William Floyd tops Whitman 71-60, remains undefeated in League 1

Going into Thursday’s game at League I rival Walt Whitman, William Floyd head coach Will Slinkosky said there were two things the Colonials needed to do to win.

The first was to defend against Whitman’s three-point shooters. The second thing was to control Whitman’s 6-foot-6 center, Jack Bell.

Floyd didn’t exactly keep Whitman from making three-pointers. The Wildcats tallied seven in the game. Nor did Floyd completely shut down Bell, who led Whitman with 16 points. The Wildcats had a one-point lead at halftime, up 32-31.

But the Colonials ratcheted up the defensive pressure in the second half and, propelled by Juwan Smith’s 27 points, went on to a 71-60 win. With the victory, the Colonials remain undefeated and in first place in League I.

“We didn’t really keep [Bell] in check,” Slinkosky said. “We didn’t really defend the three-point as much as we wanted to. They definitely got a lot of threes off, which put us in a bind right away.  But [with] second-half adjustments, we were able to figure it out. We were able to pressure them. We were able to  trap them, turn them over, which led to easy buckets for us.”

Smith, who scored his 1,000th career point on Jan. 4, keyed a 14-0 run in the third quarter that broke a 38-38 tie and put the Colonials ahead 52-38, with 1:32 left in the quarter.

Whitman mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter and got within five points with about 3 minutes remaining, but the Colonials closed out the game on a 10-4 run for the victory.

Floyd improved to 11-3 and remains unbeaten in conference play at 7-0. The Colonials came into the game having already qualified for the playoffs.

In addition to Smith’s game-leading 27 points, JJ Smith had 15 points and Sharod Sutton had 10 points. The Colonials connected on seven three-point baskets.