Two nights after cruising to a , the boys' basketball team got a taste of the other side of a rout.
Riverdale Baptist forced the Panthers into 20 turnovers and junior guard Keon Hill scored 25 points to lead the Crusaders to a 71-42 win over PHS in a private versus public school contest on Thursday.
The Panthers (1-1) came in off an easy 56-26 victory over Anacostia on Tuesday, but found the going much tougher against the larger and quicker Crusaders.
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"They were definitely a different caliber team than we played earlier this week," Parkdale coach Tremaine Price said. "But I think most of all, it was just us not finishing plays and taking care of the ball. It was their token pressure – not their full-out pressure – that bothered us, and we just ran into traps. That's due to not playing against this caliber of team all the time. So, that's why we got this test early, because I wanted us to be able to know what we have to go up against when we get into that 4A."
Meanwhile, the Crusaders (4-2) are practically seasoned veterans at this point after opening the season at a tournament in San Antonio, Texas last week.
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"We've already played five games," Riverdale Baptist coach Lou Wilson said. "I think getting those games in early really helped us get off to a great start tonight. It was our first home game, and the kids were excited about playing at home and it showed out there on the court."
Parkdale took the game's first lead on a 3-pointer by senior point guard Adrien Straughn, but the advantage was short-lived. Hill scored nine of his points in the first quarter to help the Crusaders take a 23-10 lead, which they never looked back from.
The Crusaders started the second quarter with a 12-0 run, and Parkdale didn't score its first basket of the frame until junior guard Charles Cooley made a lay-up with two minutes remaining in the half. Riverdale Baptist took a 37-15 lead at the break, and went ahead by as many as 31 points in the second half.
Wilson said he didn't know much about Parkdale other than that they had hammered Anacostia, but expected them to have good shooters and play aggressively.
"We thought we'd be successful with our three-quarter press, and we were," Wilson said. "We had some three-quarter press that worked really good for us, and then we extended it a little further and we went full-court…which really disrupted their flow on offense, and I think that really threw their game plan off."
Straughn led the Panthers with 14 points, while Cooley had 13 and forward Andrew Green scored 11. Vohn Beach and Darnell Gordon had two points each to round out Parkdale's offensive output.
The Panthers have little time to rest, as they travel to Wise tonight.
"[These games] definitely pay off in the long run," Price said. "It's a learning tool, and that's why I put this test in front of us, for us to learn from it. I was hoping for a better result, but it is what it is, and we'll go back to the drawing board and we've got to be quick learners, because I don't think the test gets any easier [at Wise]."
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SCORING SUMMARY
Team
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Final
Parkdale
10
5
15
12
42
Riverdale Baptist
23
14
17
17
71
PARKDALE SCORERS
Players
Points
Adrien Straughn
14
Charles Cooley
13
Andrew Green
11
Vohn Beach
2
Darnell Gordon
2
RIVERDALE BAPTIST SCORERS
Player
Points
Keon Hill
25
Brendon Peel
13
Olajuwon Lewis
11
Jerome Tolson
9
Quinton Dodson
4
Robert Hurui
3
Milan Durant
2
Delvin Mulbah
2
Christopher Scott
2
OTHER STATS
Team
Category
AmountParkdale
Three-point field goals
Cooley 3, Straughn 2
Riverdale Baptist
Three-point field goals
Hill 3, Lewis 1, Tolson 1
Parkdale
Total fouls
13
Riverdale Baptist
Total fouls
16