No. 3 Parkville boys hold off Calvert Hall
The Parkville boys basketball team liked everything about Friday night’s early season road test at Calvert Hall.
The noisy crowd in the big gym. The fact that the host Cardinals were already playing their ninth game of the season, while it was just out for its second.
It was a test of mettle, and the No. 3 Knights proved up for the challenge.
Starting fast in both halves and answering every push from the home team, Parkville secured a 57-53 win over the Cardinals in Towson.
All-Metro senior guard Caron Smith scored a teamhigh 20 points while junior guard Sincere Barfield added 16 as the Knights improved to 2-0.
“It was great to be involved in a tough environment this early. It’s only our second game and their [ninth]... so it’s great to get this win,” Parkville coach Josh Czerski said. “The kids definitely weren’t in rhythm — we didn’t shoot the ball well — but they came out and handled business for the first road win of the year.”
Throughout the game, it appeared the Knights were primed to pull away, but the Cardinals (5-4) proved resilient.
The Knights hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter and got a late tip-in from Favor Okigweh to take an 18-5 lead going into the second quarter, but the Cardinals answered with a 9-0 run of their own. Calvert Hall closed the half on a high when Brendon Johnson (game-high 23 points) hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Knights’ lead to 25-19 at the break.
Smith started fast in the third quarter, scoring seven straight points. When Josiah Legree hit a basket with 3:48 left, the Knights had their biggest lead at 40-24.
Not happy with a perceived lack of effort from his Cardinals, Calvert Hall second-year coach Gary Neal called timeout. The Cardinals responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 40-32 on a basket from Tyrin Bizzelle with 54 seconds left in the quarter.
The stretch showed promise, but also how far the Cardinals still have to go.
“To be honest, we have to grow where I don’t have to do that,” Neal said. “Playing at a school like Calvert Hall, you should never have to coach effort. That should never be an issue, so it was pretty embarrassing that I had to use a timeout to talk about effort.”
Both teams return to action Monday. The Knights will look to keep rolling when they host Archbishop Curley at 5:30 p.m., while Calvert Hall travels to Aberdeen at 7 p.m.