|
|
 |
Friday, July 10
Yellow Jackets having solid season in summer league
Reaching toward the top
Yellow Jackets having solid season in summer league
by Adam Rubenstein | Staff Writer
Gwynn Park's Brian Hall (center) goes up for a basket between two Henry A. Wise players during a GPS Beltway basketball game on Monday.
Last season, the Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team felt the time was right to end a two-decade championship drought.
But with star point guard Brandon Ford injured and unavailable for the playoffs, the Yellow Jackets were eliminated in the 2A South Region semifinals by rival Frederick Douglass, a team the Yellow Jackets had beaten twice during the regular season.
Gwynn Park owns a county-best 10 state championships, but the last of those came in 1988. The Yellow Jackets have been in the state final four times since then, but haven't been able to bring another trophy back to Brandywine. This summer, the team is working to send its 2009-10 season on a path toward the state tournament next March at the Comcast Center.
Gwynn Park's roster in the GPS Beltway League at Henry A. Wise High has been in a state of flux, as some of Gwynn Park's more accomplished players participate with club teams and in camps. Ford was among those absent on Monday. But the Yellow Jackets won for the fifth time in seven games Monday evening, 44-37, against Wise, which is competing under the summer league name of Jaguars.
"We expect to win every game and be competitive in every game, which we are, but we still have a long way to go," said Gwynn Park summer coach Jarrett Thompson. "Just because we've won a couple of games in a summer league by no means solidifies where we want to be."
Tion Barnes, a rising junior who has played for the Yellow Jackets the past two seasons, scored a team-high 11 points on Monday.
"Things have been great so far [with summer leagues]," said Barnes. "I have been working on my defense and ballhandling. We're just looking for team chemistry for the regular season."
Rising senior Tim Floyd has returned to Gwynn Park after transferring to Camden Military Academy in South Carolina for his junior year. He attended Gwynn Park as a freshman and sophomore, but opted for military school to improve his academic status.
"I was wanting to come back here the whole time," said Floyd, a point guard. "I had to do at the time what I had to do in order to get back up here."
During his sophomore year, Floyd was part of the Yellow Jackets' team that lost by two points in the 2A state semifinals to eventual champion Winters Mill. He said he's ready to help lead Gwynn Park back into the state playoffs.
"I wasn't a leader when I was a sophomore and freshman, I was more of a follower," said Floyd, who scored nine points on Monday. "Now this year, I want to become more of a voice leader on the court. I like taking on that challenge."
The GPS Beltway League is the only league the Yellow Jackets are participating in this summer. With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, they are in position to earn one of the four playoff spots from the league's Crossover Division.
"The kids need to keep doing what they're supposed to be doing," said Thompson. "How far we go [next season], that depends how hard the kids are determined to work and how healthy we can stay. It's all about getting better."
Monday, Brian Hall scored 10 points for Gwynn Park. Barnes' brother, Raymond, scored eight points, while Brian Blue and Ronald Owens also scored. Blue is a star linebacker for the Yellow Jackets' football team who recently was selected to play at the Maryland Crab Bowl in December.
E-mail Adam Rubenstein at arubenstein@gazette.net.
Wednesday, June 3
Pratt's legacy at Towson Catholic
There was a major shakeup late last week in MIAA A conference basketball when Josh Pratt resigned his position as Towson Catholic’s coach.
The current economic climate resulted in Pratt being laid off from his teaching job at the school earlier this year. He has since been hired at St. Vincent Pallotti to teach and coach the girls basketball team.
The Owls tabbed Reggie Williams to succeed Pratt. The Dunbar legend, former Georgetown star and NBA veteran got his coaching feet wet at the now-defunct Jericho Christian Academy in Landover. By all accounts, Williams is extremely well liked and respected as a person and coach. He should flourish at Towson Catholic.
But Pratt’s legacy at Towson Catholic should be remembered. On the court, Pratt compiled a 98-40 record in four years, which included two A conference titles and one Baltimore Catholic League crown. His tenure with the Owls didn’t start under the most ideal circumstances, but he quickly allieviated any concerns parents may have had.
“I just think Pratt came into a tough situation when they let [current City coach] Mike Daniel go. A lot of us were ready to [pull our kids from Towson Catholic] but he held the fort down,” said Larry Bastfield, the father of former Owls standout and current Toledo point guard Larry Bastfield Jr.. “He convinced us to give him a chance, so we gave him a chance and we had a hell of a run. The bond that he still has with the kids [is strong]. Those kids love Coach Pratt.”
Off the court, Pratt preached academics, doing everything he could to make sure his players were in good position to reach college. With one Owls player who faced his fair share of academic struggles, Pratt set up weekly progress reports and held a required study hall three or four days a week. The same player, who transferred to Towson Catholic from St. Frances early in his freshman year, lived with Vinny Breckinridge, whose son Vinny Jr. left SFA for TC at the same time.
Breckinridge Jr., who spent a post-grad year at The Patterson (N.C.) School and will join the Goucher men’s basketball team in the fall, had a seamless transition to Towson Catholic, developing into one of the Owls’ top players by his senior year. Breckinridge Jr.’s friend and housemate for eight years, however, struggled academically. Before long, Pratt offered to have this player move in with him so that he could ensure he made it to school on time and was on top of his schoolwork.
“[Pratt] offered that,” Breckinridge Sr. said. “He said he could try to help as much as he could, at least to get him through the rest of that year. [Pratt said] ‘if he could come and be willing to work, he can stay with me for the rest of the school year.’”
The talented guard ended up staying with the Breckinridge family for the time being. Unfortunately, his academics didn’t improve and his attendance rate dropped, forcing Towson Catholic to essentially expel him from school. He has since resurfaced at a school outside of the Baltimore area, and is reportedly doing well. His current coach said he has nothing but praise for Pratt and was sorry it didn't work out. Pratt told me recently that he was "a great kid" who he still hoped would be able to play college basketball.
“It broke [Pratt’s] heart when he got put out at Towson Catholic,” Bastfield said, “because he did everything possible to keep him at TC. ... The stuff he did with [this player] was above and beyond.”
When “Little Larry” wasn’t playing much in the early parts of his freshman season at Toledo, Pratt would offer encouragement and advice to Bastfield Sr., telling him things would improve for his son. And sure enough, they did, as Bastfield Jr. ended up starting 16 games for the Rockets and averaging more than 23 minutes per game.
“I definitely don’t think my son, personally, would be where he’s at today without Coach Pratt,” Bastfield said. “Sophomore year, Coach Pratt gave him the ball. He said ‘it’s your ball,’ and the rest was history.”
Whenever Breckinridge Jr., Virginia Tech’s Malcolm Delaney, the Sacramento Kings’ Donte’ Greene or any other former Owls player was back in the area and wanted to play ball, Pratt was more than happy to open the gym. In the offseason, he took his kids to elite camps at various colleges to increase their exposure. Hosting open gyms for college coaches was another constant under Pratt.
“To me it says that he is willing to help his kids. He’s more than a basketball coach,” Breckinridge said. “He’s willing to help his kids that come through his program and extend himself beyond just coaching the team. Since Vinny Jr. went to The Patterson School, I’ve had dozens of coaches call me from all different levels. That’s all through Coach Pratt. He will just continue to help every kid [that’s come through his program] as long as the kid’s doing what he’s supposed to. He’ll help you if you’re helping yourself. He’ll bend over backwards.”
Towson Catholic should field a strong team next season, and its future is bright with Williams at the helm.
Soon enough, the Pallotti community will discover just how fortunate it is to have the Owls' outgoing coach.
Baltimore Sun photo of Josh Pratt and Vinny Breckinridge Jr. by Barbara Haddock Taylor / Feb. 24, 2008
Sunday, May 24
Pallotti hires new girls' basketball coach in Josh Pratt
Pallotti hires new girls' basketball coach
by Adam Rubenstein | Staff Writer
Pratt returns to the Laurel private school after serving as an assistant boys' basketball coach under Mike Glick from from 1993-98. Pratt also was on Glick's staff from 1998-2004 at Archbishop Spalding. Glick is now the boys' coach at Gwynn Park.
Pratt spent the 2004-05 season as the head coach at St. Mary's-Annapolis and then moved on to Towson Catholic, where he compiled a 98-41 record in four seasons as head coach. His career coaching record is 107-57.
The Pallotti job will be his first time coaching a girls' team.
"It will be a challenge," said Pratt. "Girls have a different attitude, but coaching is coaching. It's a good challenge for me, it really is."
Skelly won more than 100 games at Pallotti, and guided the Panthers to Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference championships in 2006 and 2007. Pallotti was 11-12 last season and reached the conference semifinals.
Outgoing Towson Catholic coach Josh Pratt said he learned in February that he was being laid off from his position as a physical education and health teacher at the school.
He said he wanted to coach and teach at the same place and has accepted a job as girls basketball coach at St. Vincent Pallotti.
Towson Catholic was 17-13 last season, finishing third in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and fourth in the Baltimore Catholic League.
Pratt, who was an assistant at Pallotti, Archbishop Spalding and St. Mary's before taking over at Towson Catholic for longtime coach Mike Daniel in 2005, went 98-40 (.710) in four seasons with the Owls. He guided them to two MIAA A Conference titles and one Baltimore Catholic League crown. Pratt's teams were ranked in the top 10 in The Baltimore Sun's final poll in each of his first three seasons, including a No. 1 ranking in 2007.
Saturday, May 23
Pratt to coach Pallotti's girls
Pratt to coach Pallotti's girls
Former Towson Catholic boys' headman returns to Laurel in different capacity
Published: 05/23/2009
|
|
|
by Derek Toney
dtoney@digitalsports.com
Josh Pratt, who led Towson Catholic to a pair of MIAA A Conference boys' basketball championships, is the new girls' basketball coach at St. Vincent Pallotti. Pratt succeeds Debbie Skelly, who resigned last month after 10 seasons.
Pratt said he wasn't going to be retained as a physical education teacher at Towson Catholic next school year. He said he was contacted by several friends in the Pallotti community.
"They said they had a teaching position, so I had to look into it," said Pratt, who applied for a couple of boys' coaching positions in the D.C. metro area. "They showed a lot of interest."
I didn't want teach in one school and coach at another. It's important to be in the building."
Pratt is very familiar with the Laurel school. He was a boys' assistant under Mike Glick from 1993 to 1998 when Pallotti became a competitive force in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference. He was a teacher at St. Mary's of the Mills School, located across the street from Pallotti.
Pratt moved to Archbishop Spalding as an assistant under Glick (now coach at Gwynn Park) from 1998 to 2004 before taking the reigns at St. Mary's for one season in 2004-05. He moved to Towson Catholic the following season where he succeeded longtime coach Mike Daniel. Pratt went 98-41 in four seasons including the 2006-07 MIAA A and Baltimore Catholic League titles with current Sacramento King Donte' Greene and Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney, who was a third-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference pick as a sophomore this past season.
The Owls made a late season surge and successfully defended their MIAA A crown in 2007-08. Last season, Towson Catholic went 17-13.
Now, Pratt (107-57 career record) moves over to the girls' side at Pallotti, which won back-to-back IAAM B championships in 2005-06 and 2006-07, and made four straight trips to the finals between 2005-2008. He met with the players Wednesday.
"It's the same drills and concepts, the interaction may be different," said Pratt. "I'm excited about the challenge."
|
|
Thursday, May 21
Ex Glick Assistant Pratt named new Pallotti hoop coach
Pratt named new Pallotti hoop coach
Posted 5/21/09
Josh Pratt has been named the new varsity girls basketball coach at Pallotti High. He takes over for Debbie Skelly, who resigned in April after 10 seasons. Pratt, a former assistant boys coach at Pallotti, has been the head boys hoops coach at Towson Catholic in the A division of the MIAA and coached several future Division I players, including Donte Green, who now plays for Sacramento in the NBA. "I thought long and hard about it," Pratt said May 19. "I think coaching is coaching. It is going to be a challenge." Pratt, who hopes to teach at Pallotti, was going to lose his teaching job at Towson Catholic. He was a teacher at St. Mary of the Mills in Laurel and was also a boys basketball coach at Spalding and St. Mary's of Annapolis. Pratt was one of three finalists for the spot, along with Chris Lesesne, an assistant under Skelly. The Pallotti girls are in the B division of the IAAM but Pratt hopes to eventually move the program to the top division. Pratt coached boys basketball at Pallotti from 1993-98 and was a varsity assistant under Mike Glick. Pratt joined Glick at Spalding as an assistant after Glick left Pallotti. See more at www.laurelleader.com
Wednesday, April 29
Niagara welcomes transfer from Wilmington in Kevon Moore
|
Published: April 28, 2009 11:16 pm
MEN'S BASKETBALL: Niagara welcomes transfer from Wilmington
By Jonah Bronstein
Niagara Gazette
The Niagara Purple Eagles have bolstered their backcourt for the 2010-11 season and beyond with the addition of Kevon Moore, a transfer from UNC Wilmington.
Moore was granted permission to contact other schools last month, and gave Niagara coach Joe Mihalich a verbal commitment after visiting Monteagle Ridge last weekend, according to his high school coach.
Moore also revealed his transfer plans on his Facebook page.
Mihalich was unable to comment Tuesday because Niagara had yet to receive any official paperwork from Moore. Until that happens, Moore’s commitment is non-binding.
Attempts to reach Moore on his cell phone were unsuccessful.
Per NCAA transfer rules, Moore will have to sit out the upcoming season. When he becomes eligible, Niagara will be seeking to replace starting guards Tyrone Lewis, Bilal Benn and Rob Garrison, as well as sixth man Demetrius Williamson — more than two-thirds of its scoring output from this past season.
Moore played in 27 games as a freshman, starting five times. After missing five games with hip and groin injuries early on, he came on to average 9.1 points, fourth-best on the team, and 4.1 rebounds in 23 minutes. In both meetings with eventual Colonial Athletic Association champion Virginia Commonwealth, Moore scored 17 points. He finished sixth in the CAA all-rookie team voting.
Mike Glick, head coach at Baltimore-area Archbishop Spalding High, where Moore played three seasons before finishing his high school career at Montrose Christian, called the 6-foot-3 left-hander “a perfect fit for Niagara.”
“He’s a multi-purpose guard,” said Glick, who coached Rudy Gay, among other top prospects, at Spalding. “He’s got the ability to play the point guard and the two guard positions. He’s a very athletic player, a slasher with a nice pull-up jumpshot.”
Glick also noted that Moore brings a 3.3 grade point average to Niagara.
“He’s a quiet kid who is all about ball,” Glick said. “He lives, eats and breathes basketball.”
E-mail reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.
|
|
|
Photos
|
|
|
Wednesday, April 29
Fromer Glick assistant Corriero takes over Meade boys basketball program
Corriero takes over Meade boys basketball program
Former St. Mary's, Gwynn Park assistant teaches physical education at Meade
Published: 04/27/2009
|
|
|
by Aaron Gray
agray@digitalsports.com
Pete Corriero is the new Meade High School boys basketball coach, school athletic director Dave Lanham told DigitalSports on Tuesday.
"I really think he is the coach that will take our program to the next level and beyond," Lanham said.
Corriero replaces former coach Darryl Adams, who was not retained after coaching the Mustangs for the last six years. Adams led Meade to a 5-17 record with a 4-11 mark in Anne Arundel County last season and fell in the first round of the Class 4A East Region tournament.
Corriero, 26, is a physical education teacher at Meade and starting coaching around the state before he even graduated from the University of Maryland five years ago.
"I'm very excited and appreciative of the school for putting their faith into me," said Corriero, an Odenton resident.
"There are a lot of great athletes at this school and there's been a big improvement in the overall athletics. I'm confident the boys basketball team will continue with that trend."
Corriero started as an assistant coach at St. Mary's under Josh Pratt when he was still a junior in college. He was still at the Annapolis private school when current Saints coach Brian Konik took over four years ago and Corriero recruited Josh Morgan-Green (South New Hampshire) to the St. Mary's program.
After the 2005-06 season, Corriero joined former Spalding coach Mike Glick at Gwynn Park in Prince George's County as a varsity assistant and the junior-varsity head coach.
At Gwynn Park, Corriero played a big role in practices while supervising the strength and conditioning workouts for both the varsity and junior-varsity squads.
"I might have been the youngest assistant coach in PG County," said Corriero, who helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the state championship in 2007-08 after an undefeated regular season.
Two players from that team went onto Division I scholarships, which is something Corriero wants to continue at Meade.
"You don't see enough guys take the next step and that's something as a coach, I take pride in," Corriero said. "There's a lot of talent at Meade and now is the time for any player to step up. I'm really looking forward to working with them and helping them move on to the college ranks."
Corriero returned to St. Mary's this past season as a varsity assistant and helped guide the Saints to their second MIAA B Conference title in three years. He also oversaw a junior-varsity squad that finished 24-8 and advanced to the conference playoffs.
Corriero is very active in summer basketball camps and has big plans for the Mustangs when school lets out in two months. Going from the private school league to the Anne Arundel County public-school league should also be a smooth transition for the New Jersey native.
"The great thing about St. Mary's this past season is that we played five public schools in the county so I got a great look at the league," Corriero said. "We were one of the only teams around to beat Old Mill so I'm pretty familiar with the competition."
Severna Park, Broadneck and Chesapeake also fell victim to the Saints last season along with Meade.
"I can't wait to get started," Corriero said.
|
|
Wednesday, April 29
Basketball getting fresh look at Meade in Corriero
Basketball getting fresh look at Meade
Ex-St. Mary's Gwynn Park assistant hired to revive MustangsBy AVI CREDITOR, Staff Writer
Published 04/29/09
Meade's boys basketball program will have a fresh, youthful feel on the sidelines next season.
Athletic director Dave Lanham named 26-year-old Pete Corriero as the school's varsity coach on Monday. He replaces Darryl Adams, who guided the team to a 5-19 record in his sixth season at the helm.
