San Diego Rolls By Crawford

Crawford High’s Lamont Grove leads the county in scoring, but the fourth quarter belonged to San Diego’s Raynard Wells Thursday night.

Wells, a sophomore, scored 12 of his game-high 22 points during the crucial final quarter as San Diego held off a Crawford rally and won, 81-68, in a City Central League basketball battle for second place. The victory lifted San Diego (12-8, 6-3) into a tie for second place with Crawford (12-9, 6-2) with one league game remaining. Lincoln is in first at 9-0.

“He’s just scratching the surface of what he can do,” said San Diego coach Dennis Kane of Wells, who was 10 of 16 from the field, including 5 of 7 (1 three-point shot) in the fourth quarter. “He’s a winner. When the game is on the line, he wants the ball.”

Grove, who is averaging 27.8 points per game, had 24 against San Diego but was able to score just three points, all on free throws, during the fourth quarter.

San Diego played straight man-to-man defense on Grove, double-teaming him when he got the ball. Grove was guard Jimmy Keglar’s defensive assignment, and Keglar responded in admirable fashion.

San Diego needed all it could get from Wells in the fourth quarter despite the fact that the Cavers had scored 31 second-quarter points and taken a 51-29 halftime lead. Guard Tony Wines, who finished with 19, scored 11 in the second quarter, and forward Andy Swindall, who had 12 points and 12 rebounds, scored eight. Grove missed his last seven shots of the half.

“It was our best half of the season,” Kane said. “When we’re clicking, we’re one hell of a basketball team. The only thing that stops us is our tendency to lose our composure.”

San Diego did that during the third quarter, turning the ball over seven times against an ornery Crawford full-court press and allowing Crawford to climb to within eight, 61-53.

Crawford moved even closer, 63-57, on two Chris Johnson free throws with just 6:39 remaining, but Wells scored San Diego’s next 12 points on three jumpers, a three-pointer, a layup and a free throw to break it open.

“We wanted to attack, but they were doing all of the attacking,” said Crawford Coach John King. “We were so tentative, we weren’t taking the ball to the basket. But we had a long way to come back. They’re a good team.”

“We wanted to control the boards and the tempo,” said Kane, whose team has already lost twice to Crawford this season, and “both times we were playing catch-up most of the way.”

This time things were different. San Diego outrebounded Crawford, 36-24, and never trailed after the first quarter.

“I never tell my kids anything like this, but it was a must-win for us,” Kane said. “Our goal was to go 4-1 in the second half of the league schedule, and if we beat St. Augustine next week, we’ve accomplished it.”