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Lawrence, Gillespie score 14 each in Chaney defeat
By Tom Williams
HERMITAGE, PA.
For many athletes, a high school boys basketball team playing for the first time in seven seasons and being above .500 after nine games would be sufficient.
Chaney’s Cameron Lawrence and Marquel Gillespie feel otherwise.
“I’m not happy with five wins,” said Lawrence following Friday’s 75-54 loss to Erie at Kennedy Catholic’s Holiday Hoopfest. “We’ve just got to play better — we should have a better record.”
Gillespie also said he’s not ready to celebrate the Cowboys’ comeback season’s start.
“We should have more wins,” said the senior who played at East for the last two years. “Hopefully, we can pick it up.”
Lawrence and Gillespie led the Cowboys (5-4) with 14 points each against the Royals (3-1).
“We start four sophomores and a junior, so it’s going to take a little time,” Chaney head coach Marlon McGaughy said. “There are better things to come but I’m pleased.
“We have a tough schedule, only six home games. Half of these kids have never played together so the bonding part of it is taking a little time.
“We’ll get better in time.”
At the start of the second and third quarters, the Royals started strong, only to see the Cowboys surge to keep the game in reach.
Adrian Thomas scored for a 31-19 lead, followed by an 11-5 East run that included a basket and a 3-pointer by Gillespie.
Ahead 38-31 to start the second half, the Royals came out with a 10-2 run, but three-pointers by Sharrod Taylor and Lawrence kept the lead below double digits.
But the Cowboys had to answer in the final quarter when the Royals put the game out of reach with a 13-0 run.
“They are physical — big, strong guards,” McGaughy said. “Every time we would cut into the lead, they would hustle back.
“That team always hustled — I’d never seen a team with a high motor [like that],” McGaughy said. “We had layups and they’d block our shots.”
McGaughy said the Cowboys made 12 steals but only scored four points off of them.
“That’s [a good way] to get beat,” McGaughy said.
Barry Thompson led the Royals with 25 points. Samad Bailey added 12 points and Jeremiah Camp had 11.
“They were really aggressive from the jump,” said Lawrence, one of the Cowboys’ four sophomores who start. “They played well as a team.”
Gillespie said the Royals excelled at rebounding and hustle plays.
“Stuff we weren’t doing,” Gillespie said. “We should do [more] of what they were doing.”
Lawrence credited McGaughy and his staff for the somewhat surprising start.
“Coach has brought us all together,” Lawrence said.
Gillespie said his transition from East to Chaney hasn’t been difficult.
“Not really,” he said. “Chaney’s [academic] program is the best thing for me.”
He’d like to continue playing next year, but has not made a decision.
Today at 12:30 p.m., the Cowboys will be back at New Castle, this time playing Winchester Thurston of Pittsburgh.