Trojans Edge Rockets 62-53 On Strength of Free Throws

The Gaithersburg boys basketball team scored 30 points off of free throws in their 62-53 win over Richard Montgomery Tuesday night.

It was another game this month that saw tensions rise between Gaithersburg and its opponent, and technical fouls called on both teams.

It was also one of the rare games in Montgomery County high school basketball in which a player dunked over two other players.

That player was Gaithersburg's 6-foot-6 senior guard Malcolm Miller, who, in the third quarter, with his team getting frustrated and Richard Montgomery closing in on the Trojans' lead, went coast to coast, split the defense and soared over two opposing players for a one-handed slam.

"Well I usually try to get a couple dunks a game," Miller said. "But I felt like we really needed a momentum boost; it was neck-and-neck."

Miller scored 29 points and dominated the boards to help his team bounce back after a tough loss to Springbrook the night before. Miller and the team could have scored more, Coach Kevin Parrish said, if they had made it to the basket more when they were fouled.

"For us, that's always something we try to emphasize—get the ball inside, get the ball to the free-throw line," Parrish said. "So to make 30 free throws is fantastic, but we have to keep getting better ... When you're in a stretch like that with back-to-back weeks with three games, you don't have any time to practice, and when you don't have practices those are the types of things that" suffer because of it.

Gaithersburg also struggled from outside throughout the game. The Trojans shot six 3-pointers in the first quarter, only making one of them.

While both teams' players and coaches were frustrated throughout the game with the officiating, tensions began to boil over in the fourth quarter. Officials had to break off a starring contest between Trojan forward Kris Westphall and Rocket forward Hal Diane. The latter could be heard heckling Westphall from the bench when he had the ball later in the quarter.

Westphall said Diane had been heckling him throughout the game, and that when Diane fouled him he gave Westphall a slap across the face.

"I said something then he got in my face, so I had to get in his," Westphall said. Westphall received a technical violation earlier in the game for cursing, he said.

Richard Montgomery head coach Scott Spear and players were not immediately available for comment.

Westphall scored 19 points, including two 3-pointers. He offered some spectacular layups that kept Gaithersburg in the game early on, as Miller got his scoring spree off to a slow start.

On the Rockets side, 6-foot sophomore Justin Senou led his team with 18 points. Senou also scored three 3-pointers, including two back-to-back. Diane scored 14 points and junior Paul Sewell followed with 10. Richard Montgomery, however, struggled to make free throws, in stark contrast to Gaithersburg.