Published: December 05, 2007 11:35 am         

Garrett holds on, beats Essex 71-70

ESSEX - Shawn Greenfield and Dale Taylor combined for 40 points, and Garrett College built a 13-point second half and held on in the closing seconds for a 71-70 victory over CCBC-Essex in their Maryland JUCO men's basketball game Tuesday evening.

Greenfield had team highs with 21 points and four assists for the Lakers, who have won four of their last five.

Taylor had 19 points, Joe Tressler 10 and Glen Izevbigie eight points and 10 rebounds. J.T. Lewis chipped in with six points, seven rebounds and three of Garrett's 13 steals.

Brandon Hamilton was nearly a one-man show for Essex (2-6), hitting 11 field goals, including seven three-pointers, and 10-of-14 foul shots for 39 of the Knights' 70 points.

The Lakers (7-3, 2-1 Maryland JUCO) led 34-26 at halftime. Tressler provided a big spark early with a steal, a three-pointer and a driving layup in less than a minute to help Garrett build a 13-point lead.

Essex remained close behind the scoring of Hamilton, whose four-point play with less than 30 seconds left sliced the Garrett lead to 71-70.

The Lakers missed two foul shots on their next possession, but solid play on the defensive end led to a trap and turnover by Essex with 3.5 seconds to go, and Garrett was able to inbound the ball and run out the clock to seal the win.

"Hamilton kept them in the game with three-pointers and then by going to the hole when we took away the three,'' said Garrett coach Dennis Gibson. "We didn't have an answer for him.

"Joe Tressler did a tremendous job on three straight series to get us going in the second half. Dale Taylor played very well and consistent, and Shawn Greenfield hit clutch buckets for us down the stretch. He made three of four in a row to help us keep the lead in the last three minutes."

Garrett visits Dundalk on Friday at 6 p.m.