THE GAZETTE
Thursday, December 5, 2013 bo
Page B-3
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS’ BASKETBALL PREVIEW BLADENSBURG
n Coach: Antonio Williams 3rd season n Last season: 5-16 n Starters returning: 2 n Last state tournament: 1979
Outlook: The brunt of the Mustangs’ points last season came off the hands of guards Arsene Che and Mike Jones, both of whom went for more than 40 in at least one game last year. With the pair now graduated, Williams turns to an unfamiliar source for points: the front court. Returning from last year’s squad is junior big man Derick Martyn, who now stands 6-foot-8 with a much more polished skill set than he boasted in his underclassman years. Joining him in what figures to be a jumbosized front court is Crossland transfer Andrew Lindsay, a 6-foot-4 stretch forward who “can play every position but the one,” according to Williams. Jaquan Sterling and Dajon Lowe, both seniors, figure to replace Che and Jones.
BOWIE
n Coach: Cedric Holbrook 6th season n Last season: 15-10 n Starters returning: 5 n Last state tournament: None
— TRAVIS MEWHIRTER
CROSSLAND
n Coach: Steve Matthews 2nd season n Last season: 11-11 n Starters returning: 2 n Last state tournament: 2005
Outlook: Ahead of his first year as the basketball coach at Crossland, Steve Matthews was hired in October. He didn’t have an offseason with the team and didn’t get to know his players. “It was kind of like an arranged marriage,” Matthews said. Now in his second campaign, Matthews and his team gained valuable offseason experience and he returns two starters from last year’s .500 squad. Senior guard Charles Owens and junior three-year starter Eric Landis are back to lead a team that is expected to include three transfers. The Cavaliers also will return two players who were academically ineligible last season. “This year, we’ve got kids that have been in the program and we’re a little bit further ahead than we were last year,” Matthews said.
n Coach: DaShawn Dillard 2nd season n Last season: 2-17 n Starters returning: 3 n Last state tournament: 2001
Outlook: The Hornets didn’t fare well last season but return three starters, including Kavan “Speedy” Sclafford. Sclafford is a 5-foot-7 junior guard who has started since he was a freshman. Secondyear coach DaShawn Dillard said he was a high-IQ guard, recording several 30-point games last season and is expected to be a top-scorer again this season. The team will play a guard-heavy lineup, with Sclafford at shooting guard, Dillard said. Dillard was head of the school’s girls’ basketball team before moving to the boys’ team last season. He expects the Hornets to improve their win total. “I think we’ve matured a lot … The goal is to have a winning season, and for the team to grow and have fun,” Dillard said.
DEMATHA CATHOLIC
n Coach: Mike Jones 12th season n Last year: 14-16 n Starters returning: 3 n Last WCAC title: 2011
n Last season: 30-2 n Starters returning: 1 n Last PVAC title: 2012
— NICK CAMMAROTA
n Last season’s record: 32-12 n Starters returning: 0 n Last CBAA title: None
Outlook: “I’m not going to forget it,” Jones said of DeMatha’s losing record last season. Neither have the three returning starters and the rest of the youthful squad the longtime coach trotted out last year. He lost experience at center in BeeJay Anya (N.C. State), and on the wing in Jairus Lyles (VCU), but the majority of the minutes everywhere else on the floor were taken up by underclassmen or juniors. Alani Moore started at point guard as a freshman and rotated with Terrell Allen, a sophomore. Moore’s classmate, Joe Hampton, coupled with Anya in the post, and Jaelin Grant, now a junior, provided minutes on the wing. The Stags are still green, but with a year of WCAC play under their belt, “it’s youth with experience.”
n Coach: Mark Edwards 2nd season n Last season: 14-10 n Starters returning: 3 n Last state tournament: None
Outlook: Loaded with size, athleticism and experience, the Jaguars are likely going to be a tough out in the 4A League. Coach Mark Edwards has the luxury of returning three starters in forwards Clint Robinson, Patrick Johnson and Mykel Johnson. Robinson is one of the county’s better rebounders and has improved his scoring touch while Patrick Johnson is a dangerous slasher and Mykel Johnson is “the glue guy.” Juniors Tyrik Campbell and Johnson Ogunyoye are expected to provide meaningful minutes in addition to reserve guard Juwan Weldon. “Going into year two is always a good thing,” Edwards said. “Certain standards and philosophies have been established and the kids have bought into it.”
