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Inside dominance leads Howland past JFK
By Doug Chapin
WARREN
When it’s cold outside, it’s a good idea to go inside.
Though the Howland High boys basketball team was having some success from the perimeter, the Tigers took off when they concentrated on getting the ball into the paint in Friday’s 56-50 victory over Warren JFK.
During a 21-5 second-half run, Howland held a 12-6 edge in rebounds. The Tigers (3-1) won the rebounding battle for the game by a 33-22 advantage.
“At halftime, we talked about going inside, we’re bigger than they are“, Howland coach Dan Campana said. “Dontea [Dawson] does a nice job in the post.”
Dawson, a 6-foot-4 senior, led a balanced scoring attack for Howland with 16 points to go with 10 rebounds.
Domenic Termine scored nine points, Josh Davis had eight and Brendan Cope and T.J. Lanier scored seven each. Brown also had seven rebounds.
Martae Hainesworth led JFK with 17 points and six rebounds. Dominic Naples added eight points and Mike Frederick also had six rebounds.
Howland opened a 15-9 lead in the first quarter, mostly from outside, including two 3-pointers by Termine to open the game. JFK (1-3) fought back to take a 30-28 halftime lead and opened the advantage to 35-28 two minutes into the third quarter.
“You have to give credit to Kennedy,” Campana said. “We got up early on them but they didn’t just sit back and take it.”
Slow starts have been a problem for the Eagles.
“In the games that we’ve lost it’s like we’re in a heavyweight fight and we need to be knocked down to say that we’re in a bout,” JFK coach Shawn Pompelia said. “We have to be prepared mentally to walk on the floor and play immediately.
“We thought rebounding was one of the big keys to the game tonight,” Pompelia said.
Howland’s decisive run over almost 12 minutes of play changed the seven-point Eagles’ lead (35-28) to a 49-40 Howland advantage with 2:30 remaining in the game.
“Howland is a strong Division I program and they just came with horses in and out, in and out,” Pompelia said. “Our kids did a phenomenal job of working their tails off tonight. I’ve said it before we cannot argue with how hard these guys are working. But it gets to a point where we have to capitalize on how hard they are working with W’s.”
Campana, in his second season at the Tigers’ helm, sees progress and more stability in players’ roles because of more familiarity
“They are kind of doing things that we want them to do on their own without us having to tell them,” he said.