Bishop-Timon coach Jason Rowe was pretty straight with the team before the game. He asked them “do you want to pick up the paper on Thursday and read about how we were upset by St. Joe’s?”
After falling to Park on Friday, Rowe told his team that it was time to make a statement. And they answered the challenge.
“One of the things I talked about today was just proving that you belong in this league with the (big) guys,” Rowe said. “I said ‘this is a statement game. We’re on the road at St. Joe’s. Don’t worry about the record. Don’t worry about wins and losses. We have to go out and prove. We have to go out and perform.'”
“My exact words were ‘you don’t want to look at tomorrow’s newspaper and it says upset. You don’t want that. So come out here and play basketball like you’re supposed to.'”
Master Radford had 17 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks as Timon beat the Marauders 67-58 in Monsignor Martin Athletic Association basketball action that was played at St. Joe’s on Wednesday night.
“Coach said this is a statement game,” Radford said. “We came out bad against Park. We wanted to get back on track with this game. Friday we’ve got Canisius.”
Rebounding after what they felt was a subpar performance against Park School, the Tigers (16-2, 7-2) didn’t just get back in the win column. They did it playing their brand of ball. Uptempo, team ball where everyone gets a touch as a total of four players hit double figures.
Julian Cunningham (16), Tahron Goodelock (14) and Alero World (13) were also in double digits for the Tigers.
The Marauders were able to dictate a slower, more deliberate pace that helped them take a 21-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
But the Tigers turned the tide with a 10-0 run early in the second that pulled them within one point, 25-24. An 8-0 run to close out the second gave Timon the 36-34 lead at the half.
“We usually don’t play slow. We want to speed up the opponent,” Radford said. “We want to break out the fast breaks. Anytime we get to speed up the (tempo) that’s when we’re at our best.”
For the Marauders (8-12, 2-7), who have battled injuries to key players, it’s about hanging tough in the face of adversity and remembering that the bumps of the regular season can pay off down the road.
“A night like tonight gives us hope that we can compete in a tough league with a lot of tough teams,” St.Joe’s coach Mark Simon said.
“We’re a little undersized height-wise, but yeah there’s a lot of good to take from tonight. It’s just disappointing. A couple minutes we kinda got off track.”
Jack Capen led St.Joe’s with 30 points and Trey Boling kicked in 14.
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