Comets Seniors Rise to the Occasion, Dismiss Hereford, 86-75

In a game where Catonsville honored seven seniors prior to tipoff, it seemed like every single one of them made a strong contribution Wednesday night in the Comets regular season finale against Hereford.

Zack Hall netted a game-high 24 points and fellow senior DJ Kearney Jr. added 20 more as the Comets poured in 56 second half points en route to an 86-75 victory against the visiting Bulls.

“Of course it’s good to get a ‘W’, [but] it’s really good to get a ‘W’ on senior night,” Catonsville coach Brian Barber said. “It’s a testament to these guys. We got seven [seniors] and everyone one of them played a huge part in tonight’s game in some way. It feels good.”

The pack of seniors made an impact outside of just the scoring. Guard-forward Jamal Jackson posted six assists and five rebounds (and added eight points), forward Dontye Adams collected ten rebounds and Graham Antoszewski came away with three steals in addition to—along with Kearney—helping ice the game in the fourth quarter at the foul line.

“We don’t have that one star player, we need everybody to contribute,” said Hall, who also posted four assists. “Maybe not so much on points, but on every possession to give everything they got, and that’s what we got today.”   

Added Hall, a senior captain, grinning ear to ear, “It is awesome. We just played a heck of a game. We really got in a groove there, especially in the second half just knocking down shots.”

No one seemed to knock down more shots than senior Jason Harris, who tallied 14 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a run of four straight triples—all coming out of his customary corner spot—to help the Comets (9-13) preserve a double digit lead while Hereford hastily attempted to mount a comeback in the final minutes.

After trading leads for the majority of the first three quarters, Catonsville gained that advantage with a 9-2 spurt that began on the final possession of the third frame.

Following Hereford’s Joey Jones’ (team-high 21 points) three-point play that brought Hereford within four at 53-49, Hall sprinted the length of the court in six seconds and beat the buzzer with a soft runner off the glass to extend the lead to six.

Jackson opened the fourth quarter with an and-one layup and converted the free throw to put his squad up by nine. The lead hovered between 9-12 points for the remainder of the game and the Comets never looked back.

Hereford (6-16) did amass 26 fourth quarter points, however Catonsville was able to stymie the hopes of any late comeback by shooting a solid 15-19 (79 percent) from the free throw line in the final period.  

For the Comets, Barber sees his squad sharing the ball and playing a team game at just the right time.

“We had to kind of learn how to gel back together again,” Barber said. “We aren’t really relying on one guy, we’re kind of just making sure that everyone is getting the touches. Whoever is on, we are going to feed him.

“We’re hoping to keep this momentum going into the playoffs.”

Barber’s senior laden squad is off until the first round of the state tournament on Friday February 25. The Comets find out their opponent when the brackets are revealed Sunday at MPSSAA.org.