Perry Hall stumbles in 3rd, falls to Roosevelt
The No. 12 Gators suddenly couldn't find the basket, made costly turnovers and allowed easy baskets.
By the time they finally regrouped, five minutes had elapsed and the Raiders had poured in 16 straight points.
Despite a late push, it was too much ground for Perry Hall to cover.
Eleanor Roosevelt senior guard Naji Marshall scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, and points came from seven other Raiders as they claimed a 69-59 win over the Gators at Maryland's Xfinity Center.
Perry Hall, which got 17 points from junior Darrell Green, finish the season with a 21-4 mark.
Eleanor Roosevelt, from Prince George's County, improves to 23-3 and will take on Meade in Saturday's title game, set for 8 p.m.
For the Gators, who stayed on even terms in the first half and then showed no quit with a late push, the tough third quarter proved their undoing. With a roster made up mostly of underclassmen, they made an impressive account, playing in the program's first state tournament.
“I couldn't be more proud — not only the guys, but the school and the community really came together for this game,” Perry Hall coach George Panageotou said. “For these young guys — three sophomores, six juniors and four seniors — to come in and perform the way they did against a very experienced and a very good team, I couldn't be more proud.”
The third quarter started out well for the Gators, who got a 3-pointer from junior guard James Rider to take a 35-34 lead with 6:13 to play. It would be the last lead they enjoyed this season.
The Raiders went on the 16-0 run with two dunks from Victor Okafor providing the exclamation point. By the time Gators sophomore forward Anthony Higgs converted a three-point play, coming with 1:08 left in the quarter, the Raiders were in control with a 50-37 lead.
“I guess at that point we just couldn't keep up with their transition speed. They got down in a hurry,” Panageotou said. “We struggled offensively, so we weren't moving well and we took some jumpers, which is going to start their transition game. That's exactly what happened — some missed jumpers started their transition and the next thing you knew they got easy layups.”
The Gators chipped away in the fourth quarter as Eleanor Roosevelt made only 13 of 26 free throws, missing six straight at one point. They closed to within 62-57 when Rider hit a 3-pointer with 1:38 to play. But Marshall made six of eight free throws the rest of the way to secure the win for the Raiders.
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