The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

Spartans pass exam, pull away in third quarter to beat visiting Huskies
* Quincy Redmon scores 25 points, hauls in 25 rebounds

By The Potomac Highlands Dispatch
CUMBERLAND, Jan. 14 -- Academically, it seems the Bishop Walsh boys basketball team got through this week's high school exams just fine.

But for nearly 20 minutes Friday night, it seemed that a challenge from the No. 5 Huskies might overwhelm the top-ranked Spartans. Sophomore star Quincy Redmon - who scored and rebounded his way to the front of the line in the discussion for Dispatch Player of the Year honors now, about a third of the way through the season - helped put an end to such speculation.

He hit a field goal and completed the three-point play by sinking a free throw with four minutes and 39 seconds to go in the third quarter to give host Bishop Walsh a one-point lead.

Bishop Walsh never trailed again and cruised to a 72-57 Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference win. A season-opening loss to Keyser remains the Spartans' lone blemish in conference play. A rematch is scheduled for Feb. 24 in New Creek, W.Va.

"We had exams this week," said Bishop Walsh coach Bob Boyle.

He said having games during exam week "usually terrifies me. We came out sluggish, like we expected."

No. 5 Northern Garrett was hardly sluggish. Huskies standout point guard Matt Gibson hit a field goal just 60 seconds into the game for two of his 11 points in the first half.

The senior hit a layup, drew a foul and nailed the foul shot to tie the game 5-5 early in the first period. Then Patrick Sines, fully recovered from a collision with the bleachers from last week's road game against Southern Garrett, dished out to Garrett Rayner for an easy bucket.

Steven Holtschneider then hit the first of two 3-pointers for a 10-7 lead and Gibson hit two 3-pointers to give Northern Garrett a 16-9 advantage with 3:02 to play in the first quarter.

First period play ended with Northern Garrett up 22-17. Bishop Walsh took third lead of the game after the Spartans opened the second period on 9-0 run. Suddenly, Bishop Walsh led, 26-22.

The Huskies' timeout with 4:26 left before halftime seemed to work. Cody Humberson's bucket brought Northern Garrett within 26-24 and the two teams traded field goals before the Huskies ended the second half with a 7-2 run - highlighted by 5-of-8 free throw shooting by Gibson - for a 33-30 lead.

Northern Garrett coach Christopher Elliott said Gibson and his teammates didn't take advantage of the inside play allowed by the Spartans. Instead, as the deficit grew larger, Northern Garrett tried to right itself by shooting 3-pointers. It didn't work.

With a slim halftime lead, Elliott said he told his team the first three minutes of the third period would be critical. He was wrong. It took less than that for the Spartans to fix their problems in transition and, on a Richie Mann 3-pointer, pull within 38-37 just 2:18 into the second half.

Just 21 seconds later, Redmon did what he did all game - made an impact and harassed the Huskies at both end of the court - to give Bishop Walsh a 40-38 lead.