Markus Burton drops 47 with teammate Joey Garwood hitting his stride for No. 2 Penn
MISHAWAKA — It wasn't much, but Penn's Joey Garwood had something to say to the South Bend Washington bench.
After canning his first two 3-pointers from the corner in front of the visiting Panthers, the senior guard turned to them and let them know about it. Chalk that up to in-game emotion.
But for Garwood it's also an extension of the edge, flare and confidence he's had over the last month.
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Anyone not named Markus Burton on Penn's roster is ever going to be the focal point point of an opposing team's defense, as was the case in the 4A second-ranked Kingsmen's 85-51 blowout Friday night of 3A No. 5 Washington to clinch a share of the Northern Indiana Conference title. The Notre Dame commit put in another Mr. Basketball-esque performance, scoring a career-high 47 points.
On almost every night, Burton will be the best player on the floor. But it is the guys around him that will push Penn (19-1, 10-0 NIC) over the edge as a Class 4A title contender.
Against Washington (14-4, 6-3 NIC), Garwood was the only other Kingsmen in double figures with 10 points. It was his fifth straight game hitting that mark, dating back to last month. In that span, Garwood has scored 17 in a win over Riley, 12 against Goshen, 27 against John Glenn and 14 against Adams leading into Friday's win.
"I've been shooting well lately, but that is thanks to my teammates for finding me," Garwood said. "I've just been hitting lately.
"It's a great feeling to have thinking every shot is going down. Even my misses, I just shoot with confidence and not let it waver. That is the only thing you can do as a shooter. You can't overthink it. You just got to shoot."
Garwood's back-to-back 3-pointers in the first quarter was a body blow to Washington, as a 4-4 tie ballooned to 10-4 and the Panthers never recovered.
"We gave up too many 3s in that first quarter," Washington head coach Ryan Varga said. "Credit to them, they went on a run and never stopped running."
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Neither did Garwood on defense, who got Penn head coach Al Rhodes' full compliments as he was responsible for chasing Washington's Steven Reynolds III all night. Reynolds finished with 11, only bested by Marcus Northern's 17.
In Rhodes' eyes, Garwood is playing his best basketball at the right time on both sides of the court.
"He's always played with a low-percent error and a high field goal percentage," Rhodes said. "Now we are starting to get him a few more shots and that will continue to go up."
If Burton is going to set a new career-high every month and check another box off the Mr. Basketball checklist every game, then it may not matter how much the rest of the Kingsmen score.
But if they can find a consistent No. 2 scorer, as Garwood has been over the last month, well, good luck to the rest of 4A.
"We know what Markus can do to take over games," Garwood said. "We just try to help him with offensive rebounds and playing defense. We can all do different things on different nights. We have plenty of options on this team."
PENN 85, WASHINGTON 51
Penn (85): Markus Burton 47, Joey Garwood 10, Joe Smith 7, Dylan Derda 6, Mookie Ward 5, Dominic Bonner 4, Trey Miller 3, Josh Gatete 2, Nolan McCullough 1.
South Bend Washington (51): Marcus Northern 17, Steven Reynolds III 11, Ty'Shaun Grundy 8, Terrence Reid 7, Eric Nocentelli 4, Jason Dockery 2, Devin Devries 2.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Joey Garwood becoming reliable No. 2 scorer for No. 2 Kingsmen
