Harding’s rally too much for Steelers, 78-56

By Chuck Housteau

Farrell hed a 28-27 lead at halftime before the Raiders took control.

YOUNGSTOWN — Warren Harding High basketball coach Steve Arnold said he lit into his team at halftime after the Raiders played “uninspired” basketball in the first half against Farrell.

The Raiders (3-0) then went out and lit up the Steelers with a 29-point third quarter and went on to route Farrell 78-56 in the 4th annual Youngstown-Warren Holiday Basketball Classic at the Chevrolet Centre.

“We came in at halftime and really got into the kids,” Arnold said. “We played an uninspired first half which is not how we customarily play on defense and I let the kids know about it.”

The slapped an impressive half-court defense on the Steelers and that forced Farrell into 11 turnovers and plenty of scoring opportunities for Harding.

Sheldon Brogdon and Desmar Jackson led the way with numerous slam dunks and scored 10 and nine points in the period.

“That third quarter was probably one of the best quarters I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” Arnold said. “That was an impressive because we played with energy.

“When we play with energy like that we are capable of what you saw out there tonight.”

Brogdon, Jackson and junior Angel Gonzalez combined to score 66 of Warren’s 78 points.

Brogdon led the way with 24 points while Jackson and Gonzalez added 21 apiece.

“It’s fun out there when everyone is playing together,” said Jackson who pounded home several crowd pleasing dunks. “We didn’t have our rhythm in the first half because we weren’t playing together.

“That third quarter is the most points I can ever remember us scoring.”

Farrell (1-2) opened the contest playing outstanding basketball behind the play of junior Brandon Johnson who scored 11 of his 22 points in the first period.

Johnson’s 3-point basket at the end of the period gave Farrell a 16-13 lead.

The team’s played evenly throughout the second quarter that ended in the Steelers favor 28-27.

Then Harding opened the third quarter on an 18-2 run fueled by its defense to open up a 45-30 lead.

The Raiders scored 11 more points in the period and led 56-39.

Arnold said his trio of scorers puts a lot of pressure on opposing defenses.

“Defensively an opponent can shut down one guy,” Arnold said. “But having three guys [Brogdon, Jackson and Gonzalez] makes it tough for an opponent to scheme enough on defense to stop us.”