Boys Basketball Second-Half Surge Comes Up Short

Because of injury and illness, the Summit team that took the court on Tuesday night at Union Catholic was largely unrecognizable.

Then, after playing perhaps its worst half of the season, the Hilltopper team that took the court in the second half looked almost nothing like the first-half group.

Unfortunately, despite playing maybe its best half of the season after intermission last night, the Hilltoppers couldn't overcome an anemic 12-point first-half. Though they rallied from 19 down to tie it over a remarkable 10-minute span, Summit fell 71-61 for its third consecutive loss and fourth in the past five games.

"This is something we're going to remember," said reserve guard Matt Rea, who took full advantage of his chance to play by leading Summit with 16 points. "We came together today as a team I think for the first time all season. We had each other's backs. It was a great experience, and let's just get ready Friday for (Johnson High)."

Summit (7-9) was without top scorers Matt Wholey and Shawn Hillas. A third starter, David Newton, was unavailable due to an ongoing leg injury. The effects of their absences were clear almost immediately as the Hilltoppers simply couldn't find many good looks, and the ones they got, they mostly missed. Though they hung around early and trailed only 15-12 midway through the second quarter, the bottom fell out over the final 4:12 of the first half, when the Vikings (11-8) caught fire, turned up the heat defensively, and finished the half on a 14-0 run to take a 29-12 lead into the locker room.

The Viking defense forced 15 first-half turnovers on seven steals, and limited Summit to 4-of-17 shooting, while knocking down 12 of 27 of their own shots.

The lead grew to as many as 19 early in the second half, but Summit, which continued to struggle from the field, began to apply some defensive pressure of its own, get to the line and knock down its free throws. Clayton Johnson and Rea also began to catch fire from beyond the arc.

But the Hilltoppers still trailed by 14 heading into the final period and, with fatigue setting in, the only thing that seemed still in doubt was the final margin.

That all began to change when Rea rained in a pair of threes in the first minute of the fourth quarter, whittling the Viking lead to single digits for the first time since the middle of the second period. Though Union Catholic's Brian Flores, who scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, hit a pair of free throws and went end to end for a pull-up bucket, Summit kept surging. Cris Cafiero made three free throws and Johnson hit back-to-back threes and two free throws over a 43 second span and, just like that, the game was knotted at 48-48 with 5:18 left in the game. After a missed free throw at the other end, Summit actually had an opportunity to take the lead, but missed on the other end.

Zach Dlabik hit one of two free throws for UC and added a 12-footer along the baseline to give the Vikings the lead, and they never trailed again. Flores hit a tough runner and a pull-up eight footer, which was matched by a Dwaine Dabney putback and a Cafiero three as Summit got back to within 55-53 with 3:08 left in the game.

But Dave Herren delivered a big three-point basket and a driving lay-up, and Flores got a steal and a lay-up to push the lead back to eight. Summit's last gasp came with 1:23 remaining when Dabney made a nifty drive for a bucket inside to cut the lead to 64-58 at the 1:23 mark.

UC, which at one point in the final period, missed 6 of 9 free throws, got six straight from the stripe by Flores to finally put it away.

After making just 1 of 7 from deep in the first half, Summit caught fire and made 7 of 11 after intermission. Cafiero also knocked down all 10 of his free throw attempts as Summit made 20 of 24 in the second half to finish 23 of 29 for the game.

Rea led the way with 16 points and two steals, followed by 15 points and two assists by Cafiero. Johnson added 12 points, nine rebounds and two assists, while Dabney scored nine points, grabbed nine boards and three steals. He also handed out three assists.

Reserve post man Ryan O'Malley, who had the unenviable task of trying to guard UC's 6-10 post man Mike Marciano, scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds.

After suffering through 15 first-half turnovers, Summit settled down and committed just five miscues after intermission.

"It felt great, just to play with all these guys tonight," said Rea. "We started off real slow, but in the locker room, we said, okay, let's go back out there and get it together. I'm proud of us even though we didn't come out with a win.

"We just needed a spark, a couple of steals, a couple of threes. Ryan O'Malley's a beast inside. Dwaine really stepped up. He's had that capability all season. The best of us came through in the end.

We got a little winded, but we just tried to play through it."

Rea said Wholey should be back for Friday's game with A.L. Johnson, but that Hillas and Newton could be missing anywhere from 10 days to two weeks.