"I'm very appreciative for the school, Dave Lanham and (principal Daryl) Kennedy for entrusting the program with me," Corriero said. "I'm excited to be part of the coaching fraternity in the county."
Corriero, a first-year physical education teacher at Meade, is no stranger to the county coaching scene. Five years ago, when he was a junior at the University of Maryland, he was an assistant coach at St. Mary's under Josh Pratt. He stayed on as an assistant when Brian Konik took over as head coach in the 2005-2006 season.
"He's a tremendously driven coach," Konik said. "He really has a desire to win at everything he does. Being a varsity basketball coach is something he's wanted for a long time, and he's done everything he could to be successful when he got his opportunity."
When Lanham was the athletic director at St. Mary's, he hired Corriero as an assistant.
"I interviewed him four years ago for an assistant position, and he caught me off guard as someone who's going to work hard and be determined to succeed," Lanham said. "He's broadened his coaching horizons since then. He's been in multiple situations with different dynamics, from an elite private school to a Prince George's County public school.'
At age 23, Corriero left St. Mary's to be junior varsity head coach and a varsity assistant at Gwynn Park for former Archbishop Spalding coach Mike Glick in 2008. The Yellow Jackets won the Class 2A South Region that season.
He returned to St. Mary's as junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant this year, and he was on the sidelines when Saints guard Nick Groce beat the buzzer to win the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference championship game against St. Vincent Pallotti.
The Saints defeated five public school county teams this past season, including a 60-54 win over Meade on Dec. 22.
"He's been on the staff of coaches who have won a lot of games," Konik said. "Although each head coach he's been with has different styles and philosophies, it's given him a lot of different varied experiences. It'll be interesting to see how he melds together the experience."
Corriero has also coached varsity teams in summer leagues and has run the offseason strength and conditioning programs.
"I definitely want an immediate turnaround in our program," Lanham said. "It falls in line with what we're trying to do at Meade, to get our kids involved more with offseason training and to take more advantage of the weight room."
Corriero, a Plainfield, N.J., native and Odenton resident, majored in kinesiology at Maryland and brings a new approach to the Meade sidelines, including a devotion to getting his players into college.
"It's a fresh start, and we're going in a new direction," Corriero said. "Meade always has talent. I've never been happier in a teaching envrionment. I want to reach out to everyone in the school to come out and show us what they can do on the basketball court."
The age factor doesn't bother Lanham, who also announced the rehiring of Bobby Freedenburg as the coach for girls basketball.
"That doesn't scare me at all," Lanham said. "It's a positive more than a negative.'
Wednesday, April 8
2008-09 Prince Georges County All-League Basketball Teams
|
Prince George's 3A/2A/1A All-League 2008-09
|
| Boys' Team |
School |
Year |
Girls' Team |
School |
Year |
| Brandon Ford |
Gwynn Park |
So. |
BreAnna Gross |
Surrattsville |
Jr. |
| A.J. Thomas |
Friendly |
Sr. |
Endia Hill |
Surrattsville |
Sr. |
| Keith Thomas |
Gwynn Park |
Sr. |
Jessica Lyons |
Largo |
So. |
| Brabden Waters |
Forestville |
Sr. |
Marketta Salley |
Central |
Sr. |
| Timmon Whatley |
Douglass |
So. |
Chanae Shorter |
Surrattsville |
Sr. |
| Da'Ron Wiseman |
Potomac |
Sr. |
Cierra Washington |
Fairmont Heights |
So. |
| Percy Woods |
Crossland |
Sr. |
|
|
|
| COY: Rob Garner |
Friendly |
|
|
| Prince George's 4A All-League 2008-09 |
| Boys' Team |
School |
Year |
Girls' Team |
School |
Year |
| Francis Ashe |
Eleanor Roosevelt |
Sr. |
Olivia Applewhite |
Eleanor Roosevelt |
Sr. |
| Colin Beatty |
DuVal |
Sr. |
Nikia Gorham |
C.H. Flowers |
Sr. |
| Delonta Boyd |
Wise |
Sr. |
Elashier Hall |
Eleanor Roosevelt |
Sr. |
| David Golladay |
Wise |
Sr. |
Leondra King |
Parkdale |
Sr. |
| Marcus Hebron |
Laurel |
Sr. |
Jasmine McIntosh |
Bowie |
Sr. |
| Lasan Kromah |
Eleanor Roosevelt |
Sr. |
Morgan Pope-Addison |
Wise |
Sr. |
| COY: O.J. Johnson |
Wise |
|
|
|
|
Thursday, March 5
Douglass boys knock out Gwynn Park 60-55
Douglass boys knock out Gwynn Park
Eagles advance to 2A South Region final against River Hill
by Adam Rubenstein | Staff Writer
The third time is a charm, as the old saying goes. But the Frederick Douglass High School boys' basketball team put a new twist into that old adage after eliminating second-seeded Gwynn Park, 60-55, in a 2A South Region semifinal game Wednesday evening before a packed gymnasium in Brandywine.
After two losses to the Yellow Jackets this season – including a 23-point defeat a month ago on the same floor – the Eagles bounced back and got the best of their arch rival. Douglass' effort was aided a steady stream of transition points and free throws during a fourth-quarter comeback where Eagles outscored Gwynn Park, 21-13.
"Our inside game was a lot more aggressive than it was the last time [we played Gwynn Park]," said Douglass coach Tyrone Massenburg. "I think they outscored our post players, maybe four to one the last game. But I think we were a little more aggressive this time from the beginning.
"We've come so far. We're a young team and I guess we just started playing a lot better basketball. And it meant a lot to the seniors we have that haven't had a lot of success winning in this particular kind of situation."
Douglass (13-10), seeded 11th, will travel to River Hill for the regional final. River Hill upset top-seeded Hammond, 43-41, on Wednesday in the other 2A South semifinal.
The Eagles are 2-0 this postseason on the road, having also eliminated second-seeded North Point on Tuesday. A win at River Hill would put Douglass in the state tournament, two wins away from the Upper Marlboro school's first state championship since 1966.
"The further along you go, the tougher the teams are," said Massenburg. "We're expecting a real tough game [in the region final] in a hostile environment."
Douglass led Gwynn Park by two at halftime, but entered the fourth quarter trailing by three. The Yellow Jackets began turning the ball over frequently, and they seemed unable to stop the Eagles' transition game. Douglass took the lead for good with 4 minutes, 50 seconds to play.
Key late buckets from close range by senior Justin Mays (12 points) and sophomore Timmone Whatley (10 points), along with James Brandon and Eric Washington, put the game out of reach in the final two minutes. They and their teammates also were quicker to loose balls and seemed to particularly break the Yellow Jackets' press down the stretch.
Losing sophomore point guard Brandon Ford for the season to a concussion Feb. 20 came back to haunt the Yellow Jackets' chances of a deeper postseason run.
"I think the loss of Brandon hurt us," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick, whose team had 22 turnovers. "It doesn't take anything away from what Douglass has done. Douglass had a great end of the season. Coach Massenburg has done a great job in his first year and it's hard [for any team] to beat a good team three times. However, losing Brandon, he was our primary ballhandler. I thought we became a team that could not handle pressure nearly as well and we lost by it."
Gwynn Park senior Corey Anderson had game-highs of 21 points and 15 rebounds. He scored nine points in the third quarter, but in the fourth quarter he was held to a 3-point field goal with six seconds to play.
The Yellow Jackets finished the season 18-6 overall, which included a 16-2 mark in the County3A/2A/1A League.
Frederick Douglass 60, Gwynn Park 55
FD 12 15 12 21 – 60
GP 10 15 17 13 – 55
Frederick Douglass (13-10): Mays 12, Whatley 10, Fennell 9, Washington 9, Bonhom 8, Brandon 6, Murray 4, Williams 2.
Gwynn Park (18-6): Anderson 21, Thomas 15, Hall 5, Woodard 4, Coates 4, Blue 2, Fourth 2, Malik 2.
Thursday, March 5
Yellow Jackets buzz past Oakland Mills 66-50
Yellow Jackets buzz past Oakland Mills
By Adam Rubenstein | Staff writer
Starting sophomore point guard Brandon Ford suffered a season-ending concussion in the County 3A/2A/1A League title game Feb. 20 in a 13-point loss against Friendly, which was also the last game the Yellow Jackets had played. And their opponent Tuesday, Howard County's Oakland Mills High, was fresh off a big come-from-behind victory against Central in the 2A South Region's opening round on Friday.
But No. 2-seeded Gwynn Park was up to the challenge against the 10th-seeded Scorpions. It seized control by halftime before gradually pulling away during the final 16 minutes of a 66-50 quarterfinal win. Sophomore Tion Coates scored a team-high 18 points for the Yellow Jackets, many of the highlight-reel variety, while seniors Keith Thomas added 13 points and Corey Anderson chipped in 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
"It's a very precarious situation to be in," said Glick. "We're missing two starters [Ford, and senior forward Maurice Peavy from the middle of the season] and we're playing our first game without our point guard. But we're a very resilient team."
But Glick was happy with the win. His next concern will be in Wednesday's semifinals, when his team hosts Frederick Douglass. The game was played after The Gazette went to press. The Eagles traveled to Charles County Tuesday evening and eliminated third-seeded North Point.
"I was very happy with out effort," said Glick after Tuesday's win. "It's survive and advance, that's the bottom line of it.
"We're going to have a game [Wednesday] against Douglass, a big rival. We're fortunate enough to have beaten them twice. It's an archrival for the right to go to the region final, so we're excited about that."
Gwynn Park (18-5) controlled the tempo against Oakland Mills (14-10), only losing momentum at times on its own turnovers. Though the Scorpions held a brief led of 13-11 after the first quarter, they never led again, though they had tied the game at 27 in the second quarter. There, Coates scored a layup, then followed with a perfect alley-oop dunk from senior point guard Mike Fourth.
Though Gwynn Park never seemed in jeopardy of giving up the lead again, its chances of winning increased with 2 minutes, 37 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Oakland Mills' 6-foot-6 forward/center Brandon Pines fouled out. Anderson dominated the boards thereafter and his teammates began getting consistent closer looks down low, and capped it off with 9-of-13 free-throw shooting in the final quarter.
"It didn't really make a difference when he fouled out," said Anderson. "We just had to come out and play. We probably could have put them away earlier, but we had issues throughout the whole game. We had a lot of turnovers and things like that."
Glick praised the performance of Fourth (seven points, four assists), who had missed the previous seven games. Thomas heated up in the second half, scoring 10 of 13 points, while Coates scored a game-high 14 after intermission.
"I like to dunk it," said Coates. "I had four tonight, two in the first [half] and two more in the second."
Gwynn Park has just one goal in mind, and that is defending its region championship, then the goal will shift toward trying to win the program's first state title in 21 years.
"If we work hard enough, we can win," said Coates. "Nobody ever did the stuff we did in the offseason. We have worked hard for this."
"We're trying to get back to states," added Anderson. "That's our main goal to get back to states and get back to Comcast and win it."
Note: Junior guard Brian Blue scored seven points. Three of them came on a crowd-pleasing three-point shot as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter. Blue released the ball from the left side of three-quarters court and the ball swished through the net to give a Gwynn Park a 10-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
E-mail Adam Rubenstein at arubenstein@gazette.net.
Wednesday, February 25
Gwynn Park point guard Brandon Ford out for season
Gwynn Park point guard out for season
Ford suffers concussion on ‘freak play' and will miss playoffs
by Seth Elkin | Staff Writer
The Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team will spend the rest of the season without Brandon Ford, a sophomore point guard who coach Mike Glick called his most valuable player.
Ford took a hard fall and suffered what Glick called a "severe concussion" during the second quarter of Friday night's game against Friendly. Ford, who has averaged 12.6 points per game this season, left the game and did not return. He was taken to Children's Hospital in the District, where he remained until being released Monday afternoon.
Glick said Tuesday that Ford will make a complete recovery, but will not be available for the playoffs. Gwynn Park, the No. 2 seed in the 2A South Region, begins the postseason at home on Monday against the winner of Friday's first-round game between Central and Oakland Mills.
"It was just a freak play," Glick said. "The good thing is that he's a sophomore. He's still got two more years."
Though only a sophomore, Ford has become the most pivotal player for the Yellow Jackets, who enter the playoffs with a 17-5 overall record, including a 16-2 mark in County 3A/2A/1A League play.
"When you're a sophomore, and you're a point guard in Prince George's County and people are pressing you up and down the floor, it's trial by fire," Glick said. "But he got better as the year went on. He grew into the position, and I thought he had a breakout game against Friendly [on Friday]. He broke their press. He had eight points when he went out. He's a double-figure scorer, but he leads us in charges [taken] and in deflections and assists. It's a very tough loss."
Ford is the second Gwynn Park starter lost for the season. Center Maurice Peavy, who started the first 14 games of the season, has missed the last eight games and remains out with an infected toe.
To take Ford's place in the lineup, Glick will turn to another sophomore, Daniel Henry, who he called one of the top junior varsity point guards in the county. Henry helped the Yellow Jackets' JV team to a 22-0 record this season.
"His first varsity game will be a playoff game," Glick said of Henry. "He's been in many varsity practices and he's more than held his own. The good thing is we have nine days to prepare. We're not giving up by any means."
Sunday, February 22
Not So Friendly of a Result 56-43
Friendly Earns Spot in County Title Game
Gonzales Provides Heroics as the Patriots Advance to Take on 4A Champion Laurel
| |
Friendly's Michael Gonzales (1), who scored 12 points, is fouled by Gwynn Park's Ryan Woodard, right. "It feels good to be the one that my team depended on," Gonzales said. (By Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)
|
By Carl Little
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, February 21, 2009; Page E07
It was fitting that Michael Gonzales would get swept into the middle of the bouncing, celebrating bodies after Friendly's 56-43 victory over visiting Gwynn Park last night. It was Gonzales who provided the key baskets during the third quarter that put the Patriots ahead and the free throws in the final period that kept them in front.
So as the band keyed up a triumphant melody and the senior night crowd spilled onto the court in Fort Washington, Gonzales locked arms with his teammates and danced in the center of it all, relishing the moment.
"I ain't been in this position in a while," said Gonzales, a senior who finished with 12 points. "It feels good to be the one that my team depended on."
The victory gave the Patriots (20-2, 18-1) the Prince George's 3A/2A/1A title and a berth in the Prince George's County championship game Wednesday night at Wise, where they will play 4A champion Laurel.
Last year, Gonzales was a seldom-used backup on a team that won 13 games before losing in the region playoffs. Despite a limited role, he attended every practice and established a reputation as one of the hardest workers on the team.
He used the offseason -- Gonzales ran outdoor track last spring to increase his stamina and dedicated the summer months to becoming a better passer and honing his mid-range jump shot -- to expand his role on this year's team. He has averaged nearly six points per contest while starting every game for Friendly.
"He's really the guy who leads this team," said Rob Garner, Friendly's second-year coach.
Gwynn Park played a box-and-one defense on Patriots senior A.J. Thomas, one of the Washington area's premier scorers at 22 points per game. The Yellow Jackets (17-5, 16-2) used three defenders to limit Thomas to three points and led 34-30 in the third quarter.
That's where Gonzales took charge. He scored on back-to-back possessions at the end of the period, hitting a short bank shot from the right side of the floor to tie the game at 34 and drawing a foul on a made layup down the middle. After the whistle, Gonzales screamed and pumped his fist as the capacity crowd hooted its approval.
Friendly ended the game on a 17-5 run, with the exclamation point coming on a Brian Brooks dunk with 20 seconds to play.
Friendly 56, Gwynn Park 43 Nice Effort: Gwynn Park senior forward Corey Anderson scored a team-high 12 points. Scary Moment: Gwynn Park sophomore phenom Brandon Ford, who had eight of his team's 18 points in the first quarter, suffered a concussion after hitting his head on the floor at the start of the second quarter. He was taken to Children's Hospital and was expected to be held overnight for observation.
Sunday, February 22
Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009
Friendly takes league title from Jackets
Patriots bounce back after first County 3A/2A/1A loss on Friday night
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
Both teams entered the game with 16-1 records in the league. Despite a hiccup Wednesday night, when Friendly had its shot at a perfect league record ended by a loss to Potomac, the Patriots responded on Friday against Gwynn Park.
Friendly celebrated senior night in Fort Washington by completing a season sweep of the Yellow Jackets with a 56-43 victory.
The game was perhaps decided at the foul line, where the Yellow Jackets converted on only 14 of 28 attempts and missed 11 free throws in the second half.
"It just came down to free throws," Gwynn Park senior forward Corey Anderson said. "Since I've been here at Gwynn Park, we have never made free throws consistently and it's the same thing."
The Patriots (19-2) shook off Wednesday's 79-76 overtime loss to Potomac with a team effort on a night when leading scorer A.J. Thomas was held to a season-low three points. Senior guard Michael Gonzales had 12 points, and forward Justin Strong had 10 points. The Yellow Jackets (16-5) were led by 11 points from Anderson.
Gwynn Park suffered a loss when guard Brandon Ford (eight points) landed hard after being fouled on a drive to the basket. He suffered a bump on his forehead and a busted lip on the play and was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure for what Glick called a "slight concussion." Glick said he was confident Ford would be available for the playoffs, which get under way with first-round play-in game next Friday and continue the week of March 2.
With the win, Friendly earned the right to take on County 4A League champion Laurel in the county title game at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at Henry A. Wise High. Laurel (17-5 overall) tied with Bowie for the top spot in the County 4A League. Both teams were 16-2 in league play, but the Spartans controlled the tie-breaker, having swept Bowie in two regular season games.
Sunday, February 22
Boys Basketball: Friendly 56, Gwynn Park 43
Boys Basketball: Friendly 56, Gwynn Park 43
Patriots win 3A/2A/1A regular-season title; advances to P.G. County championship game
Published: 02/20/2009
By James A. McCray III
Prince George's County, Content Editor
Across all demographics of basketball, three words are uttered in every huddle, every practice, every minute of a tight game, defense wins championships.
