St. Thomas More overcomes slow start, downs Caravel boys

GLASGOW – St. Thomas More didn’t want to play at a slow pace. The Ravens just didn’t want to play as fast as Caravel.

St. Thomas More struggled early, then stepped up the defense and regulated the tempo over the final three quarters for a 56-44 road victory in a nonconference boys basketball game on Saturday.

“We kind of let them speed us up. That’s not who we are,” Ravens coach Cheston Boyd. “We’ve got an offense, and we do a pretty good job running our offense. I told the guys in the second half to focus on stops. Get a stop, and then run our offense.”

The eighth-ranked Ravens are 7-3, with their losses coming to top-flight teams from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. They led 8-4 early, only to see the Buccaneers (5-2) reel off a 15-2 run over the final 3:23 of the first quarter.

“We had to get more into the game,” said center Elias Revelle, who led St. Thomas More with 18 points. “When we first came out, we started struggling with our offense. I think we tried to play their game. … We had to calm down, ease it down because our adrenaline was high.”

O’Koye Parker drove for a layup, Brandon Sengphachanh turned a steal into a layup and Parker scored twice on offensive rebounds as Caravel – the state’s second-highest scoring team at 68.7 points per game – led 19-11 after one quarter.

“Our coach told us to pick it up on defense,” Revelle said. “He said if we play defense, we’ll get to offense.”

The Ravens outscored the Bucs 20-2 in the second quarter. The first two, momentum-changing buckets were dunks by the 6-foot-4 Revelle.

“I just try to play above the rim,” he said. “My coach always tells me, ‘Play above the rim. Don’t just go for soft layups. Go as hard as you can.’”

Corey Gordon hit a short jumper and Eric Montanez cut for a layup to tie it at 19. Trevon Alderman answered with a layup for Caravel, but St. Thomas More scored the last 12 points of the half. Alvin West, who hit five 3-pointers on his way to 17 points, splashed a 3 with six seconds remaining to send the Ravens into the locker room up 31-21.

West made two more 3s in the third quarter as St. Thomas More stretched its lead to 44-29. But the Bucs turned up the pressure in the fourth quarter, and the Ravens became tentative.

“We told our guys to expect the pressure, and that’s something we need to work on,” Boyd said. “Expect the pressure and being smart with the ball doesn’t mean turning down shots. When you turn down a good shot, it leads to turnovers.”

Caravel seized the momentum with a 12-2 run, pulling within 46-41 on Parker’s layup with 4:57 to play. But Revelle unleashed another dunk, Greg Bloodsworth drove for a layup and Revelle made two free throws to push the St. Thomas More lead back to 52-41 with 2:19 left.

It was a welcome sign for Boyd, who guided the Ravens to a 17-6 mark last year. Their season ended when a late lead slipped away in a 45-39 loss to St. Georges in the DIAA quarterfinals.

“That’s the difference between us last year and this year,” Boyd said. “That’s the difference. Last year, we were up on St. Georges with 4:16 left, and we’ve got that hanging up in our locker room. That’s been an emphasis all year.”

Parker, who came in averaging 27.3 points per game, scored 20 but hit only 7 of 21 shots from the field.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ.

St. Thomas More center Elias Revelle (35) dunks the ball on a fast break during a game against Caravel.

Caravel Academy Trevon Alderman (2) drives to the basket as St. Thomas More center Elias Revelle (35), left,.

St. Thomas More center Elias Revelle (35) celebrates after dunking the ball against Caravel Academy.