Bengals embarrass Blazers

FEB. 4, JAMES HUBERT BLAKE HIGH SCHOOL –

The Blair boys' basketball team was completely outclassed in a 69-41 loss on the road against the Blake Bengals. The Blazers have now lost five straight games and seven of their last eight, giving them a record of 6-10.

Blair got off to a slow start in the first half, turning the ball over 18 times and allowing the Bengals to jump out to an early lead. "You can't win when you're starting out with turnovers and they're capitalizing on those turnovers. This is a game about possessions," said Assistant Head Coach Wendell Hall. Adding to the Blazers' problems was a lack of production from two of their key starters. Junior Doojy Pierre-Louis and senior Charles Atakora were both held scoreless in the first quarter, and had only two total points in the entire first half.

The Blazers fell out of contention in this game very early on. Blake held a 6-4 lead early in the first quarter, and used a 17-3 run to quickly break the game open. The lone Blair points during that span came from a Darryl Hall three-pointer with 3:30 left to go in the first, still leaving the Blazers down by 16 at the end of the quarter. Hall finished the game with a team-high 12 points.

The second quarter was not much better for Blair. The Bengals slowed their offensive attack considerably, taking advantage of the absence of a shot clock to waste the first two minutes of the second quarter. The Blazers were finally able to score at the 4:32 mark, snapping a drought of almost seven minutes. Blair was able to work their way back to a 27-13 deficit, but Dominique Scott nailed a key three-pointer to shift the momentum back in Blake's favor going into the half.

The game got even worse for the Blazers in the third quarter. Any hopes that Blair might have had for a comeback were squashed because of a 5 of 16 shooting performance in the third, compared with Blake's 6 of 10 shooting. Among the few bright spots for the Blazers was the play of both Charles Atakora and junior Makonnen Brown. Atakora had five of his seven points in the third, and Brown added all four of his points.

In the fourth quarter, Blair was still unable to cut into the Bengals' lead despite playing against Blake's reserves. The Bengals extended their lead to 69-39 late in the game, but an off-balance jumper by Kenan Myers with just seconds to go made the final score 69-41.

Following this embarrassing loss, the boys' team realizes the importance of their upcoming game against the Sherwood Warriors. "It's a must-win. We don't need any more moral victories. We need to come out and actually win one," said Coach Hall.

The Blazers' game on the road against the Sherwood Warriors takes place on Fri., Feb. 6 at 5:15 p.m. Blair beat Sherwood 60-52 in their first meeting on Jan. 14.

Click here to stream the Blair Sports Network's highlights from this game.