bullis very well last time, and with the return of Canin Reynolds, will have a shot to pull off the upset of the year. There will most likely be huge crowds by both teams, so it should be a very interesting and fun game. The Bears will need to shut down Bullis’ number 1 scoring option in #0, and if they can they will have a great chance, as the Bulldogs do not have as much depth after their first few scoring options. The Bears will also need to reduce their turnovers drastically, and make smarted plays against an experienced team that beat them last time by scoring off of the Bear’s mental errors.