n Coach: Tyrone Massenburg 6th season n Last season: 13-12 n Starters returning: 2 n Last state tournament: 1998
n Last season: 13-10 n Starters returning: 3 n Last state tournament: 2011
n Coach: Lawrence Pugh 4th season n Last season: 13-8 n Starters returning: 1 n Last state tournament: 2003
— NICK CAMMAROTA
Outlook: The Eagles’ Tyrone Massenburg enters his 29th season coaching in the county with a veteran team. “You could list every name, because they’re all key players,” Massenburg said. “They are interchangable, we don’t have a set starting five. We will play to matchups and many of our players can play multiple positions.” The two returning starters are the top rebounders from last season, post players Marsalis Hurley (senior, 6-foot6) and Tyler Smith (junior, 6-5). Senior Donnell Robinson takes over as point guard and senior Keyonte Frager mans the shooting guard spot. The one newcomer is a transfer from Bishop O’Connell, Cameron Hayes, a 6-4 sophomore forward. “We’re going to play up-tempo when we can, but this team gives me a lot of options,” Massenburg said.
DUVAL
n Coach: Lafayette Dublin 2nd season n Last season: 18-5 n Starters returning: 1 n Last state tournament: 1992
— KEN SAIN
n Coach: Irvin Hay 21st season n Last season: 4-20 n Starters returning: 3 n Last state tournament: None
Outlook: With three returning starters — guards Marcus Boddie and Brandon Dawson and small forward Malik Douglas — and several talented additions from junior varsity that gelled quickly with the returning core, Forestville is looking to move forward from last year’s four-win campaign, power forward Marquise Lee said. Speed and athleticism will be the cornerstone of the Knights’ game. Good ball movement will help spread the floor and open up opportunities for Forestville’s best shooting options, Boddie and Dawson, Lee added. Within that, communication is integral, guard Jamal Bailey said. “We have a lot of athletic people, people that can move,” Lee said. “I think our speed in some positions is going to be surprising to some teams.”
FRIENDLY
n Coach: Brian Brooks 1st season n Last year: 12-12 n Starters returning: 1 n Last state tournament: 2011
— JENNIFER BEEKMAN
— KEN SAIN
n Coach: Rodney Lewis 7th season n Last season: 3-16 n Starters returning: 1 n Last state tournament: 1995
—NICK CAMMAROTA
Outlook: This year’s crop of seniors will be playing under their fourth coach in as many years, and Brooks, who formerly coached Potomac before moving to Mississippi, is going to make it an up-tempo one. He labeled his group as slightly “height challenged” and expects to deploy a five-guard offense more often than not. Heading the diminutive lineup is returning starting point guard Emmanuel Edmonds, a junior who will be joined in the backcourt by seniors Michael West and Kevin Holston. Though there will be little to no back-to-the-basket presence on the Patriots, Jerrell Moore, a 6-foot-3 transfer from Archbishop Carroll, will serve as the team’s de facto big man.
— TRAVIS MEWHIRTER
HIGH POINT Outlook: Coming off a season where now-graduated swing man Oladoyin Fadojutimi accounted for the bulk of the Eagles’ scoring (24.7 points per game), coach Rodney Lewis expects this year’s squad to be far more balanced. With senior forward Chirac Ndetan as the lone returning starter, Lewis expressed excitement regarding a pair of junior twin guards in Issac and Isaiah Richmond. Both can play the point and shooting guard and they’ll rotate who plays where depending on who’s bringing the ball up the court. “They’re our double trouble,” Lewis said. “Both can handle the ball and both can score.” The Eagles, who feature only two seniors on the roster, have been busy this offseason playing in multiple tournaments. “We have a pretty good nucleus of players,” Lewis said.
Outlook: The Tigers experienced a resurgence last season and are perceived much more differently than they have been in the recent past. “Expectations are high as they have ever been,” Tigers coach Lafayette Dublin said. DuVal will potentially start five juniors this season a year removed from an 18-5 campaign. Coaches of other programs have said they expect the Tigers to be good. The Tigers aim to prove all who believe in them correct. Forward Edward Polite will be one of the county’s best. At 6-foot-5, Polite has nearly a dozen offers from NCAA Division I institutions. Lafayette, a DuVal High alumnus, believes his program had a good offseason but understands cohesion will be needed to be successful.
