What ankle injury?: Howe scores 34 in return to court

GOSNELL--The Gosnell Pirates gave their fans a fantastic farewell on "Senior Night," Friday night, against county rival Rivercrest. In their final tune-up before the 3-4A district tournament, the Pirates outpaced the freewheeling Colts in an 83-73 win at a packed Gosnell Physical Educational Building.

"I'm glad we could get a win like this in front of a crowd like this," said Gosnell head coach Kirk Glintborg.

The non-conference game may have meant little to both teams on the schedule but that was not the case once the ball was tipped as the combination of a large high energy crowd and two up-tempo teams provided the atmosphere of a state playoff game.

In his first action since suffering an ankle injury against Valley View over a week ago, senior Tre Howe appeared to be back at full strength, leading the way with a game- high 34 points.

"He (Howe) said he felt good and he looked strong," said Glintborg. "He was cramping up there a little bit at the end. I'm sure he was a little fatigued from not being on the court for over a week but he looked strong and made some big baskets early."

Howe started the game off with back-to-back break away layups, including a nifty behind-the-back reverse against two defenders, giving the capacity crowd plenty to cheer about early.

Richard Razor and Rod Jones spread out the Colt defense by knocking down threes in the first period. Razor brought the Pirates within a point at 12-11 with his bomb with 2:40 left in the first, and Jones nailed a three as time expired in the period to cut a six-point Colt lead to three as the Pirates trailed 23-20 heading into the second. The Pirate pair each scored 20 points and Razor picked up yet another double-double grabbing 11 rebounds.

"They shot the ball well early and Rod (Jones) hit a couple of big baskets late that helped us," said Glintborg. "We're always going to get production from Richard (Razor). Night in and night out, he just goes out and does what he does."

Rivercrest was able to get out in transition for easy layups and guard Thai Harris knocked down a pair of threes in the first to help the Colts lead early.

"We gave up a lot of points and some easy baskets," said Glintborg. "Rivercrest is so athletic and likes to get out and run. It's nice. We're not used to seeing this kind of tempo. We're used to these conference games where teams like to pack it in and slow it down. We had to slow them down and change things up but it didn't seem like anything worked. I'm proud of how we responded to this challenge."

Rivercrest opened the second with a 9-2 run and opened up an eight-point lead with five minutes to play in the period and looked like they might break things wide open. The Pirates, however, responded with a 9-0 run themselves and held the Colts to just one more basket over the final five minutes of the half. With the Colts playing for one shot as time ticked down in first half, Pirate center Will Rose got his hands on a steal, got out in transition and found Razor on the break who swooped in for a dunk and a 38-34 lead with just seconds remaining in the half, sending the Gosnell faithful into a tizzy.

Howe scored the first eight points for the Pirates in the third period as Gosnell held onto their four-point advantage but Rivercrest would not budge. Rivercrest power forward Rakeem Stewart scored 10 of his 17 points in the period as the Colts powered their way back into the lead. Stewart's bucket with 2:25 left in the period gave Rivercrest a 48-47 lead as the teams traded the advantage back and forth four times over the final two minutes of the period.

Gosnell finished the period on a 4-0 run. Razor knocked down a pair of free throws and Tevin Real picked off a steal and hit Howe on the break for a layup as time expired, giving Gosnell a 57-54 lead heading into the final frame.

The Pirates maintained a slim lead until midway through the period when Jones nailed a pair of threes in less than a minute that was part of a 9-0 run that gave Gosnell a 70-58 lead with 4:30 left in the game. Rivercrest made one final push cutting the lead to four at 73-69 after another three-pointer from Harris but the Pirates let them get no closer.

Gosnell finished the game on a 10-3 run to seal the deal and end the regular season.

The Pirates finish the regular season with a 21-4 record and begin 3-4A district tournament play on Wednesday night at Brookland. The No. 2 seeded Pirates are automatically in the semifinals and received an automatic bid to the regional tournament as well.

"That's the good thing about doing so well in the regular season. It puts us that far ahead," said Glintborg. "We've had a tough schedule so I think we should be ready for anything in the postseason. It's all going to start with defense. If we defend, we'll be ok."

For the game, Howe led the Pirates with 34 points and dished out eight assists, Razor and Jones each had 20 points a piece.

Marqueez Chew led the Colts with 18, Stewart scored 17 and Harris chipped in 12.

GIRLS

Rivercrest 59, Gosnell 56

Trailing most of the game and by as much as 10 with three minutes left in the game, the Gosnell Lady Pirates found themselves lining up for a game-tying three- pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining in the game.

Layne King's three-point attempt at the top of the key missed the mark as the Rivercrest Lady Colts defeated the Lady Pirates, 59-56.

Gosnell trailed 15-9 at the end of one period and 23-22 at halftime.

The Lady Colts moved out to a 40-34 lead heading into the fourth period and led by 10 with three minutes to play.

A three-pointer from Daneisha McBride cut the Colt lead to three with 12 seconds remaining. The Pirates forced a turnover at the other end and advanced to ball to near mid-court with 1.8 remaining setting up a chance to send the game to overtime.

Kemhari Soward led the Pirates with 20 points with 10 coming in the fourth period and Shanice McClain added 16.

Dominique Brown led all scorers with 22 points for the Lady Colts and Taylor Harris chipped in 16.

The Lady Pirates begin 3-4A district tournament play against Trumann at 4 p.m. Monday night at Brookland.