Cecil Seahawks defeat Garrett College Lakers 93-57

By Kendra Stamper

NORTH EAST - In Wednesday’s game at Cecil College, the Seahawks hosted the Garrett College Lakers. Garrett won the tip and Cecil retreated to man-to-man against the Lakers 5-out motion offense. Cecil took and kept the lead quickly despite going against a full court man defense. The Seahawks set up in a 4-high offense to start, but it shortly turned into a consistent shell motion. They shared the ball well, with 4 players scoring double digits by the final buzzer.

Garrett College set up in a motion offense sending flashers to the high post to attempt high-low looks. This did not work as well for them as it did for the Seahawks, so the Lakers looked to take more outside shots. At around the 10 minute mark, the Lakers sunk 2 back to back 3 pointers making the score 12-10, Cecil. With this confidence, Garrett put on a 2-2-1 full court press that forced Cecil to rush their game a bit. However freshman Seahawk Darrien Berrios Rivera put 7 of his 8 points on the board to pull away from the Lakers permanently. The score was 24-15 and only went up from there. Strong Cecil defense denied Garrett paint points, and good teamwork on offense sent the Seahawks into halftime with a 36-18 advantage.

In the second half Cecil worked on some set offens- es against Garrett’s man-toman. The Seahawks also switched to a 2-3 defense to continue to pack the inside.

On a fast break early in the half, sophomore guard Frank Toney threw a pass off the backboard to Vernon Simmons for his second dunk of the game. Simmons had a game high of 23 points, 6 of which came from dunks.

With around 15 minutes left in the second half, the Seahawks were burying the Lakers in a 28 point lead. Sophomore Dominick Carrington put 10 of his 13 points on the board within 5 minutes of the half. The Seahawks did not let up, they put on a full court man press. At this point, Garrett had no answer, despite try- ing man-to-man, a 1-3-1 defense, a 2-3, and various full court pressure defenses as well as different half court sets. Eventually both teams were able to rotate new players into the game.

Garrett’s Kamren Heathington came off the bench and put a quick 7 points on the board, as did Cecil’s Matthew Wallace. By the end of the game, both teams ran simple motion offenses without much pressure on defense. The final score was 93-57, Cecil. In addition to other players mentioned, Cecil’s Marlon Lewis and Jordan Strickland scored 10 and 12 points respectively.

Garrett’s Marquin Thompson had a team high of 15 points.