— TERRON HAMPTON
FORESTVILLE
GWYNN PARK Outlook: Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick enters this season with a challenge: “It’s one of the smallest teams I’ve had at Gwynn Park,” he said. “We’re going to be very guard-oriented team. They are all very good players, but we’ll have to focus on rebounding and defense.” Glick said he’ll likely start four guards with their lone post player, 6-foot-7 senior Isaiah Martin. Three returning starters — senior guards Cedric Hines, Evan Joiner and Mike Pegram — join two transfers from Washington Catholic Athletic Conference schools, Jayson Johnson, a sophomore point guard from St. Mary’s Ryken, and Marquis Holland, a senior guard from Bishop Ireton. Anwar Mack, Aaron Parker and a second post player, Marquan Lee, round out players who will receive the bulk of minutes this year.
Outlook: Coming off a year in which the Falcons exceeded expectations during the regular season before bowing out to Largo in the first round of the playoffs, coach Lawrence Pugh’s team will look to senior guard Davon Taylor (16 points per game) to lead a youthful squad that also returns senior guard Dequan Smith. As always, Pugh expects his group to play up-tempo with highpressure defense. “I hope what the kids did last year will rub off on the new guys,” Pugh said. “I think we have an excellent chance to do better than we did last year.” With four new starters expected to grace the Falcons’ starting lineup, Gary Stewart, Devin Panda and Kenneth Pettaway should play key roles immediately.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
— NICK CAMMAROTA
n Coach: Mike Glick 7th season
Outlook: Capitol Christian Academy, which absorbed Princeton Day Academy, launches a basketball program with topnotch talent. Seven-foot-0 junior Malik Kuwornu and 6-foot-3 guard senior Marcquise Reed highlight the roster. Coach Van Whitfield said Kowornu will be a key player defensively but has room for improvement on offense. Reed was a top player on St. Vincent Pallotti’s Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association Conference Championship team. He and Kowornu have offers from several Division I schools. “We’ll be one of the stronger teams in the area,” Whitfield said. “We have a really talented group.” The team will have a tough, national schedule playing in the highly competitive Capital Beltway Athletic Association, Whitfield said.
CENTRAL
— ERIC GOLDWEIN
CHARLES H. FLOWERS
GRACE BRETHREN
n Coach: Mike Fourth 1st season
n Coach: Van Whitfield 1st season
— TRAVIS MEWHIRTER
— ERIC GOLDWEIN
Outlook: The 2012-13 season could not have been better for the Eagles. A 30-win season capped with a PVAC championship against McLean School. In the offseason, however, former coach Tony Cabbagestalk left the program and last year’s junior varsity coach, Mike Fourth, took over. Fourth, whose son Marquis is a freshman on the team, has one returning starter to work with in Jonathan Cheek. The junior forward is joined in this year’s starting lineup by Fourth, Michael Grey, Tim Fuller and Arke’l Brown on a team that features four returners, two of whom are seniors. “We’re still trying to find our identity,” Fourth said. “Cabbagestalk definitely set a standard. I’m trying to make sure I fulfill it for the guys this year and have a successful season.”
Outlook: Like many of the teams in the County 4A League, the Bulldogs feel they have as good of a chance at success as anyone. They have the luxury of returning five players who started at different spots last season and logged minutes in bunches. The returning starters are guards Jared Gray, Dejuan Smith, Cory Washington, Kade Monroe and forward/guard Everett Chambers. The reason for optimism for the Bulldogs is that all five of the core of players returning are seniors and have game experience. “My belief is that it could be a very good season as long as everyone stays on the same page and same accord and all have goals in mind,” coach Cedric Holbrook said. “It’s incumbent that our seniors carry us early on.”
— TERRON HAMPTON
— NICK CAMMAROTA
FAIRMONT HEIGHTS
CAPITOL CHRISTIAN
LARGO
n Coach: Lewis Howard 14th season n Last season: 14-11 n Starters returning: 3 n Last state tournament: 2012
Outlook: Largo is generally a wrecking ball when it comes to the County 3A/2A/1A League and this season will be no different. The Lions return three starters from last season and coach Lewis Howard said they all have a memory that stands out. “They all remember that experience when we made the state final,” Howard said. “We have a bitter taste in our mouths from last year when we lost in the [2A South] regional final by six points.” Howard said he is very excited and waiting to see how this group meshes. Senior point guard Phillip Thompson has gotten off to a good start in practice in setting the tempo and keeping teammates aware of positioning and assignments. Other returning starters are guard Aaron Thomas and forward Abdul Bundu.
— TERRON HAMPTON