St. Anne’s-Belfield’s boys basketball team was just out of sync. A lot of it was what Carlisle was doing, but the Saints needed a minute to talk things over, cut down on turnovers and get back on track.
“We were just being very passive, didn’t attack any of their zone,” said STAB coach Brian Kent. “(After the timeout) I thought they did a nice of attacking gaps and finding angles and we hit a few of those inside-out threes that we love.”
STAB exploded out of that second quarter timeout on a 10-2 run to close the first half and held the Indians at bay from there for a 57-47 victory at home Thursday night.
The 10-2 run got started with a Javin Montgomery-DeLaurier steal and dunk which he followed with another dunk and continued with a Matt Palumbo three and a Jayden Nixon long-ball. That run was pretty decisive but it helped that Palumbo, a sophomore, stayed hot after that three, scoring 16 of his career high 22 points in the second half. He went 6-for-6 at the free throw line down the stretch.
“He’s having fun and he’s doing what he loves,” Kent said. “He’s always been a shooter, this year too he’s picked it up on the defensive end so he’s taking ownership of that. The offensive part we knew was there, the kids want him to shoot and we’re looking for him to shoot.”
Montgomery-DeLaurier also had a massive night, scoring 16 points and pulling down 11 boards while ringing up five blocks and a pair of steals. Nixon finished with 12 points and Kareem Johnson came up with two steals to help spark the defensive effort. Johnson and John Woodson had a tough defensive assignment trying to lock up star sophomore point guard Rasir Bolton. Bolton finished with 20 points on the night, but Woodson and Johnson teamed up to create enough havoc and allow the Saints to seize control of the game.
“(Woodson) gave us an absolute spark in that first hold where we hold a guy (Bolton) that is averaging 20 plus points and John came in there with a lot of disruption and then Kareem finished it off,” Kent said.
Saturday the Saints will try and pick up another win against Williamsburg Christian on the road at 3 p.m.
