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March 2, 2011 ■ Page 11
ATHLETICS IN NORTHWEST WASHINGTON
Cadets cap standout year with crown By BORIS TSALYUK Current Staff Writer
After his St. John’s girls basketball team won the championship at American University’s Bender Arena Monday, coach Jonathan Scribner said the season was defined by a quest for greatness. “We had probably 10 or 12 contests throughout the course of the year that were going to determine if we were just a very good team or a great team, and I think we won 10 of those 12. As a result, I would say we’re a great team,” he said. With the 62-54 win over Good Counsel Monday, St. John’s captured its first Washington Catholic Athletic Conference crown in seven years. Senior Mariah Jones scored 18 points, and junior
Mooriah Rowser added 16. After the game, Rowser said expecting the unexpected was key to the victory. “Sometimes, when you play a team too much, especially a good one, they’ll change it up on you. So we knew we couldn’t rely on film or what we thought they would do offensively. We just had to lock up defensively,” she said. The Cadets beat Good Counsel in all three meetings this year. They lost only one league game — by one point to Holy Cross on Feb. 4 — and finished the season with a remarkable 29-2 overall. St. John’s will face D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association champion H.D. Woodson in the City Title game Monday night at the Verizon Center.
Bill Petros/The Current
Coach Jonathan Scribner, left, and his team rejoice after beating Good Counsel and winning the WCAC title.
Starks beats buzzer and pushes Rough Riders to City Title game By BORIS TSALYUK Current Staff Writer
Ezell Starks has been making big shots for the Roosevelt Rough Riders for four years. On Saturday night, he made the biggest of them all.
As the buzzer sounded, Starks hit a layup to break a tie and push the Riders past Eastern High School in the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association title game, held at Coolidge. After Eastern tied the score at 60 on a pair of free throws by Trey Patterson, Roosevelt
freshman Jarrell Allen lost the ball trying to bring it up the court. But he scrambled to recover it and passed to Starks, who shook off contact and got one final shot off. The ball swished through the basket. Roosevelt faithful stormed the court and bulbs flashed across the arena as the team cel-
ebrated its dramatic win. Teammates, family and friends mobbed their hero. “This is the greatest moment of my life,” Starks said later. Starks scored 13 points and senior Devin Gallman had 19 points in the game, which See Riders/Page 12
Sidwell wins title
Minus one, Gonzaga falls
By BORIS TSALYUK
By BORIS TSALYUK
Current Staff Writer
Current Staff Writer
All season, the Sidwell boys seemed to be a notch ahead of every team in the Mid-Atlantic Conference — save for one. On Saturday, the Quakers took the final step, knocking off nemesis Flint Hill for the first time this year to capture the league’s postseason banner. Sophomore forward Josh Hart took center stage for the Quakers on their home court Saturday, scoring 22 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and dishing out five assists as his team cruised to a 72-54 victory in the league title game. The team’s guards were also strong: Sophomore Jamal Lewis and freshman Matt Hillman scored 18 points each. “Everybody chipped in, everybody did their part … and we just came out with a lot of intensity and we didn’t let go,” Hart said. Flint Hill, the defending tournament champion and this year’s regular-season banner winner, never really threatened in the finale. Sidwell jumped out to a 17-8 lead after one quarter, and stretched the lead to 15 by the end of the third. Sidwell had lost to Flint Hill in their first two meetings this season, but the third time proved to be the charm. “The energy was the difference tonight,” said coach Eric Singletary. “I think we outhustled them, and you don’t really see that against a Flint Hill team.” With Saturday’s victory, the Quakers won their last six games of the season, including a battle for bragging rights in Northwest D.C. against Maret in
Even without its leading scorer, Gonzaga gave DeMatha a serious run for the league title on Monday night in front of a capacity crowd at American University’s Bender Arena. But the Stags did just enough late in the game to fend off a comeback and secure their third straight championship. Gonzaga stormed back in the fourth quarter — all but erasing a deficit that grew as large as 16 in the second half — and found a chance to tie the score in the final moments of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference title game. It wasn’t meant to be for the Eagles, though, as they missed two 3-pointers in the final 10 seconds and the Stags held on to win 51-48. Sophomore Kris Jenkins, Gonzaga’s top scorer with 14.2 points per game this year, had injured his left ankle in the waning moments of the team’s semifinal win over Bishop McNamara on Sunday night. He tested the ankle in pre-game warm-ups Monday See Gonzaga/Page 12
Photo by Josh Johnson
Sidwell players pose for a celebratory photo after knocking off their biggest rival to win the MAC. the MAC semifinal the night before. “It was one of those things that every coach dreams of — the team clicking at the right time,” said Singletary. Sidwell’s 61-57 win over Maret involved a controversial late call against Lewis. After freshman Steffen Davis drilled a huge 3 for the Frogs to cut the Quakers’ lead to 56-52 with 1 minute, 12 seconds remaining, Lewis ran ahead of the pack for what seemed like an easy two points, but he missed an uncontested dunk attempt. He made up for it with a thunderous slam moments later, but was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim. Neither Lewis nor Singletary agreed with the decision, saying Lewis held on because there was a defender under the basket. See Sidwell/Page 12
Bill Petros/The Current
Sophomore Nate Britt and the Eagles made a fierce comeback Monday, but DeMatha held on.