The age-old saying is a staple of the basketball world and in the Friendly Patriots boys' basketball gymnasium Friday night, the saying held very true in a 56-43 victory over the Gwynn Park Yellow Jackets.
Friendly (19-2 overall, 18-1 3A/2A/1A League) guard Mike Gonzales converted two consecutive steals into baskets during a 9-0 scoring run to end the third quarter as the Patriots stymied the Yellow Jackets throughout the second half only allowing 15 second-half points.
The momentum gained from the ending of the third quarter allowed Friendly to push ahead for the 3A/2A/1A League regular-season championship proving once again, defense does win championships.
"That was big because I think it got our team hyped and confident," Gonzales said of the late third-quarter efforts. "We knew that if one team could do it, then the rest of the team could do it. I think everybody followed in my footsteps."
"I think Mike was really, really excited about his opportunity to be a part of what was going on in the second half," Friendly head coach Rob Garner said. " In order for us to win a championship, we had to believe in the motto, defense wins championships."
"Mike Gonzales, in my opinion, may be one of the best defensive guards in the county," the coach continued. "The offensive players get the recognition, but he does a great job because 90 percent of the time he leads with his defense. ... I was excited for Mike to come out with those steals."
Gonzales also led the Patriots on the offensive side scoring a team-high 12 points along side teammate Justin Strong's respective 12 points as well.
"We came out with that run and picked up momentum," Strong said. " ... We never let up."
Although Friendly went into the halftime down one point, 28-27, the defensive intensity in the second half was noticeably higher and in turn paid huge dividends for Friendly in the form of a league regular-season title.
Friendly's defense was evident in the fourth quarter as well as it did not allow a Gwynn Park field goal until 1 minute, 55 seconds remained in the contest, Gwynn Park's only field goal in the final quarter.
"In order for us to win a championship, we had to believe in the motto, defense wins championships," Garner said. "At one point in time in the huddle, we had to make it known to the kids that if we were going to win this [game] we had to get some defensive stops."
Gwynn Park (17-5 overall, 16-2) guard Brandon Ford was injured in the early seconds of the second quarter after taking a nasty fall on a lay-up attempt and did not return to the game after scoring eight first-quarter points.
However, the Yellow Jackets found success down low as post-player Corey Anderson scored a game-high 13 points in the loss.
Friendly now has newly added championship aspirations after its win and now will travel to Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School Wednesday night for an opportunity at winning the Prince George's County championship.
"The globe expands now," Garner explained. "Now, we are just not playing for Ft. Washington. Now, we are not just playing for our family and friends. We are now playing for the whole county. We are playing as representatives of the entire 3A/2A/1A. ... Winning the conference was just one of our goals. We are going to go to Wise wanting to win the ball game."
E-mail: James A. McCray III
Friendly 56, Gwynn Park 43
Gwynn Park -- 18 10 6 9; Anderson 13, Ford 8, Thomas 6, Woodard 5, Coates 4, Hall 4, Blue 3
Friendly -- 17 10 12 17; Strong 12, Gonzales 12, Brooks 8, Hood 6, Bentley 6, Latson 4, Thomas 3, Baltimore 3, Duckett 2
February 21, 2008
By Tim Chialastri
Capitol Hoops President
Discuss Your Opinion On Message Board
Friendly Advances To PG County Championship Game
Capitol Hoops Press
If you would have told senior AJ Thomas that his Friendly Patriots would advance to the county championships with a win over rival Gwynn Park , the 5'10" shooting guard would have been confident of his chances. Now mention that the talented guard in Thomas who averages 21.9ppg would only score 3 points , would the answer be as confident. Probably not , however this was just the case as #14Friendly got an unorthodox win 53-46 despite a season low from their star player.
"I had to sacrifice my scoring for the team , and that's how we were able to win" added Thomas who was smothered in a box and one defensive scheme from the Yellow Jackets for the greater part of last night's contest.
The Patriots would not experience a push over Gwynn Park team by know means who came into the matchup with a 17-3 record and a 74-73 victory over Friendly earlier in the season. Gwynn Park sophomore Brandon Ford was a man on a mission scoring 10 points in the first quarter before slamming head first onto the floor. Ford led his Yellow Jackets to an early 13-7 lead before being taken to the local hospital for treatment.
Despite being a back and forth battle the entire first half , it was senior Michael Gonzales (12pts) inspired play that would propel the Patriots into their 19th win of the season. Gonzales completed a three point play and on the next defensive possession forced a Keith Thomas backcourt turnover that sent the Patriots frenzy into an all out celebration while giving a new found energy to the Fort Washington based high school. Friendly would finish off Gwynn Park on a 17-9 run that would set the table against the defending 2008 Prince Georges' County Champion Laurel Spartans (16-5) on Wednesday night.
Saturday, February 14
Gwynn Park 69, Central 59
Gwynn Park 69, Central 59
Gwynn Park came out flat and found itself down by 12 at halftime against a Central team comfortable playing at home.
"Central shot it excellent in the first half," said Gwynn Park coach Michael Glick. "I would guess they made around 75 percent of their attempts."
In the third, Gwynn Park turned the game around thanks to sophomore Brandon Ford.
"He put us on his back and carried us," Glick said of Ford's 16 points in the second half.
Central was outscored 20-7 in the third quarter as Gwynn Park dominated the rest of the game.
Senior center Corey Anderson was another outstanding contributor for Gwynn Park with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Gwynn Park (16-4, 15-1): Tion Coates 8, Brandon Ford 22, Ryan Woodard 2, Corey Anderson 13, Malachi Malik 10, Trevon Hall 3, Keith Thomas 11
Central (2-18, 2-14): Devinne White 12, El Ricco Collins 16, Jevon Jordan 12, Joven McKinny 9, Tony Clark 7, Omari George 3
Halftime score: Central 34, Gwynn Park 22.
Wednesday, February 11
Gwynn Park Routes Fairmont Heights 73-51
Boys Basketball: Gwynn Park 73, Fairmont Heights 51
Yellow Jackets win sixth straight with win over Fairmont Heights
Published: 02/10/2009
Gwynn Park's Tion Coates gets the pass off the glass and blows the roof off the Yellow Jackets' gym with this dunk in the fourth quarter of the team's win over Fairmont Heights on Tuesday night.
Tion Coates is on the receiving end of this alley-oop from Raymond Barnes late in Gwynn Park's 73-51 win over Fairmont Heights.
By Andy States
SMAC Content Manager
The second half had just begun and the visiting Fairmont Heights Hornets reeled off six quick points to cut a 14-point halftime deficit back into single digits. No matter, for the Gwynn Park Yellow Jackets, who quickly squashed the rally.
"It didn't rattle us," said Gwynn Park's Corey Anderson. "We kept our cool."
Gwynn Park responded by outscoring its guests 15-9 through the rest of the third quarter, and then produced a dominant fourth quarter to win its sixth straight game by a 73-51 count on Tuesday night. The win was the 34th in the last 35 league games for Gwynn Park, which also has not lost a road game in the league since Feb. 2007. But of more importance to Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick, it was another sign that his club was moving in the right direction with the regular season winding towards its close.
"I would say the thing I'm most proud about it that we're improving and getting better as a basketball team," he said.
That was evident in the final score, as the first meeting between the teams on Jan. 12 was a tight contest, won by Gwynn Park on the road 80-75. On Tuesday, Gwynn Park (15-4, 14-1) took control off the opening tip, as Anderson tipped the ball to Brandon Ford who went in for the easy bucket just seconds in. Subsequent possessions led to three-pointers by Keith Thomas and Brian Blue, and then another basket by Ryan Woodard and before a person could blink the Jackets were up 11-2.
"The difference here is we played more like a team today," said Ford, who scored a game-high 21 points, in reference to the teams' first meeting. "We moved the ball around, watched film -- just got better."
Fairmont Heights (12-6, 10-5) took its shot at rallying early in the third, with a 6-0 run that featured baskets by Gary Williams, Khaalis Coppock-Bey and Lamont Adair. But following a timeout Gwynn Park finished the quarter by outscoring the visitors 15-9 to cement control of the game. Gwynn Park ripped off an 18-5 run to open the fourth, highlighted by a trio of dunks by Tion Coates to bring the crowd to its feet and deliver the knockout blow.
Ford led a group of five Yellow Jackets to score in double figures. Williams led Fairmont Heights with a 17-point night.
For Gwynn Park, it's all part of the team's larger goal -- to find its way through the region and back to Comcast Center for another crack at winning a 2A state championship.
"Fairmont Heights is a 2A team," Ford said. "We have to go through them to get back to Comcast. That's our main goal right now."
"Last year, 22-0, we fell a little short on a buzzer-beater at Comcast," Anderson added. "It's very important to me. I want to get back to Comcast and win it for my fellow seniors from last year."
Though Gwynn Park reached the state semifinals last season, the team on the floor looks markedly different. The Yellow Jackets feature an entirely different starting five and lost 95 percent of last year's scoring, according to Glick.
"We're playing a lot of guys that are younger players, guys that are inexperienced players and I'm just impressed with the way those guys are continuing to develop," he said. "I just think it's all coming together at the right time. I think we're getting better every game and playing our best basketball right now. We just have to continue to improve."
The only blemish on Gwynn Park's record is a one-point loss to Friendly on Jan. 22. Since, the squad has won six straight and to solidify its chances to earn the 2A South's No. 1 seed and, with it, home-court throughout the regional playoffs. Gwynn Park has three regular-season contests remaining on the schedule, including a regular-season finale at Friendly and a Feb. 17 home contest against Largo, last year's 3A state champion. Gwynn Park won at Largo 59-58 on Jan. 16.
"You're 0-0 when the playoffs start, so we can't put too much stock into it," Glick said. "At the same time, we kind of got the feeling we had last year where we're just gaining momentum and getting better and better and better. We're really hoping that's going to take us into the playoffs and we'll play our best basketball in the playoffs."
Gwynn Park 73, Fairmont Heights 51
F 13 7 15 16
G 21 13 15 24
Fairmont Heights: Williams 7 3-4 17, Brown 3 4-8 11, Coopock-Bey 1 5-8 7, Ibeh 2 2-4 6, Logan 1 2-4 4, Adair 2 0-0 4, Howard 1 0-0 2
Gwynn Park: Ford 9 3-4 21, Coates 5 1-2 11, Anderson 5 0-1 10, Thomas 3 2-2 10, Woodard 5 0-1 10, Blue 3 0-0 9, Mohammed 1 0-0 2
Three-pointers: Fairmont Heights 1 (Brown); Gwynn Park 5 (Blue 3, Thomas 2)
astates@digitalsports.com
Gwynn Park 73, Fairmont Heights 51
Gwynn Park's high-scoring Fairmont Heights guard Khaalis Coppock-Bey to a season-low two points.
Yellow Jackets' coach Mike Glick said his team went to a box-and-one defense on Coppock-Bey, with junior guard Brian Blue drawing the assignment of shutting down the star guard with man-to-man defense.
Coppock-Bey's previous season-low was nine points against Montgomery County's Albert Einstein High on Dec. 30. He had 17 against Gwynn Park when the teams met on Jan. 12, an 80-75 win for the Yellow Jackets.
Corey Anderson just missed a triple-double for Gwynn Park on Tuesday, pulling down 18 rebounds, dishing out eight assists and scoring 10 points.
Fairmont Heights: Jamal Brown 11, Thomas Logan 4, Khaalis Coppock-Bey 2, Marlin Robinson 3, Victor Ibeh 6, Gary Williams 17, Lamont Adair 4, Howard 2.
Gwynn Park (15-4, 14-1): Tion Coates 11, Brandon Ford 21, Ryan Woodard 10, Corey Anderson 10, Brian Blue 9, Rashaad Muhammad 2, Keith Thomas 10.
Saturday, January 24
Gwynn Park 85, Surrattsville 60
Gwynn Park 85, Surrattsville 60
Every player that played for Gwynn Park's boys' basketball team scored during its win over host Surrattsville (0-13, 0-10).
The Yellow Jackets (10-4, 9-1) were led by Keith Thomas and Ryan Woodard who each had 12 points apiece.
Andre Williams led Surrattsville with 15 points. Richard Harris and Louis Simpson chipped in with 14 apiece in the losing effort.
Gwynn Park (10-4, 9-1): Brandon Ford 8, Ryan Woodard 12, Corey Anderson 8, Malachi Malik 8, Brian Blue 5, Trevon Hall 2, Corey Williams 2, Michael Fourth 3, Deante Brown 7, Raymond Barnes 6, Rashaad Muhammad 5, Keith Thomas 12, Luis Peavy 7
Surrattsville (0-13, 0-10): Richard Harris 14, Keith Ross 4, Louis Simpson 14, Andre Williams 15, William Wright 2, Julian Wright 7, John Savoy 2, Cleavon Morris 2
Halftime: Gwynn Park 44, Surrattsville 28
Friday, January 23
Game of the Week: No. 5 Friendly 54, Gwynn Park 53
No. 5 Friendly 54, Gwynn Park 53
R.J. Sims sinks a late-game free throw to lift Patriots over Yellow Jackets
By James A. McCray III
Prince George's County, Content Manager
Standing at the free-throw line Thursday night at Gwynn Park with 3 seconds remaining and the score tied at 53-53, Friendly junior R.J. Sims stood there with the ball in his hands and one could only imagine what may have been going through his mind for those brief moments before he let the ball go.
"I was just thinking this was a big time to make a big play," Sims said on his thoughts.
First place in the Prince George's County 3A/2A/1A League was up for grabs and snapping the 28-game conference win streak of the Yellow Jackets was only one swish of the net away, and it was all up to Sims and his second of two free throws.
And although the ball hit just the back edge of the rim, it found the bottom of the net to secure the win, first place in the league and a 54-53 victory for the Patriots.
"He has been shooting free throws like that all year," Friendly head coach Rob Garner said. "We spend a lot of time in practice on free-throw shooting and for him to be able to come off of the bench like that and make one or two and make the free throw that we need; what can you say about the kid?
"He is a tough kid, mentally tough kid ... and it won't be the last time he will do that."
Sims' late-game heroics were preceded by a few late-game heroics from Gwynn Park (9-4, 8-1).
Down two points with less than 10 seconds remaining, Gwynn Park's Corey Anderson (7 points) put back a missed shot to tie the game at 53-53 setting up the game's dramatic finish.
"Overtime," Anderson said simply on his thoughts after his shot. "Overtime and winning was all I could think about."
Friendly (11-1, 10-0) gained an eight-point advantage entering the fourth quarter thanks to a defensive effort that held Gwynn Park to six third-quarter points.
The lead, however, disappeared thanks to a 12-4 run from the Yellow Jackets that tied the game at 43-43 with 2 minutes, 49 seconds remaining in the contest.
Gwynn Park witnessed the Patriots swiftly respond with a 7-0 run of its own, capped off by an A.J. Thomas (13) three-pointer from the corner.
The 7-0 scoring run was sparked by a basket from George Latson who finished with nine points including four during crucial moments of the final period.
"I am a senior," Latson said. "I know I had to get it done for my team."
"I am just proud of our guys because we were able to come over to Gwynn Park and get a very, very tough win," Garner added. "The kids ... wanted to come out and wanted to win the ballgame. I don't know how much we can celebrate because we have to turn back around [tonight] and play a very tough Forestville team at Forestville.
"And guess what? If we lose that game, this game means nothing."
"That was a great high-school basketball game," Gwynn Park head coach Mike Glick said. "It was just typical of our league. I couldn't be more proud of our kids. ... We won 28 straight games in our league, which is a heck of an accomplishment. Yeah the streak is broken, but Friendly has a great team.
Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford led all scorers with 18 points on the night.
"We told our players our number one goal is to get back to Comcast [Center, home of the Maryland state basketball championships]," Glick continued, "and this game has nothing to do with Comcast. All that it is going to do is make us better."
tmccray@digitalsports.com
Friendly 54, Gwynn Park 53
Friendly -- 13 12 14 15; Thomas 13, Latson 9, Sims 7, Brooks 7, Gonzales 6, Hood 5, Adewole 3, Mayfield 2, Baltimore 2
Gwynn Park -- 15 10 6 22; Ford 18, Woodard 9, Peavy 8, Anderson 7, Thomas 5, Williams 3, Blue 3
Three-point goals
Friendly (Thomas 3, Adewole)
Gwynn Park (Thomas, Blue)
Friday, January 23
Friendly Ends Jackets' 29 Game Winning Streak 54-53
Friendly ends Jackets' streak
Patriots survive wild final sequence for 54-53 victory
by Joshua Hudson | Staff Writer
When the confusing final few seconds were over and the clock struck zero Thursday night in the Gwynn Park High School gym, the Friendly High boys' basketball team had ended the Yellow Jackets' 28-game conference winning streak.
The Patriots beat Gwynn Park, 54-53, in a victory they essentially had to earn twice.
"We were in a hostile environment and the bottom line is our kids showed up to play today," Friendly coach Rob Garner said. "We came into Gwynn Park and got a very, very tough win."
In the end, a free throw by Friendly's R.J. Sims with 3 seconds remaining proved to be the winning point, as a jumper at the buzzer by Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford bounced off the side of the rim. But a strange sequence ensued in between those two plays.
Gwynn Park tied the game at 53-53 off of a Corey Williams putback with 6 seconds remaining. As Sims raced down the sideline, he collided with Ford with 3 seconds to go, and a blocking foul on Ford sent Sims to the line for two free throws. Sims missed the first shot, but made the second to give Friendly the lead.
"He's been shooting free throws all season and has spent a lot of time working on it at practice," Garner said of Sims' free-throw shooting. "He came off the bench and made the free throw that we needed. He's a mentally tough kid."
