Boys basketball: Archie Williams wins its Red Brown opener

The reviews were mixed for the Archie Williams High boys basketball team’s sixth consecutive victory Thursday night.

Head coach Mike Clagett, for one, was not thrilled with the outing – a cruising 60-46 victory against Skyline (Oakland) in the opening round of the Red Brown Tournament in San Anselmo.

The Peregrine Falcons (6-0) struggled in the first half and even trailed the Titans (3-4) by as many as six points midway through the second period.

Still, late first half three-point field goals by Ephraim Sohn and Grady Stewart salvaged a 33-30 lead for the Falcons at intermission.

But that wasn’t enough to put a smile on the face of Clagett.

“We’re all about effort and energy as a team and we didn’t show much of either. We did not play a good first half,” Clagett said. “When I asked the team at halftime who thought we played with enough effort and energy, nobody raised their hand.”

If Clagett had posed the question after the third period, however, there might have been a unanimous show of hands.

Archie Williams, behind the inspired play of Meezy Butler, started the second half on a mission. The Peregrine Falcons forced six Skyline turnovers – three steals by Butler alone – and scored 15 consecutive points in the third quarter.

By the time the fourth quarter started, Archie Williams held a commanding 52-33 lead.

“The key to our success so far is that we have three or four guys who are capable of 20-point games on any given night,” said Brian Wright, whose 16 points trailed only Butler’s 22 for game-high honors. “Not a lot of teams have that kind of depth on offense.”

While the Peregrine Falcons’ offense was good for the most part, they really turned the tide with tenacious defense. Led by Butler’s seven steals, Archie Williams forced 18 Skyline turnovers in the opening three quarters.

“(Butler) can really play defense,” Wright said. “We’ve been playing together since AAU ball in fourth grade so we kind of have this chemistry together. On offense he is super composed and unselfish. He’s always looking to get the ball to me inside for a short floater.”

Clagett said his team came out the previous week in a tournament opener and played similarly below its top tier.

“Tonight we came out with low effort and low energy,” Clagett said. “It’s never going to be perfect. But in the third quarter we played defense a lot harder and that seemed to inspire us.”

The Peregrine Falcons, who are not a big team, had some trouble keeping Skyline’s tall post Anthony Maldonado away from the boards.

Despite Maldonado’s game-high eight rebounds, however, Archie Williams rebounded on par with the Titans, each team grabbing 23 for the game.

Grady Stewart and Wright led the Falcons with five rebounds each and Butler added four more.

Sohn was the only other Archie Williams’ player to reach double-figures in scoring with 13 points.