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By James A. McCray III
Prince George's County, Content Manager
There was no reason for a contortionist to be in the Friendly basketball gym on Tuesday night. The circus was not in town, no special shows were scheduled but, rather, Friendly guard A.J. Thomas was in the building.
Thomas showed tremendous body control, twisting and turning through Largo defenders numerous times on the night, to score a game-high 27 points and lead the Friendly Patriots to a 61-57 defeat of the defending 3A state champion Largo Lions.
"I just try to beat my defender because I have a quick first step," Thomas admitted. "My quickness allows me to get to the basket ... and finish"
Thomas not only created shots for himself, but he also dished out 11 assists to teammates with the same flair he displayed during many of his shots.
"It is uncanny," Friendly head coach Rob Garner said of Thomas' ability. "A.J. has it, he just has it. ... A lot of people respect his jumper and teams have been taking away that jump-shot. These last couple of games he has shown he can really get to the basket.
"He has the athletic ability to twist in the air, and sometimes I just don't know how he gets those shots up there, I just don't know, but that's A.J. Thomas."
Friendly (9-1) cruised through the first half and went into the half leading 31-23.
However, showing the heart of a lion, Largo came out and went on a 10-2 to open the third quarter and tie the game at 33-33, eventually taking a 38-36 lead with 2 minutes, 39 seconds remaining and ending the period with a 46-42 lead.
"I thought tonight we played our best game of the year," Largo head coach Lewis Howard said. " ... This was a great ballgame; it was a great club against another great club."
Marcell Lane led the third-quarter charge for the Lions scoring six of the 10 points during the run. Lane finished with 12 points as teammate Malik Thomas also finished with 12 points leading all Largo scorers, respectively.
"He has been that heartbeat for us," Howard said of Lane. "He attacks when he is supposed to attack."
On the third quarter, Lewis added: "I am very pleased at our play tonight. My kids never quit and there were opportunities when they could have, but they didn't."
The no-quit attitude followed both teams into the fourth quarter as Largo held a lead until Thomas knocked down two free throws to tie the game at 50-50 and hit another pair of free throws on the following possession to give Friendly the lead for good.
Largo (5-4) cut the lead to two points at 57-55 with 24 seconds remaining in the contest, but two free throws from Friendly's R.J. Sims and an additional two from Thomas sealed the deal.
"I know these kids are resilient," Garner said, "they have shown that all year. ... They get challenged in practice mentally. That is the tone we have to set in practice if we are going to win games like this."
tmccray@digitalsports.com
Friendly 61, Largo 57
Largo -- 6 17 23 11; Lane 12, Thomas 12, Martin 11, Bailey 8, Richardson 7, Mitchell 4, Olumese 3
Friendly -- 13 18 11 19; Thomas 27, Sims 9, Bentley 7, Hood 4, Strong 4, Latson 4, Gonzales 4, Duckett 2