But the final 3 seconds had to put a strain on Friendly's mental toughness.
Gwynn Park's Brian Blue inbounded the ball after Sims' free throw and his pass hit a rafter on the ceiling, which gave the ball back to Friendly. The Patriots inbounded the ball and A.J. Thomas was fouled with 2 seconds remaining. Or so everyone thought.
One of the referees stopped play due to a substitution mistake, and the referees eventually ruled that play should have been halted for the substitution prior to the Gwynn Park inbound attempt that flew into the rafters. So the Yellow Jackets got the ball back for one last chance to win the game, but couldn't capitalize, as Ford's shot hit the side of the rim.
Ford scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Yellow Jackets (9-4 overall, 8-1 in the County 3A/2A/1A League). Ryan Woodard was next with nine, while Maurice Peavy chipped in eight.
"This was two very evenly matched teams and it was a great basketball game," said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick, whose team last lost a league game in February 2007. "I am very proud of our guys because we fought back and we were resilient. That was a tough call at the end of the game, but it was a one-point game. This is going to make us better in the long run and it's probably going to make Friendly better."
Thomas scored 13 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead Friendly (11-1, 10-0). George Latson added nine, while Sims and Bryan Brooks scored seven.
As big as the victory is for the Patriots, they don't have much time to enjoy it. They travel to Forestville tonight in a game that Garner said is just as big.
"Our kids came in and wanted to win this ball game, but we don't have much time to celebrate," he said. "We play a very, very tough Forestville team on the road. And if we don't win that game, this victory doesn't mean as much. We have to turn these guys around after this emotional victory and get them motivated to play Forestville."
E-mail Joshua Hudson at jhudson@gazette.net.
Friendly 54, Gwynn Park 53
Friendly (11-1, 10-0): Henry Hood 5, Michael Gonzalez 6, Sherrod Baltimore 2, R.J. Sims 7, A.J. Thomas 13, Gamari Mayfield 2, George Latson 9, Bryan Brooks 7, Chris Adewole 3.
Gwynn Park (9-4, 8-1): Keith Thomas 5, Brandon Ford 18, Corey Anderson 7, Brian Blue 3, Ryan Woodard 9, Corey Williams 3, Maurice Peavy 8.
Halftime score: Gwynn Park 25, Friendly 25.
Thursday, January 22
Battle for conference glory
Battle for conference glory
Gwynn Park, Friendly meet tonight for first place in 3A/2A/1A League
By Joshua Hudson | Staff writer
Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick wasted little time turning his attention to tonight's upcoming battle with conference rival Friendly High School.
Immediately after Friday night's last-second victory over Largo, Glick began discussing tonight's battle for first place in the County 3A/2A/1A League.
"This was just one game and it gives us the opportunity to play for first place," he said. "Now we get to play Friendly and it's going to be a battle."
Tonight's game at Gwynn Park could go a long way in determining the winner of the league.
Gwynn Park (9-3, 8-0) enters the game winners of 28 straight league games with its last loss coming in February of 2007, but the recent games have been close. The Yellow Jackets have won four of their last five games by a combined nine points. The only easy game was a 26-point victory against Central.
Glick said those types of games will have the Yellow Jackets ready for the tournament and tonight's game.
"Our kids have been very resilient all year," he said. "We have given up leads and made comebacks. That just shows the type of resilience that these kids have."
Friendly (10-1, 9-0) comes in winners of its last five games. The Patriots haven't lost a game since Dec. 30, but have also played in some close contests. Friendly has won its last four games by a combined total of 22 points.
Friendly coach Robert Garner said his team is trying to get on the level Gwynn Park has been the past few seasons.
"To get to the point where they have been, you have to beat teams like Gwynn Park," he said. "We still have a lot to improve upon and we need to play better if we are going to beat a team like Gwynn Park."
Although Garner stresses the importance of this game, he also wants his players to understand the season doesn't end with tonight's game. Win or lose, the Patriots have to be ready to continue with their difficult schedule, which includes a game Friday night against Forestville.
"We aren't going to win it all with just one game," he said. "We know what to expect and I am sure they know what to expect from us. We have to play a perfect 32 minutes to win this game."
E-mail Joshua Hudson at jhudson@gazette.net
Saturday, January 17
Buzzer-beater lifts Gwynn Park over Largo 59-58
Buzzer-beater lifts Gwynn Park over Largo
Sophomore's last-second jumper keeps Yellow Jackets perfect in league
by Joshua Hudson | Staff writer
Gwynn Park's Brandon Ford had been in this situation before: down by a point, five seconds left and the game in his hands.
And just like he has done before, the sophomore lifted his team to victory.
Ford raced down the court and made a jumper at the buzzer to lift the Gwynn Park High School boys' basketball team past Largo, 59-58, Friday night at Largo High School.
"This is a typical Gwynn Park-Largo game," Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick said. "I think this is the best rivalry in the county."
The victory was the Yellow Jackets' 28th straight in the County 3A/2A/1A League. Their last league loss came in February 2007 at Largo. But as time wound down on Friday night, it looked like the streak would come to an end on the very same floor.
Gwynn Park had the ball and led, 57-56, with 11 seconds remaining. But Largo's Aaron Martin stole an inbound pass and made a layup to give the Lions the lead, 58-57, with five seconds remaining.
"Five seconds to go and you're up one you think you are going to win," Largo coach Lewis Howard said. "You just never know what's going to happen."
What happened was that Ford did what he has done numerous times during his young basketball career. Glick said Ford made several game-winning shots with his AAU team and has delivered clutch shots for the Yellow Jackets this year.
So when the final play was being drawn up, there was no doubt in Glick's mind who was getting the ball.
"The play turned out just how we wanted it," Glick said. "We wanted the ball in Brandon's hand coming down the sideline. He had the option to pass it to Keith [Thomas] or take it himself."
Ford said he didn't feel any extra pressure being in that situation.
"The play was designed to go to Keith because he was making all the 3-pointers, but I figured they would overplay him," he said. "Once I figured that out, I just decided to take it myself."
Thomas led the Yellow Jackets (9-3, 8-0) with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Corey Anderson was next with 15 points, while Ford added eight.
Malik Thomas scored 15 points to lead the Lions (6-5, 4-4). Martin added 14 points, while Rashard Richardson chipped in 11 and Marcel Lane scored 10.
Gwynn Park's win, coupled with Friendly's 97-90 victory against Potomac on Friday, sets up another marquee matchup next week. Gwynn Park and Friendly both are 8-0 in the County 3A/2A/1A League and will meet at 7:15 p.m. Thursday at Gwynn Park High.
Gwynn Park 59, Largo 58
Gwynn Park (9-3, 8-0): Corey Anderson 15, Maurice Peavy 3, Keith Thomas 16, Brian Blue 6, Brandon Ford 8, Tion Coates 4, Cory Williams 3, Ryan Woodard 4.
Largo (6-5, 4-4): Marcel Lane 10, Rashard Richardson 11, Aaron Martin 14, E.J. Olumese 1, Malik Thomas 15, Brandon Bailey 3, Damonte McNeil 4.
Rebounds: Gwynn Park 37, Largo 31.
Assists: Gwynn Park 12, Largo 8.
Halftime: Largo 34, Gwynn Park 30.
Tuesday, January 13
Gwynn Park wins 26th straight conference game
Gwynn Park wins 26th straight conference game
The Yellow Jackets have now won 26 straight games in the conference. Their last conference loss came in February, 2007.
Keith Thomas paced Gwynn Park with 22 points, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range. Sophomore Brandon Ford added 21 and Woodard, a junior, came up big with 13 points.
Saturday, January 10
Jackets edge Potomac 79-78 to win 25th league game in a row
Jackets edge Potomac
Wolverines erase 17-point halftime deficit, but fall to Gwynn Park
by Joshua Hudson | Staff Writer
Gwynn Park High School senior Corey Anderson wouldn't have even seen his name in a box score after three quarters of Friday night's game against Potomac.
The forward wasn't a factor as the Yellow Jackets built their double-digit lead. But when Potomac threatened to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, it was Anderson who saved the game for Gwynn Park.
He had a key defensive stop and made the deciding free throw as Gwynn Park held on to defeat Potomac, 79-78, in a County 3A/2A/1A League game.
Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick said there was no doubt who the Yellow Jackets' most valuable player was down the stretch.
"We really kept our composure and [Anderson] really stepped up," he said. "He was our MVP tonight and made some huge plays down the stretch."
Perhaps the biggest play Anderson made came on defense with less than a minute remaining in the game.
Gwynn Park was clinging to a two-point lead when Anderson blocked a shot by Potomac's Jamaine Lee. The Wolverines pulled down the offensive rebound, but missed the putback. Anderson then grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled.
"I just slid over and got it from behind," Anderson said.
But the game wasn't over yet since Anderson had missed four straight free throws, which kept Potomac within three points. But he calmly made his final free throw to put the game away.
Anderson finished with eight points in the fourth quarter to carry Gwynn Park, which improved to 6-3 overall and 5-0 in league play.
"I was just glad that it was finally over," Anderson said after making his final free throw. "I missed four in a row and my teammates were telling me to just get the game over with."
Early on, it didn't look like the game was going to come down to a free throw.
Gwynn Park enjoyed a commanding 43-22 advantage on the boards, and at halftime led by 17. The Yellow Jackets still held a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, but couldn't close out the Wolverines.
Potomac forced 26 turnovers, including seven in the fourth quarter, to get within single digits. The Wolverines closed within two points and had several chances to tie the game, but couldn't convert.
Daron Wiseman led Potomac (5-3, 2-2) with 29 points, including five 3-pointers. Gregory Morgan was next with 20 points, while Chris Wiseman chipped in 15. DeAndre Montgomery added 12.
Potomac assistant coach Aaron Holder guided the team in place of head coach Torrance Oxendine, who was serving a one-game suspension after being ejected from an earlier game. Holder said his team is never out of games because of its ability to use pressure defense.
"We have really good guards that keep the pressure on the other team," he said. "These kids don't really pay attention to the scoreboard. We just have to learn how to close games out."
Likewise, Glick mentioned that his team needs to work on handling tense situations late in games.
"I am proud of how resilient we are because most teams might not have been able to finish the game like we did," he said. "But we have to learn how to finish games and finish teams off."
Brian Blue led the Yellow Jackets with 16 points. Tion Coates was next with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Keith Thomas added 11 points, while Ryan Woodard added 10.
The game marked the 25th straight conference victory for the Yellow Jackets. They haven't lost a league game since February 2007. Anderson said that's something they aren't about to do any time soon.
"We just don't want to lose a game, especially at home," he said. "Last year we didn't lose a league game and we don't want to this year."
E-mail Joshua Hudson at jhudson@gazette.net.
Gwynn Park 79, Potomac 78
Potomac (5-2, 2-2): Daron Wiseman 29, DeAndre Montgomery 12, Chris Wiseman 15, Darius Ridley 2, Gregory Morgan 20.
Gwynn Park (6-3, 5-0): Corey Anderson 8, Travon Hall 4, Malachi Malik 5, Maurice Peavy 4, Keith Thomas 11, Brian Blue 16, Brandon Ford 6, Tion Coates 15, Ryan Woodard 10.
Rebounds: Gwynn Park 43, Potomac 22.
Assists: Gwynn Park 24, Potomac 20.
Halftime score: Gwynn Park, 46-29.
Tuesday, December 30
Pictures From Gwynn Park vs St. Nichols (NY)
SALISBURY -- Throughout play in the NHSCA High School Basketball Festival, 44 games will be played at Wicomico Youth & Civic Center and Wicomico High School. The game that just might go down as the best took place Monday morning at the Civic Center, as Nichols School overcame a late deficit to force overtime against Gwynn Park and win 62-57.
"We really thought we were down and out for a while," Nichols senior Ben Meyer said. "We hit our free throws and they didn't, and we just gave ourselves every chance to win with defense and focus."
Near the end of regulation, which featured nine ties and 10 lead changes, Gwynn Park held a 51-43 lead, with 47 seconds showing on the clock, having utilized a spread offense to kill much of the previous three minutes, seemingly sealing the win.
But a Will Regan three-pointer, with 38 seconds showing on the clock, cut the Yellow Jackets' lead to five and started the comeback. Gwynn Park missed its final four free throws, while Nichols' Chris Stegemann hit his two chances, cutting the lead to three, setting up Meyer as the hero.
The Vikings inbounded the ball with 19 seconds left, trailing by three and they knew Regan and guard Ron Canestro would be the focus of the Gwynn Park defense.
"We knew they were going to guard Ron, we knew they were going to guard Will, a guy like Meyer, he's in the gym shooting shots every day after practice," Nichols school coach Greg Plumb said. "He's not flashy, but if you're going to leave him open, he's going to make you pay."
Meyer hung out in the right corner, while the Yellow Jacket defense chased the ball before Regan took possession at the top of the key. Guarded closely, he found a wide-open Meyer in the corner, who fired up a quick shot.
"I just let it go and I just felt good about it," Meyer said. "I just let it go right away, I didn't want to think about it. I knew if I held it any longer it would not have as good of chance of going in, so I just let it go right away."
Meyer's shot, like many others from outside for Nichols, got nothing but net as it passed through the rim, with four seconds showing on the clock to tie the game at 51-51.
Nichols won the overtime tip and after a hard-fought possession, Canestro was able to finish an easy bucket after point guard Andrew MacKinnon drove the middle of the lane and dropped it off. The bucket was the first of six overtime points for Canestro, who took control in the final four minutes and led all scorers in the game, with 19 to go, with six rebounds.
The 53-51 advantage was the first Nichols lead since early in the fourth quarter, and the momentum of sending the game to the extra session carried over as Nichols stretched its lead to four points before Gwynn Park could get on the board.
"We kind of knew, from our history, we take a team like that to overtime, they're deflated," Plumb said. "Especially when we got a real tough first bucket (in overtime) and then a tough second bucket."
Nichols got a big game inside from Regan, who scored 18 in the game to go with 18 rebounds, while MacKinnon added 11 points and seven assists.
Gwynn Park got balanced scoring led by Keith Thomas' 12 points, while Tion Coates added 11 points and six rebounds.
Monday, August 25
Getting It Done In Class & On Court Is Ford From Gwynn Park
By Tim Chialastri
Capitol Hoops President
Discuss Your Opinion On Message Board
Getting It Done In Class & On Court Is Ford
Brandon Ford Gwynn Park HS 2011 |
 |
| |
Video: Brandon Ford & Gwynn Park JV Basketball
Brandon Ford a Class of 2010 guard from Gwynn Park HS , takes his school education just as seriously as his pursuing basketball career. Brandon has been an honor roll student consecutively from elementary all the way into high school whilst' also balancing three sports throughout the year including Basketball , Football and Baseball. That is a streak that Brandon will focus on continuing as he begins his sophomore year in a couple of days.
Ford also had a dynamic summer on the hardwood with his AAU traveling team DC Assault Blue. In the Agent Zero to Hero Invitational at Hoop Magic in Chantilly , VA Brandon scored 18pts as he led DC Assault Blue to the 15&U Championship Title. Ford along with teammates Sharrod Baltimore(Friendly HS) and Ray Gatling Jr (Oxon Hill HS) also participated in the Nike Hoop It Up Tournament in Boston , Norfolk , Atlanta , Washington D.C. , and Baltimore and remained undefeated in each city. Adidas named Brandon a Jr. Phenom All Star by mid summer.
Brandon finished up his summer at the Eastern Invitational Camp where he was selected the to the All Star Game and garnished the MVP award for rising sophomores as well. The mixture of practicing against All Met Sean Thomas and Harold Washington , and guidance from Coach Mike Glick formerly of Archbishop Spalding HS has paid dividends for the 6'2" shooting guard who grew up in Oxon Hill , MD.
As busy as Brandon has been all summer you would think that it would be nearly impossible for him to currently have a 3.7gpa while taking Honors/Advanced Placement classes as a freshman at Gwynn Park HS. However this is exactly the pace that Brandon is setting for himself which if continues Ford will be a sure scholarship athlete. Brandon has a lot of potential on the basketball court and he is very aware of that , but it is his potential in the classroom that sets him apart from the pack. Brandon wants to pursue a degree in Health Sciences in College.
Brandon will play Varsity Basketball with the Yellow Jackets of Gwynn Park HS this winter , a team that went 25-2 last season and lost in the Maryland State 2A Championship to Winters Mill HS on a buzzer beater. Ford hopes to be one of the pieces that not only help them get back to Comcast , but this time as State Champions.
Thursday, August 7
Laurel basketball coach moving on to Hampton University
Laurel basketball coach Keith Coutreyer can only sit with the crowd and watch as his team plays Flowers in summer league play at High Point High School in July, 2007
|
Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008
Laurel basketball coach moving on
Coutreyer joins mentor as assistant at Hampton University
by Kevin Hilgers | Staff Writer
Keith Coutreyer, who coached the Laurel High School boys' basketball team to the Class 4A South Region championship last year, is leaving the Spartans to join the staff at Hampton University next season.
Coutreyer finalized the deal at the historically black university in southeastern Virginia Monday after mulling an offer from head coach and longtime friend Kevin Nickelberry since mid- July. He said leaving Laurel was the toughest career decision he's ever made.
"It's just one of those things, an opportunity," said Coutreyer, who last season guided Laurel to the school's first regional title in boys' basketball since 1980. "At the same time, I'm definitely losing a place I've called home for 14 years. It's hard to wrap my mind around it."
Laurel principal Dwayne Jones, who was the head coach at Laurel when Coutreyer first joined the staff, said he was sad to see Coutreyer go, but understood his decision.
"You never want to see anybody leave, but if folks leave you hope it's for something bigger and better," Jones said, adding that the search is under way to fill the coaching job and Coutreyer's position as a special education teacher.
