Overlea High's athleticism was too much for Towson High on Wednesday night, although the Generals did manage a spirited rally before falling, 56-47, to the Falcons.
Towson (4-5) kept its poise in the early going by being disciplined in its half-court offense, grabbing a 7-4 advantage on a fastbreak by senior center Tim Wheeler midway through the opening period before the high-flying visitors took a 12-11 lead into the second quarter.
The Generals stayed close on another Wheeler bucket until the Falcons rode an 11-2 spurt into halftime for a 27-17 cushion after a Derrick Gary finish in the paint.
That margin could have been significantly smaller had Towson been more accurate from the free-throw line (5 for 14 in the half, 7 for 18 overall), a problem that has plagued coach Tim Gavin's squad for much of the season.
"It's killed us in some games," Gavin said before the Overlea contest. "We should be 7-1 (instead of 4-4.). It's mostly concentration. When we concentrate, we can make them, like we did against Franklin. We made 12 of 14 against them (in a win)."
As bad as the Generals were from the charity stripe, they would have still had a difficult time beating an Overlea team that swiped the ball almost at will and had a huge advantage on the boards. Guard Will Watts was the most bothersome Falcon, using his quickness and perfect timing to record several steals.
To make matters worse for the home team, the Falcons grabbed a slew of offensive rebounds and converted them into easy baskets.
"We wanted to play a possession game, and that's what we did early," Gavin said. "But then they got a couple of turnovers and we panicked. They'd get a basket and we tried to get one back with a bad shot. I was very disappointed in the effort tonight."
Midway through the third period with his team behind, 35-21, Gavin cleared his bench for the starters to have a seat.
The substitutes — most notably junior Elias Hilaire, James Frieson and Amry Majeed and seniors Gibson St. John, Riley O'Brien and Patrick Chandler — played admirably while slashing the enemy lead in half.
However, after Daren Alexander, Deon Moore and Gideon Whitacre answered in succession for the Falcons, the rally fell way short.
"I just wish I had brought them in earlier," Gavion said. "We just had too much to make up."
Scoring summary:
Overlea (56)-Will Watts, 12; Daren Alexander, 9; Terry Lawson, 4; Gideon Whitacre, 14; Jermaine Wells, 6; Derrick Gary, 4; Deon Moore, 7
Towson (47)-Elias Hilaire, 6; Avery Reneau, 6; Amry Majeed, 12; Jordan Riddick, 1; Gibson St. John, 2; Tim Wheeler, 12; Tim Jarosinski, 4; Patrick Chandler, 4
