JUSTIN ROBINSON LEADS ST. JAMES PAST WAKEFIELD - ALL-MET ELITE

JUSTIN ROBINSON

 LEADS 

ST. JAMES 

PAST 

WAKEFIELD 

ALL-MET ELITE 

ST. JAMES HS.

ST. JAMES MD.

BY 

BILLY KOONTZ

ST. JAMES — Coming off Thanksgiving 

break, young Saint James could have been excused for coming out flat at home against Wakefield School in its season opener on Monday.

The Saints would have nothing of the sort, though, jumping out to a sizeable lead and cruising to a 75-54 win.

“Being a boarding school, these kids go home for Thanksgiving, so there is no practice or anything,” coach Dan Prete said. “That isn’t easy, but the guys came out and played well for the most part.”

Senior Justin Robinson led the way with 27 points, and he attributed the team’s fast start to improvements in practice.

“In our scrimmages thus far, we’ve started slow,” said Robinson, who has committed to Virginia Tech. “Tonight, we wanted to assert ourselves in the game and play from the jump.”

The Owls attempted to keep it close early, trailing 11-8. But a run to end the quarter put the Saints up 23-11 at the end of the first.

The lead swelled in the second quarter as Robinson, Grant Golden and Craig Lecesne did most of the damage for the home team. That trio accounted for 38 of the Saints’ 47 first-half points.

“We shot well, and that helped us a lot,” Prete said. “We knocked down some shots early and that opened things up on the offensive end.”

Robinson extended the lead early in the third, draining back-to-back 3-pointers before hitting a driving layup to make it 55-27. Wakefield countered, going on a 10-1 run to cut the lead to 19 nearing the end of the quarter. That’s when Prete rallied his troops.

“I called the timeout, laid into them a little bit,” he said. “They just had to refocus. And being a young team, that happens sometimes.”

Five quick points from Saint James halted the run of the Owls, and the deficit would never slip under 20 for the remainder of the night. Another fine play from Robinson, this one a drive and dish to Golden for a slam, made it 69-45 and the rout was complete.

“We still need to learn, as a young team, how to finish a game,” Robinson said. “We can’t take breaks. Overall though, to open with a 20-point win, it feels pretty good.”

Prete knows that growing pains will occur with this group, but he also knows they will continue to grow and improve.

“We took some possessions off, and they know that can’t happen,” Prete said. “They are realizing now what they can do. Once we learn how to finish, we can play much better than this.”

Golden finished with 18 points and Lecesne added 13 for the Saints. Deandre Clark led Wakefield with 20 points and Andre Ahiagbede added 19 for the Owls.