Fourth Quarter Rally Pushes Paint Branch Past Gaithersburg
“I’m real proud of them, they kept fighting and we got the ‘W’,” Walter Hardy said of his team.
Photo by: Gerrelle Baldwin / GamedayMD.com
Panther senior center Rycourt MacAuley ended with 20 points on the night, with 14 of them coming in the second half.
Photo by: Gerrelle Baldwin / GamedayMD.com
The Panthers largely benefited from senior forward Devin Gallman’s four baskets for nine of his eventual 15 points.
Photo by: Gerrelle Baldwin / GamedayMD.com
Written by: Dave Vatz
BURTONSVILLE, MD- It took the Paint Branch Panthers nearly a half hour of play to get their first lead, but the result was a win for them defeating the Gaithersburg Trojans 55-52, coming back from down six at the start of the fourth quarter.
"We finally started to get aggressive and play," Paint Branch coach Walter Hardy said after the game, "I thought we were real passive, but we finally made some plays and stepped up in the end."
Gaithersburg jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first two minutes of play including four points by Malcolm Miller, who would end with 12. Paint Branch would comeback to tie the game at 10 as action went back and forth, with the Trojans leading after the quarter 19-16.
The Panthers largely benefited from senior forward Devin Gallman's four baskets for nine of his eventual 15 points.
The second quarter saw both teams go cold on shooting. The Trojans built an eight-point lead but two scores in the final minute by the Panthers put the score at 29-25 in favor of Gaithersburg.
After halftime the back and forth play continued with the Trojans ultimately keeping the lead. A transition layup by Gaithersburg senior forward Tony Dorsey pushing the lead to eight caused Paint Branch to call a timeout with 2:33 left.
In the final minute of the quarter after a basket by Panther senior center Rycourt MacAuley, teammate junior guard Jeff Keane stole the in-bounds an put a layup in, putting the score at 42-38.
"I noticed they weren't really paying attention when they were throwing it in, so I snuck in, took the ball and finished the play," said Keane, who finished with 10 points on the night.
"That was a great spark, Jeff's a heady player, and he's smart, and I love him. He's made some big plays this season for us and that was huge," coach Hardy said of Keane's steal.
After Gaithersburg scored a basket before the buzzer, the Trojans held a 44-38 lead going into the fourth quarter.
"We looked down the bench and nobody was excited, so Coach tried to get us fired up about the game," MacAuley said, "We just came out with some fire and intensity."
The Panthers starting putting some baskets together, including a slam by MacAuley and a three-pointer by Keane to put Paint Branch within one at 48-47. Both sides traded baskets, including another score for Trojan senior Horill Poggy, who ended with 18 points.
With the score 50-49, MacAuley got another dunk in transition to give the Panthers their first lead of the game at 51-50 with 3:13 to go. After both sides traded a possession MacAuley continued to be the playmaker, getting a shot off the glass for two for a 53-50 lead heading into the final minute.
Gaithersburg had a chance to regain the lead after Miller hit a layup and a travel call on Paint Branch with 35 seconds left, but Miller's pass went out-of-bounds with 16 seconds remaining.
Trying to get back the ball, the Trojans used their ninth foul on MacAuley with 14.4 seconds left, forcing a one-and-one. The team had trouble shooting free throws all night, but MacAuley hit both shots for a three-point lead.
Kris Westphall threw up a three before the buzzer but it missed and the Panthers ended with the win 55-52. MacAuley ended with 20 points on the night, with 14 of them coming in the second half.
"I'm real proud of them, they kept fighting and we got the 'W'," Hardy said of his team.
Paint Branch improves to 6-6 and will host rival Springbrook on Friday. Gaithersburg falls to 6-6 and will return home to face Blair Friday night.
