MLK scorches from long range in win over Lansdale Catholic
LANSDALE >> Ask any good shooter in basketball how they make it look easy and the answer usually starts with practice.
The Martin Luther King boys basketball team has plenty of good shooters on its roster, which the Cougars put on full display Monday afternoon at Lansdale Catholic because they work at it every day. It’s why when Semaj Oliver catches a pass at NBA range, he shoots confident he’ll make it and why Corey Robinson wasn’t bothered by otherwise perfect defense by LJ Phillips on a first-half buzzer beater.
MLK buried 10 looks from beyond the arc in the first half and used an aggressive defense in the second half to pick up a pre-Christmas 61-43 win over the Crusaders.
“We’re a good shooting team because we work on that every day,” Oliver said. “Every day we’re in the gym, we separate the shooters and go to work. Corey and I were shooting it well today so that’s what we did.”
Oliver, a 6-foot-5 senior wing, and Robinson, a 6-foot-2 junior guard, tied for the team lead with 18 points each. Robinson, who hit six 3-pointers in the game, provided his team’s first nine points via the long ball to start off the Cougars’ day.
The bulk of MLK’s treys were assisted, most off a fluid drive-and-kick game that had one of the guards get deep into the Crusaders’ defense and make the pass out to an open teammate for a catch and usually a knock-down shot.
“That was a good team we played against,” Oliver said. “We had to keep passing it, most possessions we had to pass it about five times to get someone open but Corey was able to make the threes we got him.”
Robinson shot 4-of-5 in the first quarter and Oliver added a longball but the Cougars couldn’t pull away. In the opening eight minutes, LC junior Jimmy Casey almost single-handedly kept his team afloat by making six straight shots after missing his first for 14 points.
Casey missed his last look of the quarter, but Kellan Ward tipped it in and LC trailed just 18-16. Unfortunately for the Crusaders, Casey would pick up his second foul early in the second quarter and was locked to the bench for much of the frame.
“He was really aggressive early,” LC coach Joe Corbett said. “Once he picked up that second and third foul, he kind of took it back a notch and as a team, we missed too many layups to contend with a team like that. Add in too many turnovers, a lot of things we did, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot.”
Ward, Phillips and Hunter Healy helped cover for Casey in the second quarter and LC managed to close within 33-30 in the final minute of the half. Then, Robinson drove the baseline and kicked out to Oliver deep on the left wing for a professional-range triple and after a stop, Robinson was able to bury the contested look at the horn as MLK took a nine-point edge into the break.
“That was big, our point guard made a mistake on that play but Corey was able to hit the shot and give us energy coming out of halftime,” Oliver said. “We’ve been in the position a lot where at halftime the other team comes out harder than us and we give up our lead. The second half is what mattered.”
From scorching-hot offense in the first half to energized defense in the second, the Cougars changed gears and went at LC.
LC turned the ball over five times in the third and despite a swath of early fouls, the Cougars didn’t relent from their pressuring defensive plan. Oliver said he liked the way his teammates kept battling despite the whistles against them and MLK only added to its advantage.
“The third quarter, we only scored four points,” Corbett said. “They really increased the pressure and we took a step back. We’re trying to get these guys to keep attacking but that third quarter, they extended the lead and we had to go man.”
Robinson hit MLK’s only second half 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, but it basically iced the game at 56-38.
“That’s what we look for, the open shots,” Oliver said. “We’re going to pass the ball around until we find the open man. It’s not just me, everybody on the team knows how to shoot, so we’re going to keep passing until we get the open shot. We wait for the switch, we look for the matchups, we’re looking for the right guy on the right defender and that’s what we did.”
LC won’t play until next week, but the Crusaders come off their holiday break with PCL games against Neumann-Goretti (Dec. 30) and Archbishop Carroll (Jan. 3), so it’s right back into the fire.
“We have to stay together,” Corbett said. “We hit a rough patch but we have to stay together and keep battling. We put together good quarters and with this young of a team, we’re trying to put together 32 good minutes. I think our potential is so high, we can’t fracture and have to stay rolling as a team.”
MARTIN LUTHER KING 61, LANSDALE CATHOLIC 43
MARTIN LUTHER KING 18 21 8 14 – 61
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 16 14 4 9 – 43
Martin Luther King: Corey Robinson 6 0-0 18, Tajmir Hunt 0 2-2 2, Semaj Oliver 4 7-8 18, Eugene Small 3 1-1 7, Aprel Andrews 1 0-0 2, Nymir Porter 2 2-2 6, Bruce Montague 2 2-2 8. Totals: 18 14-15 61
Lansdale Catholic: LJ Phillips 3 1-1 7, Kellan Ward 3 0-0 7, Jimmy Casey 6 0-0 14, Hunter Healy 7 1-2 15. Totals: 19 2-3 43.
3-pointers: MLK – Robinson 6, Oliver 3, Montague 2; LC – Casey 2, Ward.
