Catonsville and Boys' Latin traded scoring spurts for the first 20 minutes of the boys basketball game at Catonsville High School Wednesday night and the score was tied, 41-41, with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
But Catonsville's 6-foot-6 forward Antwan Pearson (10 points, five blocked shots) went to the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 4:42 left and 6-6 Musa Wichhart (4 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists) joined him for a rest.
Boys' Latin took advantage by controlling the boards and the tempo, outscoring Catonsville 17-2 the rest of the quarter on the way to a 78-61 victory.
Nine of the points during the Lakers' run came from the foul line. Kodye Pugh (20 points, 11 rebounds) scored five of his nine points in the quarter on free throws.
"When he decides he's going to attack the basket, he's tough to stop," said Boys' Latin coach Cliff Rees, whose team evened its record at 4-4.
As Catonsville fell further behind, the Comets switched to a man-to-man defense, which was just what the Lakers wanted.
"Going man allowed me to use my drives and allowed me to use my dribble and attack the basket hard, draw fouls and get to the rim," Pugh said.
It also freed up the perimeter and Michael Morsberger and Jason Chappell each hit three-pointers during the decisive surge.
"When guys go man against us we are hard to defend because once we drive and start penetrating the middle, we've got shooters on the outside, so it's a hard team to guard," Pugh said.
With two Catonsville big men on the bench, Boys' Latin also dominated the boards.
"For us, it comes down to rebounding," Rees said. "We did a really nice job of limiting them to one shot for the most part. Once we get the rebound, if we can get the opportunity to get out and run, we have pretty athletic kids."
Catonsville also hads athletic kids and they started the game getting them involved as they built a 17-11 lead in the first quarter behind six points from Pearson and a pair of three pointers from Eric Sheppard (team-high 13 points).
But Boys' Latin responded with a 13-0 run that pushed the Lakers ahead 24-17 after a fastbreak basket from Patrick Spencer (14 points, 5 assists) with 6:40 left in the half.
Catonsville answered with nine straight points and a 28-24 lead with 3:45 left until intermission.
Two free throws by Sheppard was followed by a pair of bakets from Pearson, a three-pointer by Zach Caslin and a layup by Brannon Johnson.
But Pearson picked up his third foul on a rebound attempt off a missed free throw from Johnson with 3:45 left, and he sat for the remainder of the second quarter and nearly half of the third.
Boys' Latin's 34-32 lead at the half was sparked by a pair of treys from freshman Jaylin Andrews (17 points) and Morsberger (10 points) in the final two minutes.
"I think we played a solid first half," Catonsville coach Matt Fannon said. "I think we showed grit. We dug a little hole in the first quarter, but we fought back in the second."
Catonsville tied the game at 34 early in the third quarter on a basket by Kevin Parrish. Pugh answered for Boys' Latin, and Sheppard responded with a basket for Catonsville to make it 36-36.
"We couldn't find an answer for number 10 (Pugh)," Fannon said. "He's a good player and we were trying to keep it out of his hands."
Catonsville nudged ahead on Johnson's free throw and Pugh tied it at 37 with a free throw with 5:35 left.
Pearson came back into the game with 4:53 left, but 11 seconds later he drew his fourth foul and was back on the bench.
Pugh's putback put the Lakers back on top, before an assist by Johnson to Nick Chambers made it 39-39.
Brandon Brasher's feed to Spencer gave the Lakers a 41-39 lead, but Wichhart tied it at 41-41 with 4:10 remaining.
Just 10 seconds later, Andrews hit a free throw and the Lakers never trailed again.
Boys' Latin pulled away in the fourth quarter, but Catonsville was more competitive than it was in last year's meeting.
"Last year, we really struggled against them, so overall I was pleased with the way we played for 3/4ths of the game," Fannon said. "We showed signs of improvement. We've just got to play a full four quarters."
Boys' Latin's Rees acknowledged Catonsville's improvement.
"I think they are a good team and they are athletic, and they've got some shooters to complement the athleticism and some big guys that really bang and rebound," he said. "I'm expecting them to have a really good season. I like the way they played. I thought they played hard. It's just they got the big kid in foul trouble and we were able to take advantage of that tonight."