Rams win at the line

All 18 points in fourth come on free throws

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009

Devante Gray's hard slash to the hoop with a few minutes left Friday appeared to be nothing more than a way for his McDonough Rams to stop their bleeding.

They had seen their seemingly comfortable 20-point lead from late in the third whittled down to just six with the visiting Leonardtown Raiders seizing momentum.

Favoring McDonough at that juncture, however, was its bonus situation, and Gray drew a foul on his aggressive foray. The senior swingman subsequently buried both one-and-one free throws.

Not only did Gray's charity-stripe visit spark McDonough the rest of the way in holding off the late Leonardtown charge, but the free throw conversions helped comprise an unusual accomplishment for the Rams in their 60-44 victory on the opening night of boys basketball in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference.

All 18 McDonough points in the final quarter were registered from the free-throw line as the Rams showcased an impressive lesson in mastering one of the most important fundamentals of the sport. They went 18 for 20 –– a gaudy 90-percent clip –– during the fourth at the line, otherwise Leonardtown (0-1) may have snatched an improbable comeback win in the non-conference contest.

McDonough (1-0) sank all but three of its plentiful 27 attempts at the line in the second half and went 26 for 30 (87 percent) for the game, having a prolific night shooting foul shots after the first half provided no hint of what was in store.

Gray and senior guard teammate Marcus Stewart spearheaded the McDonough assault from the line. Stewart's game-high 18 points included a 12-for-13 free throw performance –– all in the second half. Gray scored 17, going 9 for 12 at the line. He was 8 for 10 after halftime.

"We practice shooting free throws all the time and we treat it like a game situation," Stewart said, his team notching nearly half of its offensive output from the line. "Our coach, that's all he wanted us to do was attack –– not trying to settle for the jump shots. He wanted us to concentrate on free throws and knock them down.

"I'd say it's a good win, because we had to overcome their little comeback run. And we showed that we can fight through that and finish it."

Gray added, "Like Marcus said, we always practice and condition with free throws. If you don't make two in a row, you've got to run. From the scrimmage, I wasn't really surprised [at how well I shot at the line]. From me practicing hard, it really helped."

Perhaps paving the way for the free throw clinic were the best three practices preceding the game, according to 11-year head coach Dave Rooney, at McDonough in two years in terms of the mental, physical and communication aspects.

"Once we get some stuff ironed out, these guys can be a decent team. We missed a lot of easy shots," Rooney said, referring to McDonough's 16-for-42 (38 percent) outing from the field. "We did an awful job in the first half of getting to the line. They only had five team fouls. We did a very poor job of attacking some guys. In the second half, we started making some runs. We caught the ball and were going after hips, and those [Leonardtown] guys were jumping in front. That's stuff we should've been doing in the first half."

Rooney added that he's never seen such production from the line in all his years of coaching the way McDonough scored in the fourth.

"In high school, we talk about being 70 percent [from the line] and we think that's pretty exceptional right there," the Rams frontman said after his club –– thanks to Stewart and Gray –– performed way above the team's expectations. "So we expect a lot of our guys when they go to the line."

McDonough senior forward Davario Barksdale posted 11 points in the win. He and Gray had a game-high eight rebounds. Stewart pulled down seven boards.

Leonardtown seniors guard Marcus Courtney and swingman Ryan Vanderwest scored in double digits to lead their team. Courtney had 14 points –– all in the second half –– while Vanderwest scored 12 with a team-high six boards, matching Tyler Gladu.

Courtney changed the complexion of the affair just when it appeared Leonardtown was in danger of getting blown out. McDonough had its way in the third after a sluggish first half for both teams, extending its 19-14 halftime lead to 42-22 with 80 seconds left in the third.

McDonough's efficient offense –– committing just one turnover in the third after having 12 in the opening half –– along with its spread-out scoring made a lopsided matchup out of a competitive game entering the fourth.

But Courtney's energy and attacking mode –– both offensively and defensively –– suddenly got Leonardtown right back into contention, seemingly out of nowhere.

Courtney earned two straight trips to the line to begin the fourth, both stemming from Leonardtown's smothering zone pressure defense, as a sign of his productivity to come. He scored 10 points in the fourth –– six straight for Leonardtown –– to slice the one-time large McDonough upper hand to just 46-40 with 3 minutes 29 seconds to play.

Then Gray asserted himself by drawing the foul amid a crowd of defenders with McDonough in the bonus. That was the beginning of a McDonough parade to the line, converting 14 of 16 foul shots in the final 3:17.

Meanwhile, Leonardtown ran out of gas once McDonough's offense calmed down and took better care of the ball. McDonough had nine turnovers in the fourth. Leonardtown had just six in the second half –– helping to ignite its attempted comeback –– after 13 turnovers before intermission.

Leonardtown never got any closer than six points of McDonough, only hitting two of its final 16 floor attempts to illustrate an abysmal shooting effort. Leonardtown was just 19 for 69 (28 percent) from the field.

"We came through at the end, but we didn't do anything at the beginning like we were supposed to," said Courtney, who has a strong competitive dislike for McDonough after the program was responsible for giving his junior varsity club of the past its only loss. "In the fourth quarter, that's when we took them on but it was too late. I got everybody energized, and we started making layups [during our run]. They just pulled away with the good free throw shooting.

Both teams were basically even on the boards, McDonough holding a 35-34 advantage. Leonardtown owned a commanding 20-9 margin on the offensive glass.

dcogle@somdnews.com