Backyard brawl goes to Springbrook boys

Garner, Williams drive Blue Devils to 11-point win over Blake

Williams went 11 of 12 from the free-throw line in the second half, forcing his way to the line in the final minutes and calmly draining shots to make the final score look like Springbrook (15-1 overall, 8-1 in the county’s 4A East Division) had a relatively easy time of it against the Bengals. However, for 3 1⁄2 quarters, the Devils were in the midst of a pitched battle, on a hostile floor. Even though it has struggled with a tough opening schedule Blake (8-8 overall, 4-5 in the 4A East) had won two games in a row coming into Thursday night, including a close, two-point win over Blair on Jan. 29. Drawing on some early momentum provided by guards Stephen Nurse and Marcus Farrell, who scored eight points each in the first half, the Bengals took a first-quarter lead, before Garner (22 points) scored eight second-quarter points to stake Springbrook to a three-point halftime lead. By the middle of the third quarter, however, the Bengals had wiped that lead out, thanks in part to Nurse (20 points) who hit two 3-pointers, and drove to the basket, repeatedly getting to the free-throw line.

‘‘We’ve been talking about playing hard and leaving it on the court,” Blake coach Marcus Wiggins said. ‘‘That’s what I have been trying to do all season, and they did that tonight. Now I have to get them to play smarter.”

What Wiggins was still smarting about after the game happened in the fourth quarter. Trailing by four, Blake turned the ball over on 3 of 5 possessions. Against another team in the county, that might not have been the death knell. Against Springbrook, it was. The Devils converted those three turnovers into seven points in which Garner was the catalyst, feeding back-to-back assists to his teammates, and then knifing through the lane for an easy layup. The game was iced when Blake’s Jordan Gibson was called for a technical foul for arguing a call late in the game, putting Williams on the line. As was the case most of the night, he did not miss.

‘‘We lost our composure and that killed us,” Wiggins said. ‘‘We turned the ball over without an opportunity at a shot, and to beat a team like Springbrook we have to play a [complete] game. I learned a lot about us from this game, about who we have who is going to play with intensity and with heart. You learn from experience and we’re getting it every night. Hopefully, we’ll be scholars by the end of the year.”

That intensity was slow to dispense even after the final buzzer sounded. The Devils quickly rushed the court to celebrate, and the Bengals quickly headed to the locker room to lick their wounds. After playing most of the game stone-faced, the opposite of Garner, his animated back court mate, Williams let out a smile.

‘‘The intensity is so high in these games that you have to be on your toes,” Williams said. ‘‘They are a good team. This is great because we’re going to have a lot of momentum going into our next game. We’ll be ready.”