Relearning the point guard position certainly provides Naazir Lowe a challenge. More difficult, though, is adapting the mindset required.

Lowe played point guard in the past, but the senior moved to shooting guard last winter and spent the summer playing there, getting downhill and attacking the basket as Zion Hughes ran the offense. When Hughes tore his ACL last August, Lowe was back at point guard, and his approach had to change.

Lowe continued embracing that switch Saturday, carving up perennial 6A title contender Cumberland Valley and dealing 10 assists in a 50-46 loss at the at Magic Dome. Lowe piled up eight second-half assists and helped fuel a furious second half comeback as the Millionaires (6-6) cut a 13-point halftime deficit to three twice against a team which routed it in each of the past two seasons.

“When I found out he tore his ACL I was like, ‘Darn, I’ve got to get back to my roots,'” Lowe said. “It’s hard but I have to do what I have to do to help the team win.”

Lowe did that especially well in the second half when Williamsport outscored CV, 30-21. Showing how much a player can impact a game without scoring, Lowe repeatedly created points by finding his teammates, including five times in the third quarter when the Millionaires started storming back.

In both transition and half-court sets, Lowe made the passes which revved up the Williamsport engine. His last one, an inbound to Tevin Williams, pulled the Millionaires within, 45-41 with 2 minutes, 24 seconds remaining.

“It wasn’t me. It was my team,” Lowe said. “Coach tells us to fake the first cutter, hit the second cutter. It was just fundamentals. I was faking the first cutter; hitting the second cutter. It was all flowing.”

Lowe provided an all-around spark, adding six rebounds and four steals. He only attempted one second half shot, too. He was the quarterback Saturday, spreading the ball around and finding the right receivers at the right times throughout the second half.

“That’s what we need from him, that right there. He has that ability to score at times, but we really need him to be a facilitator and get guys involved,” Williamsport coach Allen Taylor said. “If he starts like that, then the defense will be reluctant to help off because he’s passing to their man and scoring. That opens the floor for everyone. With the talent that we have now, we don’t need him to be that scoring guard. Score when the opportunity presents itself, but we need him to get these other guys involved.”

Doing that during the second half fueled Williamsport’s comeback. The Millionaires allowed eight points over the first half’s final 35 seconds, digging themselves a 13-point hole, but looked like a different team in the third quarter, quickly cutting it to, 36-33 when Lowe found a cutting Mekhi Gaston for a layup. A quarter later, Lowe and Gaston teamed up on an alley-oop.

Williams played quarterback last fall but was an excellent receiver Saturday, scoring all 18 of his points in the second half, many off Lowe assists. He also scored nine fourth quarter points and twice pulled the Millionaires within four late. Williams then sank a 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds remaining which made it, 49-46 but Aiden Diehl worked himself open on the inbounds play and hit a game-clinching free throw.

The result was not what Williamsport wanted, but the second half revealed how dangerous it can be going forward. Cumberland Valley has won 49 games, including three state contests, the two previous seasons and beat Williamsport by a combined 53 points those years. This time, Williamsport outplayed it during the second half, allowing just one fourth quarter field goal, and now just has to consistently play four quarters the way it did the final two.

“We have a lot of potential,” Lowe said. “We’ve been a second half team all year. We have to cut that out. We have to be a first half team and if we can be a first half team, I don’t care how good the team is, I think we can beat anybody.”

What held Williamsport back against CV were mostly self-inflicted wounds. That 35-second, eight-point blitz was the most harmful as the Eagles turned three turnovers into eight points and a five-point game into a 29-16 halftime lead.

Even in the second half, Williamsport turned the ball over when it had some fastbreak scoring opportunities. Take those away and the Millionaires likely would have delivered a signature win against one of District 3’s premier teams.

“We can’t continue to waste failures. That was an opportunity. I just knew we were winning this game today,” Taylor said. “I thought we had the perfect practice plan for those guys; defensively we were locked in, but the turnovers are what is killing us.”

Williams generated five rebounds, three assists and two blocks to go along with his 18 points. Kason Ulmer provided Williamsport an early lift, having a hand in the team’s first 11 points. He scored eight during the first quarter and the Millionaires cut a seven-point deficit to 15-13 entering the second.

That quarter was the difference-maker. The Millionaires made just 1 of 9 shots, turned the ball over six times and were outscored, 14-3. Erase that quarter and Williamsport wins by five, so the goal now is learning from mistakes made there and turning a negative into a positive as the season progresses.

“I keep telling them, ‘I see it. I see it.’ This team has a lot of potential. We just lack discipline,” Taylor said. “We can’t waste these failures. We have to learn from them because we’re consistently doing some of the same things to beat ourselves. They have to see what I see. It’s been a very difficult journey trying to get them to see what I see. Hopefully, it all comes together at some point.

CV (50)

Patrick O’Brien 1 0-0 3, Elijah Welch 1 1-2 4, Aiden Diehl 6 7-10 22, Sam Parsons 1 3-4 5, Carter Jimenez 3 3-3 9, Kallen Duppstadt 1 0-0 3, Elijah Scott 1 2-2 4. Totals 14 16-21.

WILLIAMSPORT (46)

Tevin Williams 8 1-1 18, Kason Ulmer 6 0-0 12, Naazir Lowe 1 0-0 2, Quincy Williams 2 1-2 5, Ethan Chilson 1 0-0 3, Mekhi Gaston 2 0-0 4, Saleem Overton 1 0-0 2, Dion Young 0 0-0 0, Josh Sweeting 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 2-3 46.

CV 15 14 15 6–50

Williamsport 13 3 19 11–46

3-pointers: CV 6 (Diehl 3, O’Brien, Welch, Duppstadt); Williamsport 2 (Williams, Chilson).

Records: Cumberland Valley 8-3. Williamsport 6-6.