Without Grimes, Cavaliers fall to Goose Creek Memorial
THE WOODLANDS — College Park battled without five-star guard Quentin Grimes Friday night, but ultimately fell 79-76 to visiting Goose Creek Memorial.
Grimes, a Kansas signee, was out of town due to a death in his family. Even without their star player, who’s averaging 27.8 points per game this season, the Cavaliers (8-8) found themselves within one possession as time expired.
Shannon Scott, who had 16 points on the night, saw his 3-point attempt miss as the final buzzer went off.
“Not having [Grimes] tonight, you see his greatness because he makes everybody else on the floor around him look like a great basketball player,” College Park coach Clifton McNeely said. “They’re very good basketball players, they just have to step up and fulfill the things they’re capable of doing. A couple times we lost our composure with poor shot selections or defensive mistakes. In a tight ball game, that’s going to change it pretty quick.”
One of the main differences in the game was the second-half bonus and double-bonus. The Patriots (4-8) entered the bonus late in the third quarter and found themselves in the double-bonus with 5:46 to play in the fourth.
In the final quarter, Goose Creek Memorial was 19-for-26 at the line. All but eight of the Patriots’ fourth quarter points came at the charity stripe.
“It was one of our goals tonight to get to the freethrow line and we didn’t get to the free-throw line as many times as we needed to,” McNeely said. “The big difference was we put them at the freethrow line early and often and they did a great job of shooting.”
Early on, there was some foreshadowing on the role scoring runs would play in the first half.
The Cavaliers took a 5-0 lead early and began the first quarter 5-of-6 from the field. The Patriots battled back, however, and a late shot from the visitors tied the game at 16 after the first quarter.
The Cavs opened the second on a 9-1 run to take a 25-17 lead with about 5:30 to go until halftime.
Goose Creek Memorial responded with a 14-0 run that lasted almost three minutes. The Cavaliers took a timeout when the run got to 11-0 on Printon Cooper’s transition bucket.
After three more points were added to the run and the Patriots led 3125, Scott’s 1-for-2 trip to the line ended the poor stretch for the Cavs.
“The big thing was we just had to keep playing hard,” McNeely said of the run. “There were a couple stretches in that run and towards the end where our shot selection wasn’t good. That allowed them to hit some big shots.”
A three from Goose Creek Memorial’s Bobby Zane and a nifty no-look, over-the-back layup from Deon Blakemore tied the game at 33 late in the first half. Blakemore led the Cavs with 19 points on the night. Kimani Anderson was also in double digits with 15.
Two buckets from Goose Creek Memorial made the halftime score 37-33.
The Cavs opened the third quarter with four straight points to tie the game. A three-point play from Cooper, who had 15 points, put the Patriots back on top 41-37.
College Park took the lead back at 52-51 when Scott stole the ball and passed it up court to Anderson, who found Blakemore for a transition bucket.
In the fourth quarter, a pair of free throws from Xavier Goudeau gave the lead back to Goose Creek at 59-58. A technical foul sent Goudeau back to the line, where he sunk another pair with 5:29 to play. Goudeau and Jacob Gaston tied for the Goose Creek scoring lead with 19 points each.
The Cavaliers got within a possession five times in the final 60 seconds of the game, but consistency at the free-throw line kept Goose Creek’s slim margin alive.
College Park’s Max Bowman hit a 3-pointer with six seconds to play to pull the Cavs within 77-76, but Dylan Cook’s 2-for-2 trip to the line that followed made it a 3-point game again.
College Park’s next game is against Pineywoods Community Academy. Tip is set for 2 p.m. on Thursday.
The Cavs should have Grimes back, but McNeely said Friday was a good reminder that a well-rounded game is needed to win.
“Tonight it was obvious we need to get much better at defending the rim,” McNeely said. “We’ve got to look for other guys who can step up and rebound consistently. We can’t rely each and every possession that Quentin’s going to get the rebound or make the play.”