Coutreyer and Nickelberry, a Central High School graduate, have a long relationship, dating to when Coutreyer played for Nickelberry at Columbia Union College in Takoma Park in the early 1990s. Nickelberry's first college coaching job was as an assistant there for one year, alongside current Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. Coutreyer and Nickelberry later were roommates, while Nickelberry was an assistant at Howard.
Nickelberry is entering his third season at Hampton, which went 18-12 and placed second in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference last year. He is regarded as a rising coach and a strong recruiter. He arrived at Hampton after stints as an assistant at Clemson, Charlotte, Monmouth and Howard.
Coutreyer said he never seriously considered joining the college ranks, even when his friend landed the top job at Hampton. When Nickelberry contacted him in July, seeking to fill two assistant coaching positions, the idea of coaching alongside a friend appealed to Coutreyer even more than the prestige of the job.
"He's been a mentor to me as I've gotten into coaching," Coutreyer said. "More than coaching at the college level, it was working for coach Nickelberry [that led to the decision]."
Coutreyer said his position will focus on coaching guards and academic coordination.
The Pirates' roster has several county products, including Chris Tolson and Milade Lola-Charles, who played for Coutreyer two years ago at Laurel. Jordan Brooks from Charles H. Flowers, Kwame Morgan from Largo and John Ntoko from Eleanor Roosevelt also are on the team.
Coutreyer spent 13 years as a teacher and coach at Laurel, the first five as an assistant under Jones before taking over the head job in 2000, tallying an 89-94 career record.
Also under his leadership, Laurel produced three Gazette-Star All-County First-Team selections in Tolson, Will Alston (Jacksonville) and John Vaughan (George Mason).
"There's not many opportunities to do what you love solely," Coutreyer said. "Being in the classroom was great and I loved those kids, but coaching was my passion."
E-mail Kevin Hilgers at khilgers@gazette.net.
Thursday, July 3
Team camps about more than wins, losses
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Team camps about more than wins, losses
Exposure to life, recruiters can be beneficial, albeit expensive
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
As county summer leagues wrap up and give way to the national AAU championships, there is little break for high school basketball players.
And in addition to those events, team camps have become popular summer options over the past decade. The camps are sort of like extended summer leagues, but they serve an important purpose.
‘‘I would say it’s just a chance to get used to playing with each other and building team chemistry,” said Eleanor Roosevelt High boys’ basketball coach Brendan O’Connell. ‘‘The season is still so far way, wins and losses don’t really matter, we’re just trying to get the kids a chance to play.”
Roosevelt senior point guard Francis Ashe said team camps have more functions than just X’s and O’s and jump shots.
‘‘I think they allow us to bond with our teammates,” said Ashe, whose team participated in a team camp last weekend at American University. ‘‘So far this summer, we’ve had to deal with people on our team who are also playing football and injuries and don’t get the chance to be on the court with the rest of the team. [Last weekend], we actually had the chance to see what [the team] had to work on and improve in.”
Gwynn Park boys’ coach Mike Glick likes the opportunity a team camp provides, but added that he doesn’t look too much into performance during the camps.
‘‘We decided to attend the U.S. Naval Academy team camp [June 13-15] because not only does it create team building, but it gives our students an opportunity to see a different side of life,” Glick said. ‘‘They have the chance to be spending time with their teammates and players they don’t know on college campuses. It’s a 100 percent positive experience, but I wouldn’t read too much into the wins and losses of the camp. It’s not an indication of what your team is going to be like.”
Another crucial aspect of team camps is that individual players are offered the chance to show their talents to college coaches. Some team camps on college campuses aren’t designed as recruiting events, but coaches from the host college are present and watching. Others, like the Eastern Invitational Elite Team Camp, are not affiliated with any university. And as a result, camps like the Eastern Invitational have an advantage over camps held on college campuses, because many college coaches attend.
‘‘Our biggest thing is exposure,” said EI Elite Team Camp Co-Director Michael Farrelly. ‘‘We want to provide a forum for high school programs to play against really good competition. The feedback that we’ve gotten from coaches is that they want to play and want to get the kids exposure. It’s very rare that we’ve had a bad experience.”
The EI Elite Team Camp started in 2001 with 12 teams. Farrelly said this year’s camp, set for July 9-10 at the College of New Jersey in Ewing, N.J., will include 72 teams, including Bishop McNamara, Bladensburg, Eleanor Roosevelt, Laurel and Riverdale Baptist. More importantly, Farrelly added, more than 200 colleges coaches are expected to attend.
Team camp does have a drawback. Participation can be expensive.
‘‘I think this year going to a team camp was a double-edged sword,” said Charles H. Flowers boys’ basketball coach George McClure. ‘‘The travel part, that’s an issue. This day and age, it’s so many expenses coming up, like with gas, it’s time to rethink how you do everything. We went to the [Naval Academy] camp where we didn’t have to pay as much because we can commute back and forth.”
The EI Elite Team Camp will charge $100 per player as the standard rate, which includes jerseys. The overnight rate is $190 per player, including housing and meals.
While the rates are expensive, Ashe said many players and their families view it as a worthwhile cost.
‘‘Money can probably be an issue,” he said. ‘‘I think parents sometimes see the benefit of team camps and would pay the price. They look at it as their kids and their college future and can actually benefit in the long run.”
E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.
Thursday, April 17
Gwynn Park's Thomas & Washington make mark at Capital Classic
Thursday, April 17, 2008
County players make mark at Capital Classic
by Ted Black | Staff Writer
‘‘I think the last year really helped a lot,” said Davis, a Gazette-Star first-team selection his junior season at Wise. ‘‘I think we both got stronger. We spent a lot of time going against each other in practice. We also did a lot of work in the weight room. I’m looking forward to my next four years at West Virginia. I was impressed with coach [Bob] Huggins when I went on my visit. After that, I knew that’s where I wanted to play in college. It will be fun to go up against Chris when we play Georgetown.”
After facing academic difficulties at DeMatha, Braswell said he was able to settle in at Hargrave, both on and off the court. The 6-foot-8 forward got to work on his game in practice every day against a taller player, the 6-11 Davis.
‘‘Hargrave turned out to be the right move for me,” Braswell said. ‘‘I was able to work on my academics and my basketball and now I’m heading to Georgetown. Roscoe really helped push me in practice each day. I’m looking forward to playing against West Virginia. Those games in the Big East are always tough and now with Roscoe on another team it will make it that much more intense.”
Braswell and Davis were joined by fellow county products Will Alston (Laurel, two points), Marquise Simmons (Central, five points), Maurice Sutton (Largo, four points) and Sean Thomas (Gwynn Park, six points) on the Capital team. Olez Czyz, a Duke University recruit from Reno, Nev., playing for the U.S. All-Stars, led all scorers with 23 points and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. University of Maryland recruit Sean Mosley (St. Frances Academy) added 16 for the U.S. All-Stars, who beat the Capital Stars, 123-85.
Capital coach Joe Wootten, the son of former DeMatha coach and Hall of Famer Morgan Wootten, was impressed with the county products even in defeat.
‘‘I really think Roscoe Davis is going to be a good fit at West Virginia,” Wootten said. ‘‘He’s a very good post player with plenty of ability to get up and down the court. Chris Braswell should do well for Georgetown. I look forward to seeing those two kids go up against one another the next four years.”
In the preliminary game, three county graduates participated on the Suburban All-Star squad, which suffered a 131-128 defeat against the District All-Stars. Harold Washington (Gwynn Park) led the Suburban squad with 22 points, Terrence Burke (Northwestern) added 17 and Chase Smith (Eleanor Roosevelt) had 11.
The District All-Stars owned a 70-58 lead at the intermission and stretched their advantage to 102-89 heading into the fourth quarter. Burke, Smith and Washington helped lead the Suburban squad back to tie the score at 128-128 only to see Good Counsel’s Jordan Clarke (20 points) connect on a 3-point field goal with five seconds left to lift the District All-Stars to the narrow victory.
E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.
Friday, March 28
Washington Tabs Quinnipiac
|
"It's All About The Game"
|
Washington Tabs Quinnipiac |
|
|
|
Ron Bailey, Publisher
March 28, 2007 - The Quinnipiac University Bobcats are on the verge of being the Washington, D.C. area’s defacto college team; four Metro area players competed there last year, with six wearing Quinnipiac silks over the last two. Add another to the list.
“Yes sir” said combo guard Harold Washington recently via telephone, when asked if he had in fact accepted a scholarship offer from the school. “I committed I believe Wednesday morning (of last week)”.
“I just felt like it was a good school” continued the 6’1”, 175 pound Gwynn Park High School (Clinton, MD) senior, of his motivation to do so. “The school is putting a lot into the basketball program. (Additionally) It’s a quiet school where everybody is focused on getting their work done”.
Harold Washington shared he first started playing organized ball around "seven or eight years old".
A strong student who is NCAA qualified, Washington plans on majoring in Communications, which he shared “is another reason” he chose Quinnipiac over Hampton (who offered), George Mason, Mount St. Mary’s and Radford, all schools that recently scouted him. “They have tone of the top communications programs”.
A major cog in Gwynn Park’s 25-2, state semi-final team this year, Washington indicated he “finished out averaging 18.9 points, 4.7 rebounds per game, and three assists” each contest, lofty numbers indeed, but not unexpected, as Harold is an athletic guard who can handle the ball, increasingly hit the outside jump shot, and rebound.
When asked what he brings Quinnipiac, the self-deprecating Washington reflected before opining “Wow, that’s hard. I think I can bring a player with athleticism that can do things on both ends, score, rebound and defend, and also distribute the basketball at the same time”.
Keith Stevens, the head of Triple Threat (AAU) and someone Washington noted “helped me a lot on my game” agrees, adding “He is going to be an athletic guard that has as tremendous upside”. Stevens should know, having coached Washington of and on for two years on the travel team circuit.
Washington also lauded Triple Threat specifically: “It really helped me with my experience. Getting out there with those guys, you have to step up”.
Gwynn Park’s Mike Glick was also mentioned as instrumental in his development, as Harold labeled him “a good coach” who “stepped up in two years and got us from 13-10 to 25-2. He knows what he’s doing!”
Before reporting to Quinnipiac and its coach, Tom Moore this summer, expect the laid back Washington to not only attend his prom, an event he’s prepared for, having already secured his date, tickets, and limousine, but also enjoy his life away from the hardwood.
“I like listening to music and chilling out” shared Washington, who despite constant assumptions to the contrary was not named after the now deceased, first Black Mayor of Chicago. “I read books in my spare time”.
His latest? “Their Eyes Were Watching God, which was basically about a woman. It showed her journey through life” supplied Washington of the Zora Neale Hurston penned classic.
That’s something most people, young or old have not read, but make no mistake about it, Harold falls in line with others of his generation, labeling Lil’ Wayne as his favorite recording artist.
Let’s see, being an intelligent student-athlete with both common and divergent tastes could earn Washington a title of his own; ‘Mayor’ of Quinnipiac’. At the very least, for four years the Bobcat faithful will value and benefit from his presence on the Hamden, CT campus and its TD Banknorth Sports Center.
|
Monday, March 24
Harolad Washington becomes a Bobcat headed to Quinnipiac
March 24, 2008
Washington Becomes a Bobcat
James Quinn
MDVarsity.com Staff
Gwynn Park's outstanding senior All-County guard Harold Washington verbally committed to Quinnipiac College on March 21.
Quinnipiac is a Division I-A college located in Hamden, Connecticut. The Bobcats play in the Northeast Conference (NEC), which was represented in the NCAA Tournament by Mount St. Mary's College.
The 6-foot-1 Washington averaged 19 points, five rebounds, two steals and four assists for Gwynn Park as a senior. He it 35 percent of his three-point field goal attempts and had a single game high of 34 points this season.
Washington was First team All-County in Prince George's County this year and received All-Met Honors. Washington has also been selected to play in the Capital Classic Preliminary game in April.
Quinnipiac has increasingly recruited the Washington D.C. and Baltimore area in the last few years and landing Washington, an athletic wing guard with tremendous shooting range, is a major coup for the Bobcats.
Throughout the course of this season, a large number of local prep basketball players in the D.C. area mentioned Quinnipiac as a college that they were considering. Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore, a former assistant coach at UConn, already has several former D.C. area prep hoops products on the current Bobcat roster.
Washington, along with backcourt mate Sean Thomas, who was recently chosen First Team All-Met by the Washington Post, led Gwynn Park to a 25-2 record this year. The Yellow Jackets had a tremendous run through Prince George's County this season, including a pair of convincing wins over eventual Maryland 3A Champion Largo, before losing to Winters Mill, 58-56, on a buzzer beater in the 2A Semifinals at the Comcast Center.
The Yellow Jackets were ranked No. 8 in the Washington Post's Final Top Twenty Rankings. Thomas is expected to commit to a Division I college very soon, as well.
Yellow Jacket coach Mike Glick, who previously built private school hoops powers at Catholic Schools Pallotti and Archbishop Spalding before arriving at Gwynn Park two years ago told MdVarsity.com.,
"He picked a perfect school in Quinnipiac," Yellow Jacket head coach Mike Glick said. "He is a great fit for the school and the basketball program. Coach Moore is going to do a great job up there. He recruited Rudy Gay (now in the NBA after two stellar years at UConn) to UConn when I had Rudy at Spalding. Coach Moore recruited Harold as a two, which is Harold's natural position. He is kind of an undersized two guard, but he has enough size to be a wing guard in that league. Harold still has a lot of upside. Like I said, I think he'll do great there – I couldn't be happier for him."
Glick added that Washington is a full academic qualifier for college freshman eligibility. Washington ultimately chose Quinnipiac over Hampton University and Morgan State, two fast rising MEAC programs.
"Harold also had some interest from some larger colleges, like George Mason," Glick said. "If he had decided to prep for a year to see if he could get a little more college exposure with a prep year, some other colleges definitely would have come in and recruited him, but Harold was (academically) qualified and Quinnipiac was a great fit."
Loyola College also recruited Washington and reportedly would have recruited him in 2008-2009 if he had gone to prep school.
"They (Quinnipiac) are going to be a very good program in the Northeast Conference, said Glick. "And I think that Harold can be a part of their success. I think he has a chance to help them some right away."
EDITOR'S NOTE: MDVarsity.com's James Quinn went In the Gym early this year to profile the 2007-2008 Gwynn Park team and did separate profiles on coach Mike Glick's outstanding senior guards Sean Thomas and Harold Washington. Both the Yellow Jacket team and their stellar backcourt lived up to their advance billing as Gwynn Park went 25-2 and advanced to the Maryland State 2A Semifinals at the Comcast Center in mid-March.
Posted at 2:15 PM ET, 03/21/2008
Gwynn Park Guard to Quinnipiac
From Josh Barr:
Gwynn Park guard Harold Washington took an unofficial visit and committed this morning to play for Quinnipiac, Gwynn Park Coach Mike Glick reports. Quinnipiac is coached by Tom Moore, who recruited Rudy Gay to Connecticut. Gay played for Glick at Spalding.
| Quinnipiac Scores A Pair |

DeAndre Bynum
|
|
|
National Recruiting Director
Posted Mar 23, 2008
|
|
Tom Moore's Quinnipiac program scored a pair of commitments this weekend. One of them was former Memphis standout DeAndre Bynum, a 6-foot-5 senior.
|
The crew from Quinnipiac struck twice this weekend. DeAndre Bynum, a wing, and Harold Washington, a combo guard, both committed to Tom Moore’s program from the Class of 2008.
Bynum, a former Memphis (Tenn.) White Station standout, transferred to Camp Hills (Md.) Progressive Christian this season. Washington, who will play in the Capital Classic all-star game, averaged 19 points a game at Gwynn Park High School.
Hampton offered Washington and George Mason was said to be taking a peek. Regardless, Moore’s program appealed the most to Washington.
“It’s a beautiful facility,” Washington said. “I loved the coach’s plan for the program. It’s a program that is going somewhere. It seems like the school is putting a lot of money into the basketball program and the coaches are looking for players to build the program.”
Washington knew of Bynum before the pair verballed but it’s been a while since he’s seen him play. “I saw him on the AAU circuit but other than that I don’t really know him. He told me that he felt the same way I did about the school.”
|
Thursday, March 27
Gwynn Park's Thomas & Washington 1st Team All PG County
Thursday, March 27, 2008
2008 All-County Boys Basketball Team
Brenda Ahearn⁄The Gazette
The Gazette-Star All-County Boys’ Basketball Team includes: (front row, from left) Jamahl Brown, Klevin Pollard, Sean Thomas; (middle row, from left) Will Alston, Naji Hibbert, Coach of the Year Lewis Howard, Maurice Sutton, Talib Zanna; (back row, from left) Khaalis Coppock-Bey, Terrance Burke, Harold Washington. Not pictured: Thomas Robinson.
|
Player of the Year Maurice Sutton
The senior doesn’t have much bulk on his lanky 6-foot-11 frame. But once opponents saw him play a few possessions on defense, it was clear he was a force to be reckoned with. With Sutton controlling the paint, the Lions captured the state Class 3A championship — Largo’s first in 15 years. Sutton created problems for the opposition at both ends of the floor, averaging 18 points, 12 rebounds and a whopping nine blocks per contest. Sutton, who has drawn serious interest from the University of Kentucky and Seton Hall, is expected to make a college choice in the coming weeks.
Coach of the Year
Lewis Howard
Howard has had his share of bumps during his time at Largo. In 2004, the Lions lost in the state Class 4A semifinals in Howard’s first trip to the state Final Four. Last season, the Lions fell short of perfection, suffering their only loss of the season in the Class 3A semifinals. But with the nucleus of that team still intact this season Howard and the Lions won games of all types — close battles and blowouts. Largo won its last two 3A South Region playoff games on the road, including a 49-48 victory at Lackey in the region title game. The Lions then avenged last year’s state semifinal loss to Bethesda-Chevy Chase, beating the Barons in this year’s semifinals before easily dispatching Long Reach in the title game.
