George Jr. out-rebounds Campbell

January 17, 2012 at 12:01a.m.

By Brandon Judeh

YoungstOwn

George Jr. Republic’s dominance on the boards was too much for Campbell as the Red Devils lost 81-50 in Monday’s boys basketball game at the Covelli Center.

The Tigers (6-5) held the Red Devils to 4 of 17 shooting in the first quarter and 30 percent for the game.

George Jr. Republic out-rebounded Campbell 29-15 in the first half and more than doubled the Red Devils up for the game, 51-25.

“ We missed 12 or 13 easy layups out there; if we make those that changes the whole game,” said Campbell coach Jay Brown. “We also gave them a lot of easy layups on our transition defense. They have some terrific rebounders on their team and they did a great job out-rebounding us.”

In the second quarter George Jr. Republic came out with a 14-3 run, lead by sophomore sensation Nafis Brown, who scored a game high 18 points and added nine assists.

Brown, whose passing ability is akin to a young Allen Iverson, made three spectacular behind-the-back, no-look passes that led to buckets during the run.

“The more and more I get use to playing with my team the better I am seeing the court and passing the ball more and I did a pretty good job with feeding my teammates today,” said Brown.

Campbell (2-9) answered back with a 10-0 run that cut the lead to seven, but the Tigers went into the half with a 12-point cushion.

Early in the third quarter, Omar Harrington and Tyquil Roane had back-to-back dunks to give the Tigers all of the momentum.

Jay Brown admits his team’ play has fluctuated throughout the season and the Red Devils are going through a down period. But he believes with hard work, his team can start playing more consistently.

“I think we were improving a lot, but now we seem to be headed in the other direction,” Brown said. “But we just need to string together a couple good games to get our confidence level back up.”

Campbell’s Anthony Naze lead the Red Devils with 13 points, Darrell Harrison added 12 and Devin Johnson had a team-high eight boards.

For George Jr., Jamal Swinton added 13 points and Roane had 11 points and 11 rebounds.