Hardwood Invite: Big first half easily propels No. 2 Garfield boys into the tournament semifinals

AUBURN – Jaylin Stewart scored a game-high 22 points and Koren Johnson nearly posted a triple-double to lead the second-ranked (3A) Garfield Bulldogs to a decisive 95-50 quarterfinal victory over 4A No. 5 Union in the Hardwood Invite at Auburn High on Sunday afternoon.

Garfield scored the first 13 points of the game, led it 24-13 after one quarter and exploded for a 35-7 run over the space of the second quarter to come up a single point shy of the 40-point lead necessary to invoke the mercy rule running clock.

"We’ve just got team goals," Garfield coach Jay Von Nickens said. "And we’re hitting them every game. We’re challenging them in certain areas every game. We’re here to win, not to mess around."

Union played without standout senior point guard Bryson Metz, who is nursing a high ankle sprain.

The Bulldogs will face South Medford, a winner over Winter Haven, Fla. on Sunday, in the first of the tournament's two semifinal games at 7 p.m. on Monday.

Here are three takeaways from the Garfield-Union game:

FILLING THE STAT SHEET

From the opening tip, Johnson went about helping the Bulldogs put points on the scoreboard in numerous ways. The senior assisted on four of Garfield’s first eight field goals en route to his eight total in the nearly three quarters he played.

Nickens, aware that the tournament goes for another two days, sat his starters down with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter. None played the rest of the night.

Before he hit the seat for the evening, Johnson poked and prodded his way to nine steals and 15 points, leaving him the two assists and one steal shy of a triple double.

"We can’t be telling him those things," Nickens said. "He’ll want me to keep him in the whole game to get it. No, we’ve still got two more days of this, so I had to get them a little rest."

SPREADING THE WEALTH

In Garfield putting up 59 first-half points, it might be assumed that one or two individuals dominated the action. While Stewart did score 12 of his 22 during the 35-point second quarter to finish with 18 in the first half, he wasn’t the only major contributor.

In fact, nine different Bulldogs scored two or more points during the first 16 minutes, and 10 would ultimately contribute.

"Koren averaged like 30 a year ago," Nickens said. "If you look at our scoring this year, he’s at like 17 and Stewart’s around 16. But then (the others' scoring averages), it’s like 11, 10, 10, nine."

Despite a running clock for most of the third quarter, and the starters sitting for the last two minutes, Garfield still put up 23 points over those eight minutes.

GETTING THE FINAL NAIL

Leading 59-20 at the half, Garfield got the ball to open the third quarter. The Bulldogs needed to make a single shot to earn the running clock for the remainder of the game.

It took three possessions before Sherrell McCollum, one of four Bulldogs to score in double figures, got an offensive rebound and got a layup to crawl over the front rim to make it 61-20 and surpass the magic 40-point lead mark.

That came with 6:52 to go in the third quarter. Union had two opportunities to extend the moment but were held to single shots on two offensive trips down the floor.

In addition to McCollum, Stewart and Johnson, Tremaine Guidry added 14 points. Emmett Marquart came off the bench and finished just a point shy of being No. 5 with double digits, scoring nine.

(Featured photo by Vince Miller)