Bishop Loughlin has proven it can rally a comeback win — just not without its top players.
The school’s boys’ basketball team snatched last-minute victories from Long Island Lutheran and Christ the King earlier this season, but Loughlin couldn’t pull a fast one on Archbishop Molloy with its two best players on the bench for much of the game. The Lions led by 12 in the first quarter, but the team could not erase an eight-point deficit in the game’s final three minutes and gave up a 67–63 road loss to the Stanners in Brooklyn-Queens boys’ basketball on Dec. 5. The team missed a chance to move into first place in its division.
Guard Markquis Nowell (12 points) played just the first five minutes in the second half after spraining an already injured ankle, and Keith Williams, who had 11 of his 14 points in the first half, fouled out late in the fourth.
“We usually run off of them,” said sophomore guard Jordan Thomas, who scored 12 of his 13 points in the second half. “They are our main players. It was hard to distribute the ball. It was a lesson to be learned.”
Nowell, who has fought through injuries before, wanted to stay in the game, but coach Ed Gonzalez decided to pull him in the interest of his long-term health — even if it meant potentially sacrificing a victory, the coach said.
“He would have played,” he said. “He would have finished it. He would have won the game, but I have to think about him.”
And Williams, who sparked a rally from 12 points down in the fourth quarter against Christ the King, didn’t play up to Gonzalez’s expectations.
“He’s supposed to step up like he did the other day,” Gonzalez said. “The other day he was phenomenal.”
Gonzalez’s club roared to a 14–2 lead in the first quarter, but turnovers led to Molloy fast-break points. The Stanners closed the half on an 8–0 run and went into the break tied at 36.
Issac Grant helped Molloy (7–1, 1–0) take control of the game in the third quarter by scoring nine of his 19 points in the frame. His layup in traffic with three minutes remaining tied the score at 46–46. A Cole Anthony layup at the buzzer made it 53–46 for Molloy going to the fourth.
Loughlin (7–3, 3–1) brought its fourth-quarter deficit to 66–63 on a three-point play by Thomas, but it did not score again on its next four possessions and missed two free throws with 28 ticks left in the game. Khalid Moore, who led Molloy with 21 points, made one of two free throws with 7.2 seconds remaining to put the game away.
“We had to pull through,” Thomas said. “And we didn’t.”
