The Lions’ roar was silenced.
The Bishop Loughlin boys basketball team struggled on both sides of the ball on Jan. 22, suffering a disappointing 97–76 loss at Archbishop Molloy in a Catholic League rivalry matchup.
“It wasn’t our night tonight, it’s very simple,” said Lions coach Edwin Gonzalez. “I thought we could played a lot better, and I thought we gave them too many points defensively. We didn’t do a good job.”
Loughlin (12–4, 6–3) jumped out to a 22–19 lead after the first quarter, sparked by a nine-point run midway through the period, but the Lions couldn’t maintain the offensive momentum.
The squad struggled to find its footing in the lane — stymied by the presence of Molloy 7-footer Moses Brown — and Loughlin was limited to one-and-done possessions throughout the second quarter.
Offensively, we should have attacked the basket a lot more,” Gonzalez said. “We just didn’t go to the basket, but taking nothing away from Molloy. We just didn’t play well tonight.”
Molloy (12–5, 7–2) hit its stride in the second quarter, notching a 10–2 run to jump out to an eight-point lead with 2:28 left in the half. Loughlin’s sole points during that stretch came on a Keith Williams dunk, but the play was marred when the senior star was called for an after-basket technical.
It was that kind of game for the Lions — every good moment came with a bit of a caveat — and the team faced its fair share of foul trouble throughout the league matchup.
Williams was whistled for his third with 2.6 seconds left in the half and point guard Markquis Nowell played with two fouls during the opening 16 minutes. The fouls made it difficult for either player to find much consistency.
“We had foul trouble. We had some key guys going down,” Gonzalez said. “It’s going to happen that way some nights.”
Loughlin went into the break facing a 47–35 deficit and the Lions couldn’t mount much of a second-half comeback.
Brown continued to control the game on the block, and Molloy guard Cole Anthony was an offensive force to be reckoned with down the stretch. He finished a perfect 17-for-17 from the free throw line and attacked the rim, drawing fouls and forcing Loughlin’s defense out of position.
“He’s capable of doing all that,” Stanners coach Mike McCleary said of Anthony. “We controlled the game midway through the first quarter until the end, really. Once we stopped turning the ball over, we controlled the game.”
Loughlin left a handful of points on the floor, shooting just 50 percent from the free-throw line. Molloy, on the other hand, missed just nine shots from the stripe.
“We went to the line 24 times, and we didn’t shoot well from the free-throw line tonight,” Gonzalez said. “They went to the line 41 times. That’s a major difference.”
It was a frustrating game for the Lions, but if there was a bright spot, it came in the combined offensive efforts of Williams and Tyrese Gaffney. The two finished with 46 of Loughlin’s points.
In the end, however, the Lions couldn’t get that final push. The loss is a bit of a wake-up call for the squad, one with its sights set on a city championship.
“We grow from it. That’s what has to happen,” Gonzalez said. “We grow from it and we get better and you come back. It happens to the best of teams.”
