Creed, Harmening lead Br. Rice past Marist

by Tim O’Brien

With just over a minute left in a tie game, Br. Rice’s Josh Creed wanted the ball.

But when Creed’s defender jumped out in front of him, Crusaders guard Bobby Harmening didn’t force a pass and swung the ball around the perimeter.

The second time around, Pat Statham tossed a bounce pass to Creed just outside the lane.

With three Marist defenders collapsing to him, the 6’4” senior jumped and fired a shot that hit nothing but net and proved to be the game-winner in a 50-44 Br. Rice victory Jan. 26 at Marist.

“The only thing I wanted at the time was the ball because I knew I could score,” Creed said. “Bobby made a good decision not throwing it to me because I couldn’t see who was behind me. I knew they’d get me the ball when they could.”

Creed’s short baseline jumper put the Crusaders up 46-44 with 1:13 to go.

After a turnover apiece for each team, a Nick Valla layup hit the bottom of the rim, and Creed was there for the defensive rebound.

In the final 30 seconds, Statham and Joe Miller hit four free throws to ice the game.

“I feel like this is more than a game,” Harmening said. “Some people say it’s not, but it really is. It’s nice to come out and compete with a neighborhood rival. It’s really fun.”

Creed led Br. Rice with 14 points and five rebounds while Harmening added 11 and Statham seven, all coming in the fourth quarter.

But as excited as Br. Rice and the Crusader Crazies were following the game, a dejected team went into the locker room at halftime. Valla’s 3-pointer from the top of the key with two seconds left gave Marist a 26-15 advantage.

A different Br. Rice team came out in the second half and started to chip away at the RedHawks’ lead.

“We didn’t make mistakes, and we started to pick up our defensive pressure,” Br. Rice Coach Pat Richardson said. “Our guys made big plays and got big rebounds and made big stops.”

Two Valla free throws gave Marist the 41-35 lead early in the fourth, but Harmening proceeded to take over, scoring seven straight points.

The junior guard started off with a three-pointer, followed with a basket inside, and then he hit two free throws that tied the game at 42 with 3:39 remaining.

Playing in just his third game after missing a month with a broken bone in his left hand, Harmening is quickly getting back into rhythm.

“My teammates are really helping me to get back,” Harmening said. “We had a stretch of a couple losses [St. Rita and Leo], but we’re starting to get back into it.”

Marist regained the lead at 43-42 when Valla split two free throws, but two free throws from Statham and one from Marist’s Lexus Williams tied the game at 44 to set up Creed’s heroics.

Creed scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half after being limited by foul trouble early.

“I just had to get adjusted to the atmosphere of the game,” Creed said. “I wasn’t playing my game with some bad passes and going for some silly steals, so I adjusted and just played my game.”

After an aggressive first half, Marist’s slow-down offense came back to bite it. The RedHawks were outscored 15-3 in the final six minutes.

Valla led all scorers with 26 points, and Kyle Maggio added nine for the Marist.

“We wanted to have longer possessions, but that doesn’t mean we wanted to put the ball on our hip and play keep away,” Marist Coach Gene Nolan said. “That’s what hurt us. Instead of attacking, we became tentative offensively.”

This is part of the February 3, 2010 online edition of The Beverly Review.

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