Pallotti boys basketball routs Flint Hill in Bristow tournament

St. Vincent Pallotti junior shooting guard Harlyn Owens had a big-time game against Flint Hill, of Virginia. So did a few of his teammates.

Owens, with 27 points, was one of four players in double figures as the Panthers downed Flint Hill, 78-53, in a semifinal of the Sherm Bristow Holiday Tournament at Gilman School Monday night.

Senior guard Michael Robinson scored 14 points, junior guard Philip Alexander added 13 points and junior center Amanze Njoku-Ibe contributed 10 points and six rebounds.

Pallotti (10-2) advances to play Gilman — a 62-48 winner over Severna Park in the other semifinal — in the championship game Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Roland Park.

“Last year was my first year at Pallotti and we lost to Severna Park in the first round of this tournament,” Panthers’ coach Dennis Murphy said. “So we are excited to be in the championship.”

Murphy can thank Owens for helping Pallotti get there.

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He sank 9 of his 11 free throws and also finished with nine rebounds, six assists and four steals.

“He is a very tough kid and he attacks the basket,” Murphy said. “When he does that, good things will happen. He will either make shots or gets to the foul line. In this case, he did both.”

Pallotti trailed Flint Hill, which was led by the performance of senior point guard Tyler Femi (18 points, 5 rebounds), for most of the first six minutes.

“We were letting them get to the basket too much,” Murphy said.

But Owens got the Panthers going starting late in the first quarter.

He sparked a 9-0 run in final 1:39 of the first quarter to turn a 16-12 deficit into a 21-16 lead.

Midway through the first quarter, Owens hit a 15-jumper to give his team a 31-21 advantage — the Panthers’ biggest lead of the first half.

Pallotti maintained a double-digit lead in the third quarter until Flint Hill closed to 49-42 on Ben Stern’s three-pointer with 1:26 left.

But the Panthers started to take control late in the third quarter and quickly turned the game into a blow out in the final quarter.

“The funny thing is I had a group of guys in there that normally don’t play together,” said Murphy, noting the group of Greg Purnell, Alexander, Robinson, Kyle Grear and Owens. “But they were going well, so I just sort of rode them. We went from a seven-point lead to 17.”

Chase Young (5 points), Everett Hammond (5), Grear (3), Purnell (2) and Marquise Brown (1) also scored for Pallotti.

Pallotti boys basketball routs Flint Hill in Bristow tournament

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