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Bofenkamp helps JFK down Girard
By David Lee Morgan Jr.
GIRARD
Sometimes, high school athletes just don’t know what they can achieve until their coaches challenge them.
That’s what Warren John F. Kennedy coach John Richards did with junior guard Justin Bofenkamp all week and the result was exactly what Richards had hoped. Bofenkamp gave a strong all-around performance finishing with a game-high 20 points, as JFK defeated host Girard 46-31, in a non-league game Tuesday night.
When JFK (5-15) needed a clutch basket, a crucial free throw or just a gutsy play to stay command, there was Bofenkamp.
“Justin had a good week of practice,” Richards said. “We asked a lot more of him this week from a leadership standpoint and he really stepped up.”
JFK was also led by 6-foot-6 junior center Antonio McQueen, who scored 16 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. And along with sophomore point guard Terrance King effectively running the offense at point guard, the Eagles had little trouble with the Indians (11-9) in the first half.
Most coaches will tell you games aren’t won or lost in the first, or even the second quarter. Girard, however, tried to make a case for that notion in the first half. The Indians scored just three points in the first quarter. It couldn’t get much worse than that, right?
Wrong.
Girard scored just two points in the second quarter and trailed 21-5 at halftime.
“We just didn’t have any energy and we can’t waver on whether we make shots to get our energy going,” Girard coach Craig Hannon said. “It just wasn’t there.”
Girard shot just 9 of 51 from the floor, but showed life in the third quarter. Led by senior guard Mark Standohar (11 points) and senior forward Darren Tiggett (seven points and eight rebounds), the Indians cut the Eagles’ lead to 24-18 heading into the fourth.
“We were looking for anything to spark us but we couldn’t get it to where we could catch them and have a chance to win the game,” Hannon said. “We showed guts to battle back.”
JFK took control in the fourth quarter by staying calm and not panicking when Girard picked up the pace defensively.
“They weren’t bringing that much pressure in the first half,’’ Bofenkamp said. “But when they did in the second half, we did a good job of staying calm, and having Antonio down the court in the post when we did break the press helped us.”
Richards said: “We’ve been working a lot on maintaining our focus when we’re facing double-teams and traps. We just have to trust ourselves, keep the ball in the middle of the floor. We knew they were going to throw everything at us in the third quarter and because we handled that pressure, we were able to get easy buckets. We’re better, five together, than working individually and they are learning to trust each player 1-through-15, and learning to trust each coach, 1-through-5.”