Friday, March 21, 2008

Eagles soar past Walter Reed in overtime

Down by 23 in the second half, the Belvoir Eagles pulled off its most exciting victory of the season Sunday by defeating Walter Reed Medical Center 112-107 in overtime.

Belvoir looked strong for much of the first half with a combination of inside and outside play from its guards, but faltered down the stretch as a result of bad passes and poor defense.

Trailing 48-39 at halftime, the Eagles looked to rekindle their previous aggressiveness in the second half, however, not before spotting Walter Reed a 23-point lead with less than 10 minutes to play in the game. Following a timeout by head coach Sherman Sherin, the Eagles started to chip away at the Warriors lead and began out-hustling their division rival.

James Smith, Michael Collier and Katoe Chapman would all contribute 3-pointers during an impressive 19-5 run for Belvoir. Tyrone Legette, who would go on to score 19 during the contest, added a pair of baskets down in the post, allowing the Eagles to cut the deficit to 99-91.

With their double-digit lead evaporated, Walter Reed called a full timeout to slow down Belvoir’s momentum, but it had little affect on the hot-
shooting Smith. With both teams back on the court, Smith hit back-to-back three pointers and made it a two-point game with 40 seconds left to play.

After being fouled, Legette would make a pair of clutch free-throws to tie the game at 99 and complete Belvoir’s improbable comeback. But, the Eagles knew there was time left for one more play and that their defense had to step up in the game’s final seconds. Sure enough, it did.

With six seconds on the game clock, Chapman drew a charging foul and was able to give possession back to Belvoir. Chapman then raced up court for a final shot, but lost the ball out of bounds as time expired.

Belvoir would prevail in overtime and outscore the Warriors 13-8 over the final five minutes. With the win, the Eagles snapped a two-game losing streak with three weeks to go in the season. Chapman, who hit eight-three pointers during the game, finished with a game-high 34 points. Smith added 21 for Belvoir.

“I’m certainly happy we pulled it out, but we have got to play better defensively. It all comes down to execution,” Sherin said after the game. “We can’t keep giving teams these 20-point leads. That’s a big score to come back from. We have to stop putting ourselves in the hole like that. This was an exciting game to watch, but it’s very frustrating as a coach.”

Belvoir lost in double-overtime to Quantico last week. That was followed by a three-point loss to Fort Meade two days later. In that game, Belvoir
originally trailed by as many as 28.