‘Different mindset’: Great Crossing rallies from nine points down at halftime to beat Male
Great Crossing coach Steve Page acknowledged last year’s Warhawks would have lost a game like the one they played Saturday night against Male after getting outworked on the boards for two quarters and trailing the Bulldogs by nine points at halftime.
“I told them if they’re going to continue to get outplayed, we’re going to get beat,” Page said of his halftime talk. “I knew this would be a tough game.”
But this isn’t last year’s Great Crossing. These Warhawks (19-1) have been ranked No. 1 in the statewide media poll since the beginning of the year. Their second half showed why.
“The kids have a different mindset,” Page said.
Junius Burrell scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, including back-to-back 3-pointers that helped give Great Crossing the lead for good as the Warhawks pulled out a 65-63 win over Male at Scott County High School’s Dan Cummins Classic.
After an 8-1 start by the Warhawks, Male (12-6) became the aggressor and took a 36-27 halftime lead on standout sophomore Cole Edelen’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Edelen’s scamper with the clock winding down gave Page plenty of halftime coaching points.
“Coach definitely came in here and got on us,” Burrell said with a slight smile. “We just had to lock in and do what we do.”
Malachi Moreno, Great Crossing’s 7-foot-1 junior center, opened the third quarter with back-to-back dunks and scored nine of his team-high 17 points that period as Great Crossing tied the game at 42-42 with a minute still left before the final frame. Moreno’s pass out of a double-team assisted Burrell’s go-ahead 3-pointer for a 49-47 lead with 5:53 left in the game.
“I know to look over my shoulder and see if (the double-team is) coming back-side,” Moreno said. “If he does, I try to turn it quick and skip (pass).”
Burrell caught it, took an extra beat to line it up and knocked down the shot. Moments later, the junior point guard caught a cross-court pass and knocked down his other 3-pointer for a 52-47 lead.
“That helped out a lot,” Moreno said. “It makes the game easier for us … and we got to pull out the win just grinding it out for each other.”
In the second half, Great Crossing forced Male into nine turnovers while erasing its edge on the boards. And the Warhawks made 10 of 13 free throws down the stretch to help seal the game. Vince Dawson added 16 points and matched Burrell for the team lead in assists with four. Moreno finished with a game-high 12 rebounds.
“We had to get rebounds. We had to keep playing defense,” Burrell said. “We weren’t really doing that in the first half, so we just had to get on it.”
Male sophomore standout Cole Edelen led the Bulldogs with 28 points. He had 16 at halftime, which included three of his five 3-pointers. Landon Cowan also reached double figures for the Bulldogs with 12 points, all on 3-pointers.
Male coach Tim Haworth believes his defending 7th Region champs will be in the mix come postseason time, but they need to get healthy. The Bulldogs have been dealing with injuries since the first week of the season and were without senior guard Max Gainey Saturday.
“We’re proud of our guys, but I thought we turned it over a little bit in the second half, which got them some easy buckets and got them back in the game,” Haworth said. “And they were able to finish us off.”
