MONTICELLO — Drew Central coach Larry Harris wanted to make one thing clear after Friday night’s 67-53 home loss to Monticello.
“My hat goes off to Monticello, they played a wonderful game,” Harris said. “I told our guys, ‘Don’t hang your heads.’ You know why we lost? Monticello was the better team. They beat us, no excuses.”
That much about the game wasn’t clear until the fourth quarter, when the Billies (4-0) outscored the Pirates (9-2) 19-10. After entering the final frame with a five-point lead, Torey Butler connected on a 3-point shot 27 seconds into the quarter. He led Monticello with 26 points.
In the third quarter, Drew Central junior Damarius Thomas scored 17 of his game-high 32 points. No other Pirate scored in the quarter, as Thomas single-handedly kept his team within striking distance.
The game saw just one lead change, which came with 1:16 left in the second quarter. At that point, Monticello guard Christian Russ knocked down a long-distance shot for a one-point Billies lead. Another Monticello 3-point basket made it a four-point lead before Butler knocked down the third 3-pointer of the stretch as time expired.
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For Monticello coach Wayne Sherrer, that burst was a huge momentum for the Billies to take into the locker room at halftime.
“That allowed us to play a little looser (in the second half),” Sherrer said. “The thing that I was the most impressed with (at the end of the half) was that we moved the ball, we found the open shooter. We moved the ball around and got it to the right people.”
After the game, Butler was on the same page as his coach for how important taking a seven-point lead into halftime. “I think it got our team back in the game,” Butler said. “We were kind of down (at the start of the game), I think that was our motivation.”
The Billies’ defense was the other key to the game, consistently applying pressure that resulted in turnovers and 15 fast-break points, 10 of which came in the second half.
Sherrer said the defensive intensity was a result of a game plan that worked and playing containment defense.
“We thought that they were a slashing team that wanted to go to the hole and we had to contain them,” Sherrer said. “Once we did that, we were able to get some opportunities in transition.”
One player who was contained was Dominique Rhodes, who entered the game averaging close to 20 points per game for Drew Central. The Billies held Rhodes to an eight-point effort, which his coach said was a tribute to the visitors.
“I think Monticello just did a wonderful job of defending him,” Harris said. “They knew what he could do, they were trying to take away what he likes to do. By them doing that early, I think it got in his mind and messed with his play. Monticello just did a good job of stopping him.”
After the game, Monticello took home the “Showdown in M-town” trophy for wins in the high school girls and junior high boys games also. Monticello won the junior high game 41-26.
GIRLS
Monticello 55, Drew Central 46
Chelsea Rhodes led the Lady Billies with 19 points, as Monticello improved to 6-0. Erin Campbell added 13 points off the bench for the visitors.
Early in the second half, Drew Central cut what had been a 32-24 deficit to a four-point game, but was unable to push any closer.
Aaliyah Block had 18 points for Drew Central (10-2) and Adruna Simpson added 14.