It kind of felt like flying.
Keith Williams saw the ball sailing through the air and acted instinctively, jumping up and slamming down a two-handed dunk that brought the jam-packed crowd at Bishop Loughlin to its feet. The late-game play — set up by point guard Markquis Nowell before he even crossed halfcourt – was the exclamation point in an 88–72 Lions win over Christ the King on Feb. 5.
“I didn’t even see Markquis, you know, he’s kind of small,” Williams said. “I just saw the ball in the air, so I ran and jumped as high as possible, and when I caught it, I just tried to tear off the rim.”
Loughlin (8–3, 14–5) clinched the season-sweep over the Royals with the win and got back on track after a disappointing 79–53 loss at Long Island Lutheran on Jan. 29. The key, as it’s been all season, was the play of Williams and Nowell.
The two combined for 51 points and each player seemed to dominate a half. Williams was a force in the first 16 minutes, while Nowell set the tone down the stretch.
“I think the best is yet to come from these guys, they’ve been playing tremendously together,” Loughlin coach Ed Gonzalez said. “In practice it shows, and they’re looking for each other a lot more. They trust in each other, which is very important.”
The Lions grabbed a one-point cushion at the break and jumped out to a 45–41 lead midway through the third quarter before Nowell hit his shooting stride.
The junior, who scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half, went on a one-man, eight-point run to wrap up the third quarter and give Loughlin a 10-point lead.
“My coach told me to be aggressive,” said Nowell of his second-half adjustments. “I wasn’t aggressive the first half. I was looking for other people and my teammates. In the second half, I just tried to be aggressive.”
Williams and Nowell’s alley-oop dunk made it a 69–53 game with 5:45 left on the clock and effectively wrapped up the victory for Loughlin.
“You knew from that play, the game was done after that,” said Williams, who also hauled in nine rebounds. “Their posture shut down, and they kind of stopped playing in the fourth quarter.”
The Lions, of course, were pleased with the victory and the offensive performance, but Gonzalez is still hoping for a bit more from his squad, particularly with the postseason on the horizon.
“I just want to get them better defensively,” he said. “They’ve got so much confidence in what they do offensively, that sometimes they forget defense wins basketball games and championships.”
The victory gives Loughlin a bit of separation from Christ the King in the Brooklyn–Queens standings, and the season-sweep gives the Lions an extra push of much-needed confidence heading into the playoffs.
“This is big,” Nowell said. “We beat them twice and we feel like they can’t compete with us when we play our basketball. We knew they were going to have a little confidence, but we just try to kill that today.”
