THE GAZETTE
Page B-4
Wednesday, January 1, 2014 r
Magruder shines, Rockville grinds at Wootton Paint Branch girls win
their own tournament
Boys’ basketball: Patriots annual holiday tournament attracts team from North Carolina
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TRAVIS MEWHIRTER STAFF WRITER
Chris Bohlen and the Thomas S. Wootton High School boys’ basketball team put on its annual Wootton Holiday Jam this weekend, hauling in teams hailing from three local counties and one, Durham Academy, from a much warmer climate in North Carolina. There was no tournament-style or clear cut winner, just two days of basketball with teams seeing largely unfamiliar opponents. Highlights from day two of the Holiday Jam:
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First-half turnovers doom Watkins Mill As halftime neared in the opening game pitting Watkins Mill against Durham Academy, the student charged with filming the game realized the tape was full and that nothing was actually being recorded. “That,” sighed a Watkins Mill assistant, “is probably a good thing.” The Wolverines’ first half was not pretty. At the break, they trailed by more points (16) than they had scored (14) and kindly gift-wrapped a number of Durham’s points with careless turnovers. It would get better, as 6-foot-4 junior Rob Montgomery aided in reducing the deficit to single digits throughout the majority of the second half, but the comeback bid was ultimately doused, losing 52-38. “Too many turnovers in the first half,” coach Jay Tringone said. “Those turnovers have an effect offensively, defensively — easy buckets going the other way for them. Giving up 30 points in a half is unacceptable for us. Just a couple really bad possessions there in a row for us in the first half. The game started to get away from us.” Tringone lauded the defensive effort his team showed in the second half, citing the four points — one field goal, two free throws — his Wolverines held the Cavaliers to in the third quarter. His goal each game is to hold the opposing team to 50 or below, which it nearly accomplished despite the survival-mode necessity to send Durham to the free throw line late in the game to stop the clock. The offense, which struggled, picked up as well. Montgomery, who finished with a team-high 14 points, and Obi Patrick helped cut the lead to seven several times throughout the third and fourth quarters, but that was as close as the Wolverines would come in a game they trailed from start to finish. “When you’re down that much you pretty much have to play perfect the rest of the way,” Tringone said. “We got it to seven or eight but we just couldn’t hit that next bucket, the next free throw, to kind of get it under a possession or two.” Top Wolverine scorers: Rob Montgomery 14, Obi Patrick 11, Stephen Levya 8.
Rockville slips past Avalon Another quadruple overtime slugfest was not something Steve Watson and his Rockville team wanted during the 3 p.m. tip with Avalon. One of those — a 79-71 slugfest with Wheaton on Dec. 20 in which nine players fouled out — is more than enough for the year. The memory — and sting — of his Rams
KYLE RUSSELL
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Col. Zadok Magruder’s Joe Hugley is fouled by Bladensburg’s Xavier Milam during Saturday’s boys’ basketball holiday tournament at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville. going 29-of-55 from the free throw line in that marathon was still fresh in his mind, so it was a major relief for the coach to see his Rams hit 14-of-18 in the fourth quarter in lifting Rockville to a 51-43 victory. “Today, we make foul shots, we shot 77 percent from the line, we were able to close it out,” Watson said. “Those are the things that we emphasize. It’s not always the superhero play that wins games, it’s the details. It’s that make on the one-and-one, not the miss, that could be the difference.” Watson had preached all weekend the importance of not overlooking the small private school squad. Nevertheless, the Rams came out flat, trailing by one at the start of the fourth quarter. And, in flipping the script from the Wheaton game, Rockville found the spark it needed at the very place that nearly sunk it against the Knights: Free throws. Nehemiah Jackson and Brian Ball combined for all 14 made free throws in the final eight minutes, which accounted for all but four of Rockville’s 18 fourth quarter points, while Avalon shot just 16 all game. It wasn’t exactly how Watson drew up the win, but he said it’s comforting to know his team can grind one out when his team is off. “I think today was a good step in learning how to win when you’re not playing very well,” Watson said. “We were not playing very well but we were able to pull it out.” Top Rockville scorers: Nehemiah Jackson 17, Brian Ball 9, Ben Wiebush 9. Top Avalon scorers: Kory Foland 16, James Davern 9, Zamir Courtney 6.
Magruder beats Bladensburg, shows improvement Col. Zadok Magruder may no longer be the Nick Griffin, J.J. Epps, and Justin Witmer show, but the Colonels are far from the dreaded “rebuilding year” many could have expected after coach Dan Harwood graduated the vast majority of last year’s state finalist team. With Joe Hugley banging around with Bladensburg’s big men on the inside and Ronald Hammond stretching the defense with 3-pointers and pull-up jumpers on the outside, Magruder raced out to a 27-15 first quarter lead that would become a 7664 victory.