First Team
Will Alston, Laurel: The Spartans could have had a dropoff this year after graduating their two best players from last season, but Alston helped them to the Class 4A semifinals for the first time since 1980. A transfer from Archbishop Spalding, the senior averaged 21 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, helping Laurel to a 22-3 record and the county championship.
Naji Hibbert, DeMatha: On one of the youngest DeMatha squads in years, Hibbert helped the three-time Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champions reach the tournament semifinals. He transferred from St. Frances Academy in Baltimore to a team that was missing five starters to begin the season and averaged 17.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals and is being recruited by Miami (Fla.) and Syracuse, among others.
Harold Washington, Gwynn Park: The Yellow Jackets went from a middle-of-the-pack squad to one of the best in the state as Washington took off for nearly 19 points and two steals per game. He could drive inside or hit from the outside, as he led the team with 31 3-pointers, and helped Gwynn Park into the Class 2A state tournament for the first time in four years.
Sean Thomas, Gwynn Park: The other half of the Yellow Jackets’ success this year, Thomas put up numbers nearly identical to his teammate in the backcourt. He averaged 18.9 points and had his best game of the year — 30 points on 12 for 13 shooting — in a win against defending County 3A⁄2A⁄1A League champion Largo on Jan. 19, which was key in helping Gwynn Park win 22 straight regular season games.
Thomas Robinson, Riverdale Baptist: A major contributor to the 31-6 Crusaders, Robinson averaged 16 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks, two assists and two steals per game. The junior recorded 23 double-doubles during the season. He was named to the all-tournament team and most outstanding defensive player at the National Association of Christian Athletes tournament and also was selected to the all-tournament team at the Lone Star Invitational.
Klevin Pollard, Largo: Pollard quietly got better as he progressed in his career with the Lions. Last season, he was overshadowed by former Lions Kwame Morgan and Maurice Colter. But the senior’s time came this year as he averaged 21 points, five assists and four rebounds per contest for the state Class 3A champion Lions.
Talib Zanna, Bishop McNamara: The junior came off a serious injury to have a breakout season. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 16 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks during a season removed from a broken ankle. With one more year of high school left, Zanna has drawn interest from schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East and Atlantic 10.
Terrance Burke, Northwestern: Despite the Wildcats’ struggles as a team, the senior quietly established himself as one of the best players in the county over the past two years. Burke carried the Wildcats on his back for stretches as he averaged 24.8 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Burke has drawn interest from a number of Division I schools and has a scholarship offer from Farleigh-Dickinson University.
Jamahl Brown, Surrattsville: The premier scorer in the county, Brown was virtually unstoppable when he decided to shoot the ball from close or long range. The senior averaged 27 points, eight rebounds and five steals per game. Brown averaged 38 points per game in the postseason as he helped lead Surrattsville to the Class 1A state title game. Brown is still evaluating his college options.
Khaalis Coppock-Bey, Fairmont Heights: The only returning starter from last season’s state Class 2A runner-up, Coppock-Bey was the heart of the Hornets’ attack this season. The junior averaged 22.3 points, five rebounds and two assists per game this season. Coppock-Bey scored a season-high 34 points against Frederick Douglass and helped the Hornets make the Class 2A South Region semifinals.
Second Team
Marquise Simmons, Central
Israel Alao, Bladensburg
Jason Burns, Frederick Douglass
Chaune Duffy, Fairmont Heights
Justin Bess, DuVal
Dewayne Jackson, Bowie
Deonte Edmunds and Sedric Baker, Oxon Hill
Rashad Whack, Bishop McNamara
Reggie Young, Laurel
Lasan Kromah and Brenden Straughn, Eleanor Roosevelt
Kenny Tate, DeMatha
Eric Washington, St. Vincent Pallotti
Delonta Boyd, Henry A. Wise
Chandler Davenport, Queen Anne
A.J. Thomas, Friendly
All-county teams are selected by the Gazette-Star sports staff based on our observations, athletes’ performances, statistics and nominations from coaches. Staff writers Terron Hampton, Ted Black and Kevin Hilgers compiled the writeups on these pages.
Saturday, March 15
Gwynn Park buzzer-beaten in 2A semis 56-58 by Winters Mill
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Gwynn Park buzzer-beaten in 2A semis
by Kevin Hilgers | Staff Writer
Christopher Anderson⁄The Gazette
Gwynn Park’s Mark Penn (right) walks off the court along with head coach Mike Glick after the Yellow Jackets lost in Friday’s 2A state semifinals.
|
Sean Thomas squatted and pulled his jersey to his face 15 feet from the basket at Comcast Center, between the elbow and the 3-point line. It was the very spot where the senior’s Gwynn Park High School basketball team saw its season come to a dramatic end in the Class 2A semifinals Friday night.
With a minute left and the game tied, Winters Mill’s Devon Lesniak slowly brought the ball up the court to give the Falcons the last shot. The seconds ticked down and the Falcons still didn’t have a good look. Then the fans started counting down with the clock.
Then Lesniak, double-teamed just inside the 3-point line, fell back and put up a prayer of a shot that arched high into the air and dropped through the net, ending Gwynn Park’s season with a 58-56 defeat.
There were no tears or lamentations among the Yellow Jackets (25-2), who had the most wins of any team in the county and were aiming for their first state title in 20 years. But the buzzer-beater was emotionally draining.
‘‘I don’t think there are any words to describe it,” said senior Harold Washington. ‘‘You hope it works out, but unfortunately it didn’t.”
The Falcons (21-5), in their first-ever appearance at the state tournament, defeated two-time defending champion Randallstown, 54-47, for the 2A title Saturday.
Thomas led Gwynn Park with 18 points, Washington scored 15 and Mark Penn had 10 points, including two 3-pointers. But the Yellow Jackets shot 39 percent and went 10 for 21 from the free-throw line, missing three of their last five while Winters Mill rallied from an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit.
They also were outrebounded, 40-32, by the Falcons, who had a good combination of size and shooting skill that challenged Gwynn Park’s defense. Cammeron Woodyard, a 6-foot-5 Penn State recruit, scored 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds. Rashad Blackwell, 6-6, had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
‘‘They’re a great team. You don’t get here unless you’re a great team,” said Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick. ‘‘Cammeron Woodyard’s a great player, probably the best player we’ve played against all season. I thought they had an excellent game plan, but at the same time I thought our kids played great.”
Gwynn Park’s tallest player, 6-5 senior Ronnell Leggett, almost wasn’t available. He was cleared to play by his doctor before the game after breaking an orbital bone when he was elbowed in the face in the South Region final last weekend. He stepped in for seven points, five rebounds and a block.
Lesniak’s basket was the final stroke of the Falcons’ game-ending rally, which came just when Gwynn Park appeared to be pulling away in the back-and-forth contest.
Neither team led by more than six entering the fourth quarter. Gwynn Park broke ahead for its largest lead of the game, 52-44 with 4 1⁄2 minutes left, when Leggett and Cory Anderson made back-to-back layups and Thomas drove from baseline to baseline.
But the Falcons made sure that wouldn’t be the decisive run. Winters Mill crawled out of the deficit with five straight free throws, then Lesniak grabbed an offensive rebound and dished to Blackwell for a layup that put the Falcons within one.
Thomas went 1 for 2 from the foul line on Gwynn Park’s next possession, and Blackwell made a turnaround shot at the other end to tie the game for the first time since the third quarter.
Washington scored inside with two minutes left and was fouled, but he missed the shot. Kendall Dorsey hit a huge 3-pointer with 1 1⁄2 minutes remaining to give Winters Mill a one-point lead.
Gwynn Park, which had struggled to get inside shots to fall all night, missed three in a row on its next possession before Thomas was fouled going after a rebound. He made one free throw to tie the game with just over a minute left.
Glick said even without his team’s untimely shooting slump, there was no guarantee the Yellow Jackets would have coasted to a win.
‘‘I don’t think that if we make those shots we’re going to pull away,” he said. ‘‘I think you had two totally evenly matched teams. I thought Winters Mill had strength inside, I thought our guard play was excellent. I just thought that the game could have gone either way.”
But after Thomas’ free throw, the Falcons waited for the last shot. They got it in improbable fashion.
‘‘This wasn’t a game where we lost the game,” Glick said. ‘‘It was a great high school basketball game. Their players stepped up and made a few shots. But I couldn’t be prouder of my players.”
E-mail Kevin Hilgers at khilgers@gazette.net.
Saturday, March 15
Time Is On Lesniak's Side
2A Boys Maryland State Semis
Time Is On Lesniak's Side
Winters Mill's Devon Lesniak breaks fifth-ranked Gwynn Park's hearts with his winning 15-foot shot at the buzzer. (By Toni L. Sandys -- The Washington Post)
Buy Photo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 15, 2008; Page E07
Believe it or not, Devon Lesniak knew exactly how much time was left in last night's Maryland 2A boys' basketball semifinals. As the final few seconds ticked away, Winters Mill's fans grew so impatient with Lesniak's apparent lack of urgency that they started counting down "4, 3, 2."
Lesniak dribbled around to the left, his back perpendicular to the basket, and suddenly turned around and lofted an arching 15-foot fadeaway that swished through as the buzzer sounded, giving Winters Mill a 58-56 victory over No. 5 Gwynn Park.
"Oh, I knew," Lesniak said. "There was three seconds left, so I figured I had to do something with it."
Winters Mill erased an eight-point deficit in the final five minutes before Lesniak's jumper. It was enough to break Gwynn Park's collective hearts once again in the state tournament. The Yellow Jackets had lost in the championship four of the previous nine years.
Winters Mill, a fourth-year school in Carroll County, will play for its first state championship tonight at 6. It will face Randallstown, which defeated Wicomico, 71-42, in the evening's first semifinal. Randallstown (23-3) will try to become the fourth team to win four straight Maryland state titles, following 2A titles the past two years and a 3A championship in 2005.
Winters Mill (20-5) was able to stay close early because Gwynn Park had trouble finishing. The Yellow Jackets (25-2) shot 22 for 58 (37.9 percent), but the overwhelming majority of those misses were from within eight feet of the basket. In addition, Gwynn Park made 10 of 21 free throw attempts, including 5 of 13 in the second half.
"They're shots we normally make," Gwynn Park Coach Mike Glick said. "They were shots we made all season. Winters Mill had strength inside.
"If we make our free throws down in the end, we can sit back with the lead."
Gwynn Park seemed to take control midway through the fourth quarter. It scored six consecutive points in 53 seconds to take a 52-44 advantage, its biggest lead of the game.
But after a timeout with 4 minutes 7 seconds left, Winters Mill's 6-foot-5 senior guard Cammeron Woodyard, who committed to Penn State last month, drew a foul on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws. Lesniak made a steal and two free throws and Rashad Blackwell's putback of a missed three-pointer cut Gwynn Park's lead to 52-51 with 2:56 left.
Sean Thomas made 1 of 2 free throws, but Blackwell tied it at 53 on a turnaround baseline jumper. After Harold Washington put Gwynn Park ahead on a driving layup, he couldn't convert the subsequent free throw.
Winters Mill went up by one, 56-55, on a three-pointer by Kendall Dorsey with 1:34 left. Thomas tied it with a free throw 30 seconds left, and Winters Mill held for the final possession.
Twice, the Falcons called timeout in the final minute, the second with 24 seconds left to set up a pick-and-roll between Lesniak and the 6-7 Blackwell.
"But they closed it off," Winters Mill Coach David Herman said. Lesniak was "going to have to make something out of nothing."
In the evening's first semifinal, Randallstown fought off a sluggish first half, which ended with the Rams holding a 26-19 lead, and pulled away in the third quarter. The Rams opened the second half on a 19-6 run to put away Wicomico (21-5). Junior forward Alex Jackson scored eight of his game-high 24 points during that run.
Saturday, March 15
Lesniak's buzzer-beater sends Winters Mill to final with 58-56 victory over Gwynn Park
No. 12 Winters Mill 58, Gwynn Park 56
Lesniak's buzzer-beater sends Winters Mill to finalBy Rich Scherr | Special to The Sun - March 15, 2008
COLLEGE PARK - Hoping to better prepare his team for the challenges it might face come March, Winters Mill coach Dave Herman loaded his early season schedule with the likes of Mount St. Joseph and Cardinal Gibbons, an unusual move for a Carroll County program.
It was a move, however, that paid huge dividends in last night's Class 2A state semifinals, as the No. 12 Falcons rallied from eight points down with just over four minutes left against perennial Prince George's County power Gwynn Park, then won it, 58-56, on guard Devon Lesniak's off-balance 15-footer at the buzzer.
"There was really no set play," said Lesniak, who finished with 10 points. "I looked up at the clock and there were three seconds left. I went to the elbow [on the court] and took a fade-away jumper. I felt like it was a good shot -- right on target."
Thursday, March 13
Today's boys basketball state semifinals by the Baltimore Sun
Gwynn Park (25-1) vs. No. 12 Winters Mill (19-6)
Time // 9 p.m.
Outlook // Led by 6-foot-5 guard Cammeron Woodyard, who has committed orally to Penn State, Winters Mill has been one of the metro area's hottest teams, winning 10 straight by an average of 23 points, including a 71-49 victory over Middletown in the Class 2A West title game. The Falcons, however, could be facing their toughest opponent all season in perennial Prince George's County power Gwynn Park, which is ranked No. 5 in the Washington area. The Yellow Jackets, who began the season with 22 straight wins, are led by the trio of 6-3 guard Sean Thomas (averaging 21 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists), 6-3 guard Harold Washington (19 points, 12 rebounds) and 6-5 forward Corey Anderson (15 points, 13 rebounds). Gwynn Park has won 10 state titles, though none since 1988, despite advancing to the final four times since 1999. Winters Mill, the Carroll County champion, returns to College Park for the second time in school history, after its semifinal loss in 2006. The Falcons are led by Woodyard (20.5 points per game), another future college player in 6-foot McDaniel recruit Devon Lesniak (14.6 points, five assists) and 6-7 forward Rashad Blackwell (8.1 rebounds).
The Sun's pick // Gwynn Park
2A champion pick // Randallstown
Friday, March 14
There Is No Crying In High School Basketball
There's Now Crying in High School Basketball
With Championships At Stake, Tears Likely
Lake Clifton's Antoine Allen wipes away tears. Crying, once considered a sign of weakness, is now accepted and common during playoffs. (Preston Keres -- The Post)
Buy Photo
By Jeff Nelson
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, March 14, 2008; Page E05
Three years later, Tommy Kramer still recalls every moment, every detail from one of the most compelling high school basketball championship games in recent memory.
He can picture his Bethesda-Chevy Chase teammates trying to corral one more rebound to seal a state title. He can see the final seconds of overtime descending and B-CC failing to come up with a loose ball amid chaos. Then, the most enduring image -- Randallstown's final shot going in at the buzzer.
"That's pretty much burned in my memory, the end of that game," said Kramer, who was a sophomore reserve in 2005. "It's that clear in my mind. I remember seeing our point guard, Carl Buck, collapse, and one of our forwards collapse. They were on the floor forever."
A generation ago, according to interviews with a dozen area coaches, the players on a team that lost in such painful fashion would have taken a deep breath and walked off the court. Emotions would have been suppressed; tears would have been unthinkable. But not anymore.
If there's one certainty this weekend as state high school basketball championships are decided in Maryland and Virginia, it's that tears will fall.
Sometimes they will come from the winners, sometimes the losers, sometimes both. But at the end of nearly every game, regardless of sex, some players will break down and cry.
"I think it's a human thing," said Eleanor Roosevelt Coach Rod Hairston, whose team is the three-time defending Maryland 4A girls' champion. "I don't think it's a boys' or girls' thing anymore. When you put so much time and effort into something, I think you can't help but have those kinds of emotions and feelings about the outcome."
Now a freshman at Stanford University, Kramer remembers his teammates -- especially the seniors -- letting it all out. They wept on the court as Randallstown's players celebrated; they wept on the bench while waiting for their second-place trophies; they wept in the locker room as the seniors contemplated the end of their playing careers.
"I've never seen that kind of emotion until my guys [three] years ago," Bethesda-Chevy Chase Coach Steve Thompson said. "I didn't cry, but I wanted to. For them."
Male and female coaches who attended high school in the 1970s said girls always have been permitted to cry. It's always been an acceptable outlet of female emotion.
Not so for their male contemporaries. In that era and the years preceding it, coaches said, tears represented "weakness" and "being soft."
"I could never [imagine] my high school coach crying when he played," said Gwynn Park Coach Michael Glick, a 1984 high school graduate. "I think generationally, it wasn't accepted."
Thursday, March 13
Gwynn Park Yellow Jackets ready for another title run
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Yellow Jackets ready for one more chance at a crown
Winters Mill awaits in Friday’s 2A semifinal
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
The 2007-08 season has marked the re-emergence of the most successful boys’ high school basketball program in Maryland public schools history as Gwynn Park has won 25 of 26 games.
But as the Yellow Jackets recent history in the state semifinals has pointed out, the program’s 10 state titles mean nothing when a new year and another visit in the state Final Four arrive.
When the Yellow Jackets suit up to play Winters Mill in a state Class 2A semifinal at 9 p.m. Friday at Comcast Center, they will have a challenging task in front of them. The other three teams in the 2A Final Four — Randallstown, Wicomico and Winters Mill — have a combined 62-13 record. Gwynn Park beat Randallstown, 73-60, during the Christmas break.
Approaching the season with confidence, the Yellow Jackets figured they would be in this position.
‘‘We did think we were going to be state champions before the season started,” said senior standout Sean Thomas following Gwynn Park’s 72-56 victory against McDonough in the 2A South Region final. ‘‘We had that trust in each other. I believe if we stay focused and humble and continue to play our way, we should finish with a title.”
