Unlike the day before when it got past one blue chip prospect, the Galena High boys basketball team was unable to find a way to get past a St. John's Prep team from Washington D.C. that featured dual blue chip threats on Thursday in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Chris Wright, a talented point guard who has committed to Georgetown, scored 32 points and 6-foot-11 post Vlad Moldoveanu, who is bound for George Mason, scored 16 as St. John's defeated Galena 58-52 in the Beach Ball Classic quarterfinals.
"Today, we saw two D-1 players instead of just one," Galena coach Tom Maurer said. "We are playing in the big leagues now, and the game today wasn't over until the last 12 seconds. I'm proud of the kids. We lost, but it wasn't for lack of effort. We just got beat by a better team. This is a prep school team that plays in DeMatha's league - they're great."
Luke Babbitt scored 25 points to lead the Grizzlies offensively. Tristan Hill also scored nine points and collected a team-high seven rebounds.
Maurer said he was pleased with the way the Grizzlies played on defense and in terms of finding the open man with passes.
"We shared the ball very well. We had some beautiful looks, the shots just didn't go down," Maurer said.
Galena shot 17-for-40 from the field, 10-for-23 from 3-point range. The pressure defense played by St. John's (9-1) was a factor.
"They took us out of our offense with their pressure. If we could have handled their pressure and rebounded better, we could have won that game," Maurer said.
St. John's led 34-28 at halftime.
Galena returns to action today at noon (EDT) to play Scott County, Ky., another quality opponent in what stands as one of the nation's premiere prep basketball tournaments.
"They have three kids who can flat-out play," Maurer said of Scott County. "They're big and they're very talented."
NOTRE DAME 77,
DOUGLAS 69
Douglas lost to Southern Section power Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, Calif., in a second round championship bracket game at the Clovis (Calif.) Christmas Tournament.
The Tigers (8-5) led 18-16 after one quarter, but Notre Dame outscored Douglas 25-13 in the second quarter to take a 41-31 halftime lead and control of the game.
"We had a disappointing second quarter," Douglas coach Rob Streeter said. "We just couldn't quite recover from that. Notre Dame's a very talented squad."
Keith Olson had an outstanding game for Douglas with 36 points. "Keith played extremely well," Streeter said. "He played hard."
Michael Gransbery added nine points. Douglas will continue play in the tournament at 3 p.m. today.