“We’re a good team, a different team,” Hugley said. “We’re a defensive team. Our offense last year — we played defense — but we relied on our offense.” Hammond’s impact was concentrated in the first half before foul trouble kept him on the bench for most of the third quarter and a fifth and final foul benched him the rest of the way early in the fourth. He scored all 11 of his points in a 45-point first half, playing inside-out with Hugley, who added 13 in the first half, nine of which came from the free throw line. And when the foul trouble limited Hammond, Josiah Jones stepped in, racking up 17 to match Hugley. “Oh, man, he helps a lot,” Hugley said of Hammond. “When I get it, I can kick it out, he’ll be there. He helps out with shooting the 3-pointers and when he shoots, I’ll be in there to get it.” Top Magruder scorers: Joe Hugley 17, Josiah Jones 17, Ronald Hammond 11, Marquaine Wilkerson 9. Top Bladensburg scorers: Dajon Lowe 14, Jaquan Sterling 14, Andrew Lindsay 8, Prince Obike 7.
Wootton routed in final game Up 10 at halftime against host Wootton in the nightcap event, Urbana coach John Cooper lamented that his team had a little trouble sustaining success, that it could never really “put the foot down” on teams. Eight minutes later, his Hawks were up 50-28, and by the game’s end the scoreboard showed 71-45 in Urbana’s favor. Consider the foot put down. It wasn’t exactly the Hollywood ending Wootton had in mind when hosting the two-day tournament, but the Patriots are still a markedly improved team from the squad that went until Jan. 18 before earning a win last season. Wootton dug itself a deep hole from the start, going down 16-3 just six minutes into the contest, and couldn’t chip away enough to draw within serious striking distance. Diontae Wilson led the scoring for the Patriots with nine and was followed by eight from Alex Sandler and five apiece from Richard Hum and Kwame Frimpong. Top Wootton scorers: Diontae Wilson 9, Alex Sandler 8, Richard Hum 5, Kwame Frimpong 5. tmewhirter@gazette.net
A decisive third quarter was the difference for the Paint Branch High School’s 63-53 girls’ basketball victory against Tuscarora in Friday’s championship game of the CKA/ Panther Holiday Invitational Basketball Tournament at the Burtonsville school. Junior guard Daisa Harris scored 11 of her team-high 18 points during that third-quarter outburst, including 9 consecutive points. Harris’ run turned a 32-30 halftime advantage into a 41-30 lead. “Daisa does that,” Panthers coach Rochelle Coleman said. “She is a self-starter. She works hard. Usually when she is playing well on defense, it feeds into her offense. She had a good game.” Paint Branch outscored the Titans 19-7 in the third frame which led to the largest lead in the contest, 51-37, heading into the fourth quarter. Harris also finished with 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Senior guard Ki-
ara Colston scored 16 points and added eight rebounds for the Panthers (7-0), while Tyra Sinclair contributed a doubledouble with 11 points and 11 boards. Sofilia Ngwafang (10 rebounds, eight points) and Autumn Ashe (seven points) also played significant roles at both ends of the floor. Shania Johnson led all scorers with 27 points for Tuscarora. The Titans (2-4) also received 12 rebounds and nine points from Katherine Moore, and nine points from Lyric Forney. Coleman said she knows that Johnson is a special talent, the likes of which she isn’t likely to see on many other teams as the season progresses. “[Johnson] is good,” she said, “and she doesn’t really exist on a lot of teams. I told them ‘If she goes off and beats us by herself, then there isn’t anything we can do.’ I probably won’t run into anyone like that — she’s a special player.” The Panthers next scheduled game is Jan. 3 against Damascus — a 3A State Semifinalist last season. “The biggest thing we need to work on is rebounding, that’s my biggest concern,” Coleman said. “Our team defense needs to improve, but it’s only December so we have time to work on that.”
Long Reach slips past B-CC for the boys title Barons fall in the title game of Paint Branch’s CKA/Panther tournament n
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KYLE RUSSELL
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
The Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School boys’ basketball team came up short in a bid to claim the CKA/Panther Holiday Invitational Basketball Tournament title, falling 49-48 to Long Reach in Friday’s championship game at Paint Branch High School. The Barons (2-5) battled to a 24-24 tie at halftime, paced by 12 points from Kaleb Stewart and stalwart defense. B-CC led for a majority of the first two quarters, and picked up a pair of 3-pointers from Kevin Holston in the second quarter to keep pace. After the break, the Lightning matched Stewart with defender Shane Barr. The plan worked, holding Stewart to just one point after halftime. “They definitely took some things away, but when we are shooting one-and-one midway through the third we have to be
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Girls’ basketball: Junior guard helps Panthers take control in the third quarter n
more aggressive and attack the rim,” B-CC coach Sean Tracy said. “We didn’t do that. We didn’t shoot a free throw in the entire fourth quarter. We settled for the jump shots and they weren’t falling.” Andrew Witts did his part to draw some fouls, connecting on 7-of-9 from the line in the second half while adding a couple layups and a 3-pointer to finish with a team-high 14 points. The senior guard was a bright spot for the Barons in the second half. “[Andrew] is a high-energy guy, and on any given night he could score 20 or 25 points — it’s just about being consistent with him.” Tracy said. “Even he had some nice strong takes, but some of the shots weren’t falling.” By the midpoint of the final frame, Long Reach had begun to pull away a bit, led by the trio of Barr (13 points), Ron Carter (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Terrell Lamar (10 points). Three missed free throws kept B-CC in it in the final minutes, and a last-second put back by Justin Carter cut the winning margin to just one.