The Yellow Jackets have benefited from a deep corps of seniors and a number of juniors who have stepped up this season. Senior point guard and co-captain Harold Washington has been one of the county’s most impressive players, averaging 19 points, 12 rebounds and five assists per game. Meanwhile, junior forward Corey Anderson has been an important piece of the puzzle for the Yellow Jackets, averaging 15 points, 13 rebounds and nine rebounds.
Throw in Thomas (21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists) and senior multi-sport star Chibuike Achuko and Gwynn Park has a formidable lineup. But the Yellow Jackets may be without one important piece as senior forward Ronnell Leggett suffered three fractures of his left orbital bone, leaving Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick unsure about his availability.
Glick understands that Winters Mill, which features 6-foot-7 Rashad Blackwell (8.7 points, 8.1 rebounds) and star guard Cammeron Woodyard (20.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and three assists), will be a test.
‘‘They’re a great team, very well coached and have a great player going to Penn State,” Glick said of the Falcons and Woodyard, who has committed to PSU. ‘‘We have our work cut out for us.”
Gwynn Park should be wary of the task at hand because the team has lost three state finals this decade (2000, 2002 and 2004). The 2004 final, a 66-65 loss to Baltimore’s Douglass High in the final seconds, was particularly heartbreaking.
‘‘Based on what I’ve read about them, they are really well-coached,” Winters Mill coach David Herman said. ‘‘They play hard and get after the ball. Our kids play hard and I think real good defense and we’re ready to play.”
Glick said the Yellow Jackets have another factor on their side.
‘‘I feel if we survived the county, then we can compete with anyone in the state,” Glick said. ‘‘I think [Prince George’s] County has a great feeder system and having four [boys] teams make it [to the state semifinals] from all four classifications shows that we’re the best basketball county in the state and in the nation.”
E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.
Boys Class 2Astate semifinals
Gwynn Park (25-1) vs.Winters Mill (19-5)
When: 9 p.m. Friday.
Where: Comcast Center,University of Maryland,College Park.
Players to watch: Gwynn Park — Sean Thomas (21 ppg, 10 rpg, 7 apg); Harold Washington (19 ppg, 12 rpg); CoreyAnderson (15 ppg, 13 rpg, 9 apg). Winters Mill — Cammeron Woodyard (20.5 ppg); Devon Lesniak (14.6 ppg).
Saturday, March 1
Yellow Jackets take unbeaten 22-0 record into 2A regional
Yellow Jackets take unbeaten record into 2A regional
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
First-round playoff games are set for Friday, with quarterfinals taking place Tuesday and region semifinals set for March 6. Region finals will be next weekend.
2A South
Easily the talk of the 2A South has to be undefeated Gwynn Park (23-0). The Yellow Jackets are the No. 1 seed, but will have an interesting time trying to get back to its first state Final Four since 2004, when they lost to Douglass (Baltimore) in the state title game on a shot in the final seconds. The Yellow Jackets get a first-round bye and will host the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 8 Oakland Mills (6-14) and No. 9 Central (5-16).
Meanwhile, Fairmont Heights, which staggered at the end of the season to a 13-7 finish, earned the 2A South’s No. 4 seed. The defending region champion Hornets will face No. 13 Mount Hebron (3-17) on Friday.
If the Hornets win their first-round game, they will return to action Tuesday against the winner of Friday’s game between No. 5 Calvert (4-15) and Frederick Douglass (10-12).
If both the Yellow Jackets and Hornets advance beyond the second round, Gwynn Park will host Fairmont Heights in what would be the third meeting between the two teams.
Second-year Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick eagerly awaits the playoffs.
‘‘Basically, we’re excited we’re the No. 1 seed and we’re excited that we’ll have the opportunity to be able to host a lot of the rounds,” Glick said. ‘‘For us to matriculate through, we’ll have to beat one or two of the teams that we will have faced for the third time this season. The best thing I can say about my team this year is that it is one of the few teams that I’ve coached in over 20 years that has gotten better and better as the year has gone along.”
4A South
The 4A South Region, composed entirely of county schools, has some interesting pairings that make some teams appear to be playing in different positions than their seeds would indicate.
Laurel (17-2) drew the 4A South’s top seed after losing just one County 4A League game. Henry A. Wise (17-5) had an impressive regular season and earned the 4A South’s No. 2 seed. Eleanor Roosevelt (14-5) has the third seed, and Bowie (15-7), with a strong late-season finish, captured the 4A South’s fourth and final seed. All seeded teams earned a first-round bye.
The second-round matchups may be the story of the 4A South tournament. Laurel will host the winner of a first-round game between No. 8 Oxon Hill (10-8) and No. 9 Charles H. Flowers (7-13). Meanwhile, on the same side of the bracket, Bowie will play a less-challenging opponent than Laurel when the Bulldogs host the winner of No. 5 High Point (2-16) and No. 12 Parkdale (2-18).
Second-seeded Wise will most likely face No. 7 DuVal (13-7), which plays No. 10 Suitland (4-18) in a rematch of the regular season finale. Roosevelt, on the other hand, will play host to the winner of the game between No. 6 Bladensburg (9-12) and No. 11 Northwestern (8-13).
3A South
Midway through the regular season, the Largo boys seemed a lock for a top seed in the 3A South Region, but stumbled late and finished 18-4. Nonetheless, Largo did earn the No. 3 seed and will face the winner of the game between No. 6 Crossland (10-10) and No. 11 Westlake (14-6). No. 7 Friendly (12-9) will host No. 10 Potomac (6-16) on Friday with the winner playing No. 2 Huntingtown (17-3). Last season, Largo went undefeated until being upended by Bethesda Chevy-Chase in the state semifinal.
1A South
The MPSSAA did something new this year for the Class 1A draw as the 1A West and the 1A South Regions were subdivided into sectionals.
In the nine-team 1A South, Surrattsville (7-12) and Forestville (6-13) will face one another in the South Sectional on Monday. The winner moves on to face the winner of Tuesday’s game between South Carroll and Glenelg.
E-mail Terron Hampton atthampton@gazette.net.
Saturday, March 1
Bozeman, Nickelberry Among Those at P.G. Title Game @ Wise HS
Posted at 10:30 AM ET, 02/28/2008
Bozeman, Nickelberry Among Those at P.G. Title Game
Plenty of college coaches at last night's Prince George's County championship game to see fourth-ranked Laurel beat fifth-ranked Gwynn Park, 57-50. And plenty of players for them to see. Laurel center Will Alston had 18 points and six rebounds. Gwynn Park guard Harold Washington had 23 points and backcourt mate Sean Thomas added 10. All three are likely mid-level Division I players. Washington had perhaps the most impressive night, continually attacking the basket and showing an ability to get to the rim.
I didn't get a chance to take roll, but spotted after the game were Morgan State Coach Todd Bozeman and Hampton Coach Kevin Nickelberry, both of whom know the area as well as anyone. VMI and Mount St. Mary's also had coaches at the game. Nickelberry, of course, knows Laurel Coach Keith Coutreyer and Gwynn Park Coach Mike Glick from their time together at Columbia Union College in the early 1990s.
Also, spoke to Northwestern Coach Gerald Moore earlier this week, who said that Temple Coach Fran Dunphy is expected to attend the Wildcats' playoff game Saturday night at Bladensburg to scout forward Terrence Burke.
Posted at 9:28 AM ET, 02/20/2008
Good Thing Sutton Got Off to Good Start
Plenty of college coaches in attendance last night at Largo. Seton Hall Coach Bobby Gonzalez and assistants, Loyola Coach Jimmy Patsos, Maryland assistant Keith Booth and some folks from Boston College. But it was a quick night for the main attraction as Largo 6-11 center Maurice Sutton was ejected in the first quarter for throwing a punch. Sutton had been off to a great start and Largo Coach Lewis Howard said Sutton got caught retaliating. Regardless, never a good situation when a potential recruit can't make it through a full game for the coaches in the gym that night. That said, all indications are that Sutton once again proved his ability. Loyola's main interest is believed to be Gwynn Park guard Harold Washington, who scored a game-high 24 points in the 75-63 victory.
Thursday, February 28
Laurel Boys Triumph Hand Gwynn Park First Loss 57-50
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 28, 2008; Page E09
The fourth-ranked Laurel boys' basketball team finally might be shedding the label that it peaks too early in the season. Senior center Will Alston scored 19 points and snared eight rebounds last night as the Spartans sent fifth-ranked Gwynn Park to its first loss, 57-50, in the Prince George's County championship game before 3,500 at Wise High in Upper Marlboro.
In the preceding girls' county championship game, three-time defending Maryland 4A champion Eleanor Roosevelt earned its first county title. Junior center Olivia Applewhite finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead the No. 7 Raiders to a 74-61 victory over No. 14 Largo, snapping the Lions' 15-game winning streak.
"It's good to win, but I really don't like to put an emphasis on this game," Roosevelt Coach Rod Hairston said. "I don't want to use up their energy to win this game and then go into the playoffs lackluster."
While Laurel Coach Keith Coutreyer also played down the significance of the victory, there was little questioning its importance for the Spartans (19-2). They have had several strong starts in recent years only to fade late and exit early from the playoffs. This season, Laurel led the Prince George's 4A from start to finish; Coutreyer was unsure if it was the Spartans' first championship of any kind since the 1980 team won the state title.
"In the past, we played off one player and if he was not doing good, we could fall," said senior guard Reggie Young, a four-year varsity player who was on one of three Laurel players in double figures last night, with 12 points. "This year, everybody can play."
And everybody can rebound. The 6-foot-6 Alston, who started his high school career at Montrose Christian and played at Spalding last year, led the way, but Young, Killian Azah and Marcus Hebron also contributed. "They killed us on the boards," said Gwynn Park Coach Mike Glick, whose team fell to 22-1.
In the girls' game, Eleanor Roosevelt (18-2) excelled at getting the ball inside to Applewhite and others. Forwards Ahjah Hall and Chantel Petty had 16 and 12 points, respectively, while guard Elashier Hall added 12 points. The Raiders scored nearly all of their points in the paint, attempting just two three-point shots.
Wednesday, February 20
No. 2 Jackets Top Largo 75-63, But Fight Mars Ending
Prince George's Boys' Basketball
No. 2 Jackets Top Largo 75-63,
But Fight Mars Ending
By B.J. KoubaroulisSpecial to The Washington Post
Wednesday, February 20, 2008; Page E08
Second-ranked Gwynn Park's 75-63 win at No. 15 Largo last night came to a premature end with 35.8 seconds remaining after a hard foul, then escalated into a melee involving fans and players.
Gwynn Park was in command when Yellow Jackets junior Corey Anderson was fouled hard underneath the basket. Officials signaled a technical foul, and Anderson had to be restrained and removed from the gymnasium by two police officers and another person whom Gwynn Park Coach Mike Glick identified as a family member.
Anderson's reaction, coupled with the officials calling off the game, triggered a bench-clearing shoving match between the rival squads. Fans from both schools quickly became involved, with punches being thrown by fans and players.
Police officers, school officials and coaches from both schools helped restore order as the teams were sent to their locker rooms.
Police officers on the scene said there were no arrests and no serious injuries.
"In 15 years of coaching I have never been a part of anything like that," Glick said. "It's just an unfortunate ending, but it doesn't take away from the fact that it was a hard-fought game."
The game included three technical fouls and was physical from the outset. Largo's 6-foot-11 senior center, Maurice Sutton, was ejected with 2 minutes 59 seconds left in the first quarter following an altercation that left Gwynn Park senior Ronnell Leggett (16 points) with a cut over his right eye.
Largo Coach Lewis Howard said Sutton's ejection set the tone.
"There's two sides to every story," Howard said. "And the side of the story that I'm sitting on is that the kid hit him first."
By rule, Sutton -- who was in the locker room during the game-ending brawl -- will not be able to play in Largo's next game.
According to Prince George's County Athletic Director Earl Hawkins, any further suspensions will be issued by the schools' principals.
"The only thing I can say is that the code of conduct is always enforced," Hawkins said. "If they are at school and at a school activity, the code of conduct must be followed."
Led by 6-2 senior guard Harold Washington's 24 points, Gwynn Park (21-0, 17-0 Prince George's 3A/2A/1A) clinched the 2A South Region's top seed. The Yellow Jackets will also play in next Wednesday's Prince George's County title game against Laurel, to be played at Wise High School.
Gwynn Park has now accounted for half of Largo's losses this season. The Yellow Jackets won, 80-50, at home on Jan. 18. "They beat us at their place handily," Howard said. "Tonight was going to be a dogfight, and it was going to be that barring ejections and technical fouls or what have you because it's a competitive game in a competitive atmosphere."
Largo Forward Aaron Martin scored 23 points to lead the Lions (17-4, 14-3).
"It doesn't really matter how it ended," Howard said, "because hopefully they will bring home the 2A state crown and we will bring home the 3A state crown and all this was a glorified practice."
Thursday, February 14
Gwynn Park Jackets stay perfect at 19-0 in 78-53 route of Fairmont Heights
Gwynn Park Jackets stay perfect
Gwynn Park buys into coach’s system and finds winning formulaThe Fairmont Heights High School boys’ basketball team had just gone on an 8-0 run late in the fourth quarter on Monday night when Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick called a timeout and told his team, ‘‘You have to run the offense.” It took virtually all of last season for the Yellow Jackets to somewhat master Glick’s system. But by the second quarter of Gwynn Park’s 78-53 victory on the road against the Hornets, Glick’s system appeared almost second nature to the Yellow Jackets. ‘‘It took about a year for us to get it down,” Gwynn Park senior forward Chibuike Achuko said after the game. ‘‘In his system, he stresses defense, rebounding and hustle. I think we’re real close to [perfecting] his system. We just have to stay playing together.” A big reason the Yellow Jackets remain undefeated (19-0 overall, 15-0 County 3A⁄2A⁄1A) is that the players appear to be on the same page on just about everything. ‘‘When I noticed that they had learned the system, you could see the improvement,” Glick said. ‘‘They started listening to what I was trying to teach them. It took us about three-fourths of last season to all start playing together.” And through three-fourths of the 2007-08 season, the Yellow Jackets have established themselves as the team to beat in the County 3A⁄2A⁄1A League. Aside from mastering the offense, Gwynn Park’s success also is rooted in its defense. Several weeks ago against second-place Largo, a team that frequently pushes the 100-point barrier, Gwynn Park stifled the Lions, holding them to only 53 points in a 30-point blowout win. ‘‘Basically, No. 1 in coach’s system is defense,” said senior guard Sean Thomas. ‘‘We all needed to take accountability for one another on the team. On offense, he just wants us to make sure we hustle up and down the floor and take good shots. At the end of last season, I knew that we were right there in terms of mastering coach’s system.” Gwynn Park led, 16-13, after a closely contested first quarter against Fairmont Heights, but the game quickly turned lopsided in the second quarter when the Yellow Jackets outscored Fairmont Heights, 19-10, to open up a 12-point halftime lead. When Gwynn Park turned up the defense, the pressure forced the Hornets into numerous turnovers. By the time the third quarter was over, Gwynn Park led by 22. Several Gwynn Park players had big days in the victory. Leading the way was Thomas, who scored 26 points to go along with six assists. Gwynn Park senior Harold Washington had a big night, scoring 14 points to go along with six rebounds and seven assists. Achuko had 14 points and nine rebounds. Fairmont Heights fell to 13-4, 11-4 in the County 3A⁄2A⁄1A League with the loss, coupled with Friday’s setback to Friendly.
E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.
Thursday, January 24
Gwynn Park boys pound Largo by 30 points!!!
Largo is beaten badly 80-50 at the hands of the Yellow Jackets
Passing game helps lift team to 30-point victory, Yellow Jacket girls suffer first loss of season
by Kevin Hilgers | Staff Writer
Thomas scored 30 points on 12-for-13 shooting in the victory, with many of those points coming thanks to the quick passing of Washington, who had nine assists, many of which were made possible by his five steals. Besides that, Washington added 14 points.
‘‘Even in practice we’re always together, working on our camaraderie,” Thomas said. ‘‘It really helps us and it showed on the court.”
The Yellow Jackets (13-0, 9-0 after defeating Friendly on Tuesday) trailed 19-15 after the first quarter, in which Largo’s Aaron Martin scored 11 of his 13 points and the Lions’ 6-foot-11 center, Maurice Sutton (12 points, four blocks), grabbed five of his seven rebounds.
But within the first minute of the second quarter, the Yellow Jackets jumped ahead with two Washington-to-Thomas transition layups. With four minutes before halftime, Thomas swiped a ball from Largo and fed Washington for a two-handed dunk to end a 6-0 run that put Gwynn Park ahead for good, 29-25.
Washington returned the favor to his teammate for his own jam, and the Yellow Jackets, who had been blown out in two of their last three meetings with Largo, had a 10-point lead. The difference grew to 30 when Tim Floyd hit a crowd-rousing 3-pointer at the final buzzer, giving Largo its first regular-season loss in the county in two seasons.
‘‘It was pretty shocking for us because the first half was back and forth and a real close game,” Washington said. ‘‘It was surprising when we were up by 20.”
Gwynn Park held Largo (11-2, 8-1 after defeating Forestville on Tuesday), which averaged 85 points entering the game, to a season low in scoring and limited the Lions to just two field goals in the fourth quarter, piling on to its 52-45 lead entering the period.
When they weren’t scoring in transition, the Yellow Jackets were cycling the ball around the perimeter, taking their time to make plays inside for easy baskets and dictating the pace.
‘‘That was the execution of the game plan to perfection for us, especially in the second half,” Glick said. ‘‘Our players were able to play with controlled discipline and handle the pressure.”
Chibuike Achuko scored 14 points for Gwynn Park and Corey Anderson chipped in 10. Klevin Pollard added 13 points for Largo, which will get a chance to get back at the Yellow Jackets when the Lions play host to the rematch on Feb. 19.
E-mail Kevin Hilgers at khilgers@gazette.net.
