Howland unwraps gift of a win

Warren JFK led for most of the game before the Tigers rallied to snap a three-game streak.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

HOWLAND — Somebody was going to find a box of rocks under the high school basketball Christmas tree Saturday night at Howland High when the winless Warren JFK Eagles faced the host Tigers who had lost their previous three games.

Early on, it looked like Howland wasn’t even on Santa’s list as a slow start kept the Tigers from leading in the game until 2:21 remained.

But when the package finally was unwrapped, the Tigers (3-3) had a 48-43 triumph thanks to a 12-3 finish in the final three minutes.

“We played hard and, more importantly, we mentally stayed in the game,” Howland coach Dan Campana said. “They could have collapsed at some point, being down, but they stayed with it mentally and kept us in the game.”

Warren JFK (0-6) led 13-6 after one quarter and held its largest lead, 22-13, at the 2:35 mark of the second quarter.

The lead was 22-18 at halftime and 33-31 after three quarters.

Trailing 40-36, Howland senior Matt Haering, who had missed his first eight shots, nailed a 3-pointer, then Stephawn Brown, who finished with just four points, scored at the 2:21 mark for the Tigers’ first lead.

A tip-in on the offensive glass by T.J. Lanier made it 43-40, then the Tigers shot five-of-six from the line in the final 34 seconds.

“We have several people if we need to they can score,” Campana said. “Those two in particular, [Haering and Brown] were a little bit rough in the first half, but they always have the green light to score. Matt stepped up and hit the big shot and Steph does what he does, he attacks.”

Lanier and Dontea Dawson led the Tigers with 12 points apiece, and they also led Howland to a 31-20 edge in rebounds. Dawson grabbed 12 and Lanier eight.

“Something we didn’t do well in the first half was rebound,” Campana said. “We talked about it at halftime that we had to put a body on people. We started playing more man defense just to get bodies on people and rebound better.”

JFK coach Brent Villella agreed that rebounding, along with turnovers, were the keys to the game.

“What gave us the lead in the first half cost us the lead in the second half: crucial turnovers, especially those which led to easy transition hoops for them; and not getting their guys off the glass,” Villella said.

“That’s a collective effort both ways, guys getting open, our bigs helping our guards get open and our point guard distributing the ball. And underneath, we tell them all the time we don’t have the luxury of out-jumping people. We’ve got to get body on body and have four or five guys rebound.”

Carl Broadbent led Kennedy in scoring with 11 points and Pat Hull dished out five assists.

For the Eagles it was another way to lose a tough one.

“This was a new situation with us being ahead by this much,” Villella said. “One of the things we’ve addressed with our guys is our slow starts have been hurting us. We were doing such a great job after the first quarter, but we had dug such big holes.

“Tonight, maybe that’s our inexperience showing, learning how to control a lead, and understanding that we should be controlling the game.”

Howland did its best to prevent the Eagles from gaining complete control.

“Defensively, we looked to pressure them more,” Campana said about adjustments the Tigers made. “We started to double the ball a little bit, trying to cause them to get more irritated, rather than let them do what they wanted to do.

“It was a good finish, we didn’t quit, didn’t give up on anything. At the start there was a lot of sloppy play, a lot of turnovers which we’re trying to cut back on. But again, the kids didn’t give up.”