Boys Basketball: Bogan’s Devonte Smith comes up big vs Morgan Park

Updated: January 18, 2012 8:39PM

Bogan rode its big man to survive a wild fourth quarter Wednesday at Morgan Park.

Devonte Smith scored seven of his 20 points in the fourth and had a huge three-point play to give the No. 6 Bengals the lead for good in a 56-51 Public League Red-South game.

“We just stayed focused,” Smith said. “I just wanted to win.”

Bogan (18-1, 7-0) didn’t score for the first 3:38 of the final period and saw Morgan Park (8-6, 4-2) score six straight to tie the game at 45 before Smith delivered his three-point play.

The Bengals’ DeVaughn Johnson (10 points, five rebounds) followed with another three-point play.

Still, the Mustangs had a shot at the lead in the final minute. With his team down 53-51, Terrance Quinn missed an open three-pointer. Smith converted a layup on the other end with 20 seconds to go to ice the win.

“I couldn’t sleep for two days knowing we had to come into this gym and play,” Bogan coach Arthur Goodwin said. “I was trying to keep the kids focused with Simeon coming up (January 25). We had more senior leadership than (Morgan Park) and that was big.”

Billy Garrett Jr. had 21 points to lead Morgan Park. Quinn added 13 and Josh Cunningham had 11 points – all in the first half – and eight rebounds.

The Mustangs raced to a 16-6 lead behind nine points from Garrett, but saw Bogan respond with a 21-6 run. The Bengals led 31-29 at the break.

Bogan scored the final seven points of the third quarter, including five from Smith, to take a 45-39 lead to the fourth.

“We played hard and we definitely left it all on the floor,” Garrett said. “We’ve got to keep on teams when we get a lead, though. We don’t want to take moral victories. (Coach Nick Irvin) said we have to start peaking, and I think we will now.”

Juwan Henry had 12 points for Bogan.

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