Lansdowne junior Trevor Howard had three dunks in the second half and his teammates rallied with a massive comeback for a 62-45 victory over Towson after trailing by 10 points midway through the second quarter.
Each jam sent the momentum meter up another notch after the host Vikings trailed 28-23 at halftime.
“I try to get my dunks as much as I can because if I get my dunks, the team gets the energy and they feed off the energy, and we just keep getting more,” Howard said.
His first slam came off a picture-perfect alley-oop pass from senior point guard Ryan Kehoe that cut the lead to 28-27.
That was not an unfamiliar connection.
“Me and Ryan grew up together, so we have a lot of confidence and a lot chemistry. We always played basketball outside together. Even when we were younger, we played together,” said Howard, who finished with a game-high 20 points.
Kehoe was a spark plug all game after coming off the bench midway through the first quarter. During a 12-0 run to start the fourth quarter, he made a steal deep in the backcourt and flung a one-handed, over-the-head pass to Josh Rogers, who finished with a layup. Rogers totaled 19 points.
Lansdowne coach Steve Coursey praised the play of Kehoe, who kept all the Vikings big men involved.
“He’s got great vision,” Coursey said. “When he plays within himself, he is huge for us out there on the court. He’s definitely a leader and we like the ball in his hands a lot and he settled down tonight and got us some big plays.”
Howard’s second dunk came after a steal late in the third quarter that gave the Vikings a 41-34 lead. Howard scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half and had a message for his team at halftime.
“I just told them we can’t let up, we can’t let nothing up,” he said.
After scoring 23 points in the opening half, the Vikings scored 23 in the third quarter and took a 46-40 lead heading to the fourth. They dominated on the glass and with their interior defense in the second half.
“Rebounds killed us,” Towson coach James Mitchell said. “Rebounding has been one of the big problems. It’s something that we have been constantly trying to cure, but that is our Achilles heel right now.”
Rogers had 11 rebounds, including five offensive, and Seringne Babou and Topaz Norris had 10 rebounds each. Babou also had six of his nine blocked shots in the second half.
“We try to tell them we have great rebounders and we get so many extra possessions when we all crash,” Coursey said.
When they weren’t corralling the rebounds, Babou was swatting shots away. The only General in double figures was Jeremiah Harris with 13 points.
“[Babou] is averaging eight or nine [blocks] a game.” said Coursey, noting he and Rogers are nearly averaging double-doubles.
Rogers has been a pleasant surprise in his senior season after losing a lot of weight in the offseason.
“He never touched the court last year,” Coursey said. “He was lazy, out of shape and he took it personally in the offseason and came back ready. He’s been our most efficient player all season.”
Howard’s final dunk came when the game was out of hand, but it was the first one that turned the tide.
“It was a big shift, but then you are playing against the other team, but you are also playing against momentum and the crowd and everything else,” Mitchell said. “Their shots started falling, momentum will help that, turnovers.”
The loss dropped the Generals to 4-5 while the Vikings improved to 3-4 after their best effort of the season.
“I think we settled down and we’ve been trying to emphasize team basketball, make the game easier, make the extra pass, swing and wait for the cut,” Coursey said. “In the beginning we were trying to force it. We thought we had to be the hero.”
Lansdowne — 8 15 23 16 – 62
Towson — 14 14 12 5 – 45
LANS: Trevor Howard 20, Josh Rogers 19, Topaz Norris 10, Ryan Kehoe 7, Serigne Babou 4, Jordan West 2.
TOW: Jeremiah Harris 13, Seven Wheeler 8, Jordan Moss 6, Devaughn West 6, Patrick Lovas 5, Greg Skinner 5, Korey Collins 2.
Have a news tip? Contact Craig Clary at cclary@baltsun.com and x.com/ClaryCraig