Boys Basketball: Crete-Monee rides third-quarter surge to win

Updated: December 9, 2011 11:12PM

Crete-Monee made good in its Southland Conference opener Friday, scoring the first 12 points of the third quarter to break open a tight ballgame and cruise to a 70-56 victory over Rich East in Crete.

The Warriors held a four point lead at the midway point, but used a pivotal run to open the second half that put the game out of reach. The Rockets (2-4, 0-1) turned the ball over on their first four possessions of the half, and Crete-Monee pounced. Senior guard Michael Orris knifed into the Rocket defense and twice kicked the ball out to a wide open Marvie Keith, who punctuated the run with a pair of three-pointers.

“That’s the way we should’ve ended the first half,” Crete-Monee coach Tom Cappel said. “But that’s our goal. The first five minutes of the third quarter usually sets the tempo for the game.”

Rich East closed to within four in the final seconds of the first half on Ronald Lawton’s three-point play.

But from there, it was all Warriors (4-1, 1-0). Crete-Monee outscored Rich East 27-10 in the third quarter to open up a 21-point lead heading into the fourth.

“We just needed to be more aggressive,” Orris said. “We were in sync a little more, and we really just wanted to make them shoot the ball, and prove that they could shoot it.”

Orris, who missed the Warriors’ first three games with an ankle sprain, finished with 26 points and five steals in his second game of the season. Keith and LaQuon Treadwell added 11 points apiece for Crete-Monee. Raheem Jackson paced Rich East with 17 points.

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