Maynard Stuck Around, Helps Stick It to Crespi
One by one, the transfers checked in at Alemany High last summer, leaving soft-spoken junior guard Reny Maynard with a choice. He could settle for becoming a bench-warmer or accept the challenge of competition and try to get better.
Maynard spent countless hours shooting jump shots with his father. He listened and learned from new Coach Darryl McDonald. And he refused to let the five transfers push him aside.
It set the stage for his clutch performance Friday night before a sellout crowd at Crespi, with the Mission League lead at stake.
Maynard hit two jump shots in overtime to help lift Alemany past the Celts, 72-63, and enable the Indians (11-5, 4-1 in league play) slip past Crespi (12-4, 3-1) into first place.
“He’s a tremendous kid,” McDonald said of Maynard, who finished with 19 points. “He’s the first one at practice and one of the last to leave. He’s a coach’s dream. Whatever you tell him, he does.”
Alemany was facing a difficult task in overtime after starters Casey Clausen and Reggie Kinlaw fouled out.
But Maynard made a three-point basket with 1:53 left to break a 63-63 tie and added another wing jumper with 44 seconds remaining for a 69-63 advantage.
The large crowd had the expectation that this would be a Mission classic, and it was. Neither team led by more than three points throughout a nerve-racking fourth quarter.
What everyone discovered is that there’s a new big man in the Mission League, and his name is Gregg Guenther.
The 6-foot-8 junior made his season debut for Crespi after being sidelined with a broken foot, and what a first impression he left.
Guenther twice scored baskets in the final 1 1/2 minutes to send the game into overtime, tying it, 58-58, with 25 seconds left. He just missed on a short shot at the buzzer that would have won the game for Crespi.
Alemany is known for its relentless pressure defense, and the Indians caused problems early on. Crespi missed its first eight shots and fell behind by nine points in the second quarter. Then the Celts went on a 12-0 run just before halftime and into the third quarter to take a 36-28 lead.
Alemany rallied behind the aggressive play of Kinlaw, who scored 11 points, and Devin Montgomery, who finished with 16 points.
It was Montgomery’s offensive penetration in the fourth quarter that kept the Indians in front. His driving layup with 3:20 remaining put Alemany on top, 53-50.
Guenther, a defensive end in football, used his long arms to catch the ball inside, scoring with 1:21 left to tie the game, 56-56.
In less than 10 minutes, Guenther scored 11 points.
Alemany did an excellent job containing the Celts’ leading scorer, Marcin Jagoda, who was limited to 12 points and got off just three shots in the game before fouling out in overtime.
Maynard’s emergence as an outside scoring threat is a key development for an Alemany team that already has two top outside shooters--Montgomery and Bryson Atkins, who scored 15 points.
Maynard was struggling with his shooting touch late in regulation, but he never lost confidence.
“Just catch and shoot,” he said of his philosophy.
But more important was his decision last summer to not give up. He had been a star on the junior varsity and was looking forward to becoming a varsity contributor.
“I worked hard,” he said.
