BOYS BASKETBALL: Turning the corner

P.J. White didn’t start Tuesday’s game against King George, but it didn’t take the player Cyclones’ head coach Donald O’Meara calls the “team’s motor” long to get revved up once he stepped on the court.

Seconds after he checked into the game, White reverted back to his days as a defensive back on the football team and stepped in front of a pass and took it the other way for two points.

“Football helped with my vision and footwork,” said White, who didn’t start because of stitches in his mouth thanks to oral surgery. “Just like in football, I try to find the ball and get to it.”

White, a 6-foot-2 junior, led the Cyclones with a double-double — 19 points and 17 rebounds — blocked three shots, nabbed four steals and put an exclamation point on Eastern View’s 67-58 victory with a fourth-quarter slam dunk.

“Everybody feeds off of him,” O’Meara said of White. “We’ve got great players around him, but his energy level definitely picks up everybody else’s energy level.”

 Two of the Foxes’ top players — Damion Carroll and LJ Baylor — also didn’t start Tuesday’s Battlefield District contest, but both helped keep the game close down to the final whistle.

Baylor, who led the Foxes with 24 points, cut the Cyclones’ lead to two points with back-to-back steals and buckets with 2:26 left in the fourth.

Carroll, who finished with 11 points and six rebounds, tied the game 58-58 with a steal and a layup with 1:42 left to play, but key foul shots by Lamont Shipp, Jr. and Ben Safren sealed the deal for the Cyclones.

“I thought we played smart on defense, and I’m just proud of the kids,” O’Meara said. “They’re starting to buy in. It’s taken longer than I thought, but they’re buying in and we’re turning the corner.”

The Cyclones (5-11 overall, 3-6 Battlefield) were 0-for-8 from beyond the 3-point arch in the first half, but Safren hit two shots from downtown early in the third quarter to give Eastern View some breathing room, and Shipp and Monte Mosley followed suit with second-half deep balls to keep the Foxes (8-9, 4-5) in chase mode.

“They [the 3-pointers] got us off to a good start, spread out that zone and forced them to go to man-to-man,” said Safren, who finished with 14 points. “And nobody can cover P.J. man-to-man.”

The Cyclones host Courtland on Friday.

Eastern View 67, King George 58

KGHS  9   20  14  15 — 58

EVHS  11  20  15  21 — 67

Scoring summary

King George (8-9, 4-5) — LJ Baylor 24, Damion Carroll 11, De’Shon Brown 8, Anthony Howard 6, Keenan Frye 4, Trey Graham 3, Alon Clipper 2.

Eastern View (x-x, x-x) — P.J. White 19, Ben Safren 14, Monte Mosley 12, Lamont Shipp, Jr. 8, Kane Reece 4, Will Estes 4, Alejandro Rivera 3, Tra Shanks 2, Desean Apperson 1.

Team Totals

Rebounds — King George 24, Eastern View 37

Free throws — King George 12-19. Culpeper 13-23.

3-pointers — King George 0. Eastern View 4 (Safren 2, Shipp, Mosley).

Turnovers — King George 23, Eastern View 19.