Bishop O’Connell’s 6’7” 235 pound junior power forward David Neal scored 24 points and grabbed 8 rebounds as the Fourth Ranked Knights held off the Falcons in a tight WCAC battle at Good Counsel on Friday night.

Neal had plenty of help as 6’5” senior swingman Fred Stanback added 19 points and 6’4” junior guard Marcus Ginyard had 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 assists.

Neal scored 16 of O’Connell’s 31 first half points, including 7 of 9 first half field goal attempts and successfully completing two three points plays “the old fashioned way” as he drew fouls on power moves. Though Neal went cold in the second half, he scored the Knights last 6 points, on two field goals and two free throws as O’Connell pulled away after the score was tied at 47– 7 in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons had a balanced first half attack as they went into the locker room at the break down by just 31-30. Good Counsel junior guards James Evans and Corey Stephens had 7 and 6 points respectively at the break. Freshman guard David Campbell came off the bench to hit two field goals, one a three pointer, in the second quarter.

6’7” Falcon All-American center and University of Maryland recruit James Gist had a good game, and some highlight reel dunks and blocks, but didn’t get enough touches on offense to get Good Counsel an upset victory over WCAC-leading O’Connell. Gist hit 7 of 12 field goal attempts, including a pair of nice 15 foot face-up jumpers and three backboard shaking dunks. Gist also had 9 rebounds, 2 steals, and three blocks. One of the emphatic blocks was at the expense of O’Connell’s 6’9” sophomore center Rockwell Moody. One of Gist’s other blocks nearly wound up landing in the bleachers!

Some of the credit for Gist not getting more field goal attempts should be attributed to some excellent defense by the Knight’s 6’5” starting center Ernie Lomax. Lomax worked hard to deny Gist the ball and make James earn his points.

The only negative in James Gist’s performance was that he was 0-4 on free throw attempts. Stephens was also 0-4 from the line. One of the Falcon assistant coaches told us after the game that GC was 2-15 from the line as a team!

“We missed a lot of free throws and several point blank lay-ups, that was the game right there,” said Good Counsel assistant coach Kevin Houck. “Otherwise we win the game. We were right there.”

“We didn’t deserve to win,” an obviously disappointed James Gist said after the game. “We played well enough to win, but we missed our free throws.”

Good Counsel will have a chance to get back in the WCAC hunt when they meet No. 11 Gonzaga next Tuesday night. The Purple Eagles moved to 3-0 in the WCAC on Friday night with a convincing 84-63 home win over Carroll.

NOTES FROM THE GC-O’Connell Game:

0 Though he probably couldn’t take much consolation after narrowly losing an upset opportunity to O’Connell, GC Coach Tim McKenna had to be pleased by the play of two young players off the bench: the afore-mentioned 6’3” freshman David Campbell, who finished with 7 points; and 6’3”sophomore forward Drew Gloster who played excellent defense against Marcus Ginyard, scored a basket, and made the athletic “play of the game” when he saved a ball in bounds with an acrobatic leap and behind the back pass. Gloster, who also had a great sophomore season as a WR/DB for Coach Bob Milloy on the Falcon football team, has been giving McKenna some versatility and athleticism up front off the bench this year.

0 Legendary former Thomas Johnson HS Coach Tom Dickman, now in his first year as the Men’s Basketball Coach at Hood College, was sitting first row at the game.

0 We spoke to David Neal and his father after the game, the elder Neal said that his son “…. is hearing from a lot of colleges. He isn’t hearing from ‘Top Twenty’ colleges yet, but he is hearing from a lot of schools.” We interviewed the good-shooting, rugged McLean, Virginia, resident at the Ban The Brick League at St. Alban’s this summer and the O’Connell Honor Student told us at that time that he was “wide open” on college possibilities and that he might even consider Ivy League schools, “…but, basically, at this point I’ll at least listen to any Division One college that is interested in recruiting me.” Neal will be on the top players in the D.C. area Class of 2005 and he is already establishing himself as one of the best and most productive players in the WCAC.