Jaguars run to easy victory

Bulldogs challenge, then fade badly in second half

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007

Click here to enlarge this photo christopher anderson⁄The Gazette Jervon Wright moves toward the basket against Bowie’s defense during Tuesday’s home victory in Springdale.

Letdowns near the end of first, second and third quarters cost the Bulldogs a chance to hand the Jaguars their first loss of the season. A glance at the final score — a 74-47 triumph by Flowers — gave no indication that the game was ever in doubt.

During the first half, Bowie (5-6) led on several occasions and was within a point of the Jaguars with just over two minutes remaining before halftime. But Flowers made three decisive runs that counteracted Bowie’s performance in the remainder of the game.

The first lapse came as Flowers went on a 9-0 run in the final 90 seconds of the first quarter. The Jaguars then outscored Bowie, 10-0, over the final two minutes of the second quarter. But it was a devastating 17-0 run to end the last five minutes of the third period that ended any chance of a Bowie victory.

‘‘Maybe it was something that they did,” Bowie coach John Wiley Jr. said. ‘‘It just seemed like every time we got close and needed a bucket, we had a turnover. A lot of that has to go to their guards [Chaune Duffy, Darren Clarke and Jordan Brooks]. Their guards are as good as there is in this league. They present a bad match-up problem for us.”

Flowers’ coach George McClure, who coincidentally was the Bowie High boys’ coach for three seasons (1998-2000) before taking over the Jaguars in 2001, had no explanation for his team’s late-period surges. McClure was impressed with his team’s intensity and tenacity throughout the game, especially the early stages of the second half when Bowie had narrowed the Jaguars’ lead to six points.

‘‘I don’t think we really did anything differently during the last few minutes of the first and second quarters,” said McClure, whose team improved to 10-0. ‘‘It just seemed like that’s when we started to pick things up on both ends. I was really pleased with our intensity in the second half. Our guards, Chaune and Jordan, really make things happen. Jordan didn’t have as many points [16] as usual, but he really runs the show out there for us.”

Bowie began the game as if it were poised to hand the Jaguars their first setback of the season. The Bulldogs led by as many as six points on two occasions, including a 14-8 lead with 1 minute, 35 seconds to play in the first quarter on a short jumper by Devon Goode. But Flowers ended the quarter on a 9-0 run, getting points inside from Daniel Thompson and Jervon Wright and outside from Clarke.

‘‘I don’t know why we had that sluggish start,” McClure said. ‘‘But I was glad that we were able to overcome it. Jervon, Daniel and Azel [Prather] did a great job on the boards and they were really good inside defensively.”

Flowers opened a five-point lead midway through the second quarter, only to watch the Bulldogs narrow the margin to 26-25 with just over two minutes remaining in the half. But once again the last two minutes of the second quarter, much like the first, posed more problems for the Bulldogs. Brooks scored six points late as the Jaguars closed the half on a 10-0 run.

The late stages of the third quarter, however, served as the dagger that felled the Bulldogs for good. With just over five minutes remaining in the period and Flowers leading, 40-34, Prather rejected a layup attempt by Bowie’s John Roberts (9 points) — a defensive gem that sparked Flowers to 17 unanswered points.

‘‘That was like a nine-point play,” Wiley said. ‘‘John goes up for a layup that would have cut the lead to four and then they get two free throws, another basket and a three-pointer in the next minute. I think I also had some guys quit on me at that point. I’ll have to address that in practice this week. That’s something I’m not going to tolerate.”

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.