When Westinghouse played Marshall earlier this season, Marshall romped on the strength of its inside game.
Before Tuesday`s Public League Red-West rematch, Westinghouse coach Roy Condotti told the Warriors he wanted to force Marshall into a perimeter game. It worked. Barely.
Westinghouse, the Tribune`s No. 9-ranked team, overcame a torrid three-point shooting display by No. 5 Marshall to hold off the visiting Commandos 80-73 and tighten the division race.
Marshall (16-3, 5-2) hit 12 three-pointers-10 in the second half when Westinghouse (17-3, 5-2) was in position to pull away.
Five of the treys came from guard Ontario Brown (24 points). Brown`s last 3-pointer with 12 seconds left pulled the Commandos to within 78-73 before a slam by David Greer (25 points) eight seconds later capped the scoring.
”We didn`t expect them to hit all those threes,” said Westinghouse guard Kiwane Garris, who hit three treys himself en route to a game-high 30 points. ”We were very surprised.”
But Westinghouse stayed with its zone defense, figuring Marshall would cool off eventually.
”We didn`t want to leave them wide open,” Condotti said. ”We were just determined not to let them beat us in the transition game. If they were going to beat us, they were going to beat us outside.”
Marshall came pretty close, but the Commandos connected on just two of their last nine shots from the 3-point arch. Meanwhile, Westinghouse was 10 of 10 from the free-throw line in the final three minutes.
”I want them to shoot the three when we have to shoot the three,” said Marshall coach Luther Bedford. ”But we`d rather-at least I`d rather-them get the ball inside.”
Not an easy task this time around.
Westinghouse took a 19-11 lead after the first period, hitting four treys of its own in the opening period. The Warriors took their biggest lead of the game, 27-15, on a Kareem Cobbins jumper with just over five minutes left in the half.
Marshall got hot behind Brown and Courtney Hargrays (17 points) and battled back to take its first lead (31-30) with 2:27 before halftime.
Marshall eventually took a 66-64 lead with five minutes left in the game, but ”they just stopped hitting those shots,” Condotti said.