Monday, January 21
Gwynn Park Patiently Takes It To Largo
|
|
|
|
|
Ron Bailey, Publisher
January 20, 2008 – The assumed Prince George’s Count 3A/2A league’s game of the year to date didn’t quite live up to the hype, as Gwynn Park (Clinton, MD) used a 15-6 run in the third quarter to distance themselves from previously unbeaten Largo (Upper Marlboro, MD), only to run away with the game for a 80-50 win Friday night. The home standing victors were led by senior guard Sean Thomas’ 30 points, along with 16 from fellow fourth year backcourt man, Harold Washington.
Starting the game in an unusual box-and-one defensive alignment focusing on Largo’s Kevin Pollard (13 points), Gwynn Park more or less traded baskets with the Lion. After the game’s first basket, a shot by Washington, it wouldn’t be until Thomas’ back to back layups, the last of which tickled the twin with 7:20 to go in the second quarter, that Gwynn Park would again lead.
Gwynn Park's dynamic backcourt duo of Sean Thomas (l.) and Harold Washington.
Though the Yellow Jackets led 37-32 at intermission, the game’s pace more or less favored Largo, probably known as the Washington, D.C. area’s most consistently frenetic team on both sides of the court, given their pressure defense and relentless attack offensively.
To combat that, Gwynn Park’s coach, Mike Glick, came into the game knowing both handling Largo’s full court pressure and half court traps, in addition to controlling pace would be key.
“A lot credit goes to our J.V. team” said school’s coach on his team’s preparation for Largo’s defense. “We practiced against seven or eight of them. It really helped us handle their pressure”.
Given that “Largo is the leading scoring team in the area”, Glick shared “our goal was to keep the game’s (offensive) pace under control”, something Thomas seemed to do in earnest, starting in the third quarter: Sean directed his team to a 52-40 advantage, leading through defensive intensity, smart overall play, and by forcing his team to stick to its game plan of sharing the ball, thereby forcing Largo to play defense for extended periods of time. This included one possession that lasted close to two minutes.
“Coach told us to slow the ball down” revealed Thomas, before adding “When we slowed the ball down, held it for like 30 seconds, they broke down. Our game plan worked. They were very well scouted”.
Pic - “I know my team needed a boost in the second half”, so I knew me and Harold Washington had to pick the team up”.
Glick said of his leader “He’s the heart and soul of our team. I give him all the credit. He really stepped up when we lost our point guard (earlier this season”.
After a stretch where two double technical fouls were issued by the referees in an effort to calm emotions, Gwynn Park continued their pass-centric halfcourt offensive focus, as well as seeing Thomas et al create more turnovers. The team as a whole hit numerous foul shots down the stretch.
Glick responded “I’d say so”, when asked of this was his team’s biggest win of the year. “They are the only team we haven’t beat since I’ve been at Gwynn Park (two seasons). And they beat us in the playoffs last year”.
Chibuike Achuko (42) had 14 points while battling inside.
Washington, agreed, but added “It’s one of our biggest wins league wise, but I’d say Randallstown (a Baltimore County school that was defeated 73-60 in the Bay Ball Classic) was our biggest game, because we’ll probably meet them down the line, in the state semifinals”.
Such long term thinking is good, but the road to the Comcast Center for Gwynn Park (12-0, 8-0 in league play) will still likely go through Largo (10-2, 7-1), where a February 19th tilt looms.
Stay tuned, the 3A/2A is heating up.
Notes:
Thomas Time: When his team pulled away in the third quarter, Sean Thomas was all over the place, scoring and defending. One play, which occurred at the end of that run, exemplified his impact: Though he created a steal out of a 2-3 zone defense, Thomas was unable to corral the rock. Smartly, he softly tipped the ball ahead, which was gathered by a teammate, before getting off the deck, racing down the floor, and scoring on a layup.
A Swarm of ‘Jacks: In addition to Thomas and Washington, senior Chibuike Achuko also dropped 14 points, in addition to manning the boards. A standout in football, Achuko is being recruited by a number of Ivy League-caliber schools in that sport.
|
Saturday, January 19
Thomas Plus Thomas Adds Up to a Big Gwynn Park Win
By Josh Barr Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 19, 2008; Page E07
Sean Thomas and Eric Thomas are such good friends, they joke that they are "distant cousins." They may like many of the same things off the court, but on the floor the two unrelated senior guards could not be more different. Sean Thomas is the leading scorer for 13th-ranked Gwynn Park; Eric moved into the starting lineup last week for the first time when another teammate became academically ineligible.
And while there was quite a contrast in their performances last night, both played big roles in the host Yellow Jackets' 80-50 dismantling of ninth-ranked Largo before a near-capacity crowd of 600 in a game between Prince George's 3A/2A/1A leaders in Brandywine.
Sean Thomas made 12 of 13 shots and finished with 30 points, one off his career high. Eric Thomas did not attempt a shot from the field and finished with one point, roughly half his season average.
But while Sean Thomas and another senior guard, Harold Washington, kept Gwynn Park's offense going, it was Eric Thomas who played the key role in Gwynn Park's box-and-one defense, guarding Largo's leading scorer, Klevin Pollard.
Pollard finished with 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting, well below his season average of nearly 22 points per game, and at times grew frustrated with the constant face-guarding by Eric Thomas and sophomore Tim Floyd. Eric Thomas had a trophy of sorts to show for his effort: a bloody lower lip that he said was the result of an elbow from Pollard in the fourth quarter (Pollard was called for an intentional foul on the play).
"If he can't get the ball, he can't score," Eric Thomas said. "He started getting rattled."
Largo Coach Lewis Howard said Pollard's struggles also impacted his second-leading scorer, 6-foot-11 center Maurice Sutton, because Pollard often is the one feeding Sutton the ball. Sutton made 4 of 8 shots and had 12 points. Largo (10-2, 7-1), the area's highest-scoring team, finished 36 points below its season average.
In addition to playing solid defense, Gwynn Park (12-0, 8-0) was patient offensively, repeatedly pulling the ball away from the basket and making extra passes, often leading to baskets.
"Normally, we're not that patient," Gwynn Park Coach Mike Glick said. "That's the most patient we've been. But it was also the most patient we had to be to win this season."
No. 13 Gwynn Park 80, No. 9 Largo 50 A Solid Assist: Gwynn Park guard Harold Washington finished with 14 points, 8 assists and 6 steals. All six steals led to baskets, five by Sean Thomas. Quite a Difference: Gwynn Park lost to Largo three times last season, including a 39-point loss at home and an eight-point loss in the Maryland 3A South Region playoffs. No. 13 Gwynn Park 80, No. 9 Largo 50 A Solid Assist: Gwynn Park guard Harold Washington finished with 14 points, 8 assists and 6 steals. All six steals led to baskets, five by Sean Thomas. Quite a Difference: Gwynn Park lost to Largo three times last season, including a 39-point loss at home and an eight-point loss in the Maryland 3A South Region playoffs.
Friday, January 18
Gwynn Off To An Undefeated Start
Wednesday, January 16
Gwynn Park Off and Running
By Josh BarrWashington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 17, 2008; Page PG12
Gwynn Park Loses Guard
Gwynn Park has been among the county's most impressive teams and entered this week undefeated at 10-0, 6-0 in the Prince George's 3A/2A/1A league.
The Yellow Jackets will be challenged in coming weeks, however, as they try to replace starting point guard Keith Thomas, who became academically ineligible after the second academic quarter. "The kid had over a 2.0 [grade-point average] and failed an [Advanced Placement] class," Coach Mike Glick said. "He would be eligible in just about any other jurisdiction in the state."
Academic eligibility regulations vary by school system; Prince George's is in the first year of a rule that requires students to maintain at least a 2.0 GPA without failing any classes.
Gwynn Park's first game without Thomas was a 71-65 victory over Fairmont Heights this past Friday. Senior Eric Thomas moved into the starting lineup and sophomore Tim Floyd boosted his playing time.
"It's a challenge, but just like any year I've coached, there are always going to be things that pop up in the middle of the season that you're not expecting that you're going to have to overcome," Glick said. "Other guys are going to have to step up and assume other roles. It's definitely a loss for us. It's going to take us four or five games to get adjusted. The thing that hurts most is that Keith was our biggest talker, our leader -- he was my extension on the floor."
Up and Down Week for Stags
Saturday, January 12
Achuko Displays His Versatility, Gwynn Park Remains Undefeated
By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 12, 2008; Page E05
Chiby Achuko's role on the basketball court is pretty simple: "Rebound, play defense, finish," Gwynn Park's senior center said.
In that order.
So what a surprise it was to just about everybody in the gym last night when Achuko, better known for his play as a tight end, started scoring in droves, especially down the stretch.
He scored 15 of his career-high 27 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed 13 rebounds as the 13th-ranked Yellow Jackets rallied for a 71-65 victory over visiting Fairmont Heights in a Prince George's 3A/2A/1A game in Brandywine.
"Did he really?" asked Gwynn Park Coach Mike Glick when informed of Achuko's scoring total. "Unbelievable. That's why I love football players. They're not scared, and they play with reckless abandon."
They apparently also don't mind near-crazy schedules. After last night's game, Achuko said he planned to be on the road with his father by 4 a.m. this morning so they could drive to Pittsburgh for a football recruiting visit to Duquesne. He also has a trip scheduled to upstate New York to visit Colgate next weekend.
While Achuko plans to play football in college, he showed last night why he is essential to his school's basketball team, scoring nearly all of his points on close shots as guards Sean Thomas (14 points) and Harold Washington (17 points) repeatedly drove the lane and passed.
Still, those seemingly easy shots were not automatic, Glick said, noting Achuko had struggled to score this season. He entered averaging 7.2 points and nearly doubled his previous season high of 14.
"He would rush shots, [miss] uncontested layups," said Glick, whose team improved to 10-0, 6-0 in the Prince George's 3A/2A/1A. "Washington and Thomas are great break-down players. His ability to finish is huge for us. We've been working all season on Chiby finishing around the basket."
The game was close throughout, with neither team leading by more than seven points. Fairmont Heights (6-3, 3-2) took a 59-56 lead before Achuko sparked a 7-0 run. He scored on a putback, made a steal that led to a basket by Washington and then converted a three-point play for a 63-59 lead.
It was 65-65 when Achuko made a reverse layup to give the Yellow Jackets the lead with less than two minutes left.
"We call man-to-man defense, and a guy gambles, guy steps up and he gets a layup," Fairmont Heights Coach George Wake said of Achuko. "I'm 1,100 years old, and I could score those baskets the way we left him open."
No. 13 Gwynn Park 71 Fairmont Heights 65 Tough Test Looms: After playing Central (Md.) Tuesday, Gwynn Park will host No. 4 Largo on Friday. Wanna Play Horse?: James Watkins made a half-court shot to end the first half, and Joseph Fearn banked in a 25-footer to end the third quarter for Fairmont Heights. No. 13 Gwynn Park 71 Fairmont Heights 65 Tough Test Looms: After playing Central (Md.) Tuesday, Gwynn Park will host No. 4 Largo on Friday. Wanna Play Horse?: James Watkins made a half-court shot to end the first half, and Joseph Fearn banked in a 25-footer to end the third quarter for Fairmont Heights.
Monday, November 26
In the Gym With Harold Washington
In his 13 years as a Head Coach at Pallotti High School in Laurel and at Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn, Mike Glick built two Catholic School prep hoop powers, compiled a record of 282-137, and coached numerous future high division one college players– including former UConn star and current NBA player Rudy Gay.
 |
 |
 |
| Washington averaged 12.5 points per game last season. |
So, when Coach Glick tells you that he has a player who is "… phenomenal athlete who can just shoot the heck out of the ball and is really blowing-up into a really good player," you listen.
Coach Glick, who is beginning his second year as coach at Gwynn Park High School in Prince George's County, returns a number of talented players from last season's very young squad that improved greatly as the season progressed and finished 13-10.
Most local hoops fans are familiar with the Yellow Jacket's returning point guard, 6-2 senior Sean Thomas, a D-I college prospect, but Coach Glick is quick to point out that he has another potential college recruit in 6-2 wing Harold Washington.
Washington averaged 12.5 points as a junior for Gwynn Park, but, according to Coach Glick, "… Harold just blew up this summer, he really improved. He is a terrific athlete, but he can really shoot it, too… he just REALLY improved this off-season. Harold is a true wing player. Sean (Thomas) is a natural 'combo guard' who plays the point for us, Harold is more a natural wing, two guard. People notice his athleticism, but he can shoot the ball and his skills are really coming on."
Coach Glick said that Washington's "phenomenal athleticism" was on full display this summer at the Eastern Invitational Camp in New Jersey. "When Harold was up at the team Camp at Eastern (Invitational Camp), he participated in this thing they have called the API Test where they measure a player's overall athletic ability- speed, leaping ability, shuttle runs, quickness,, strength, all that stuff. Harold rated out as the number one kid out of like 650 kids there on the test. That is how athletic he is. He can just explode, athletically. As a player, he is really starting to come on, come into his own."
"Harold can score off the dribble, he can get to the rim and finish, and he can really shoot," said Coach Glick.
Though Washington is a "sleeper" on the local prep scene, colleges have already taken notice of Washington's potential. "Harold has five colleges, already, who want him now. About 20-30 schools have contacted us about him. He could go D-I next year if he wants. We are considering letting him prep next year. He is such a 'late bloomer' he might use the extra prep year to get ready for college. If he preps, he might play AAU ball with Keith Stevens (and the Triple Threat AAU Program) this spring and summer and then get a prep year. He is about 6'2" and 170 pounds, he could even use the year to mature more physically. Harold is kind of slender right now, but he is really athletic. Harold didn't play AAU ball this last summer. We had our kids mostly play with the Gwynn Park team and work out on skills and conditioning, instead of playing AAU ball."
With talent like Sean Thomas and Harold Washington, the Yellow Jackets will be fun to watch and a formidable opponent in PG County this year. Coach Glick has quickly rebuilt Gwynn Park back to its historical status as a PG County and Maryland State prep hoops contender.
"I'm really excited about this year, I think we can be very good," Coach Glick told MdVarsity.com. "I can't wait until people get a chance to see what Harold can do on the floor for us this year.'
(EDITOR'S NOTE" Earlier this Fall, MdVarsity.com ran a James Quinn "In the Gym" Player Profile on Washington's teammate Sean Thomas).
Sunday, November 11
Mike Glick is getting his feet underneath him at Gwynn Park and a big reason why is Sean Thomas.
Wednesday, June 27
Glick era shaping into form at Gwynn Park
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Yellow Jackets showing improvement under coachÂ’s system
by Terron Hampton | Staff Writer
Year one of the Mike Glick era with the Gwynn Park High School boysÂ’ basketball team did see the Yellow Jackets continue their recent run as state championship contenders.
And the quality of basketball was not reflective of the teams Glick coached in his previous stops at Archbishop Spalding and St. Vincent Pallotti high schools, where his teams won multiple private school league championships.
The Yellow Jackets started last season with five consecutive losses. Gwynn ParkÂ’s 2007 summer league coach, Brian Brennan, attributed the teamÂ’s early woes last season to learning GlickÂ’s system.
The team eventually caught on, winning its last five games of the regular season and taking eventual 3A South Region champion Largo down to the final minutes in a regional semifinal setback.
‘‘I think the most important thing for us was getting experience,” Glick said Tuesday evening after watching the Yellow Jackets suffer a 32-26 setback to Laurel at the Wise Battleground League. ‘‘I thought my first season went very well. I was very happy with the way we finished.”
A year into his tenure, Glick said the current group of Yellow Jackets’ players have learned his system and ‘‘got it down.”
The goals for the Yellow Jackets this summer are the same as virtually every team.
‘‘We want to get better,” said senior guard Sean Thomas, one of Gwynn Park’s leaders. ‘‘We all have to work on our games individually. Coach Glick is the type of person that will yell at you, but then turn around and encourage you and give you a compliment. He gives us sort of tough love.”
Thomas and several of his teammates have recruiters hot on their trail. Thomas has been getting looks from Navy, George Mason, Hampton and Holy Cross among others.
ThomasÂ’ senior teammate Chibu Ikachuko excels on the basketball court, but moreso on the gridiron where he is being recruited to play football by Boston College, North Carolina State and James Madison.
Ikachuko said he thinks the basketball team will ‘‘go all the way” and contend for a state championship.
‘‘Our experience is our biggest strength,” Ikachuko said. ‘‘We have a lot of players coming back from last season. This summer, we have to bond well and know coach’s system. But coach said that we have to learn to play the whole game from beginning to end.”
The Yellow Jackets will open the 2007-08 season with the same starting lineup that finished the 2006-07 campaign. But developing a bond has been tough to do early on during the summer.
Some players have gone on vacations with family, and some work. Others, like Ikachuko — who has not been with the team for the past three weeks — have been away on recruiting trips.
On the court, the team still has a lot of work to do.
‘‘I think the thing that we have to work on is mostly our defense,” senior guard Harold Washington said. ‘‘We’re weak in [transition]. But we have definitely improved since last season. Sometimes, we were playing separately and not as a unit. But our front line is pretty strong this year and we know how to get to the basket.”
In addition to the Wise Battleground League, Gwynn Park will participate in a number of team camps starting with the D.C. Board Games this weekend at Henry A. Wise High. And Glick is hoping to prepare the team for everything associated with the summer and upcoming season.
‘‘I’m very excited because we have great kids and great academic students,” Glick said. ‘‘It’s important that we improve as basketball players collectively and individually and get better as athletes in our conditioning. I really want to get them prepared for getting exposure and I have my eyes set on July 5, the first day of the collegiate open recruiting period.”
E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.
Saturday, July 14
Brad Bald, a former player for Coach Glick, commits to UNC-Wilmington
CAA Insider Exclusive Interiew with Brad Bald
Thursday, 05 July 2007
By Brian Crownover
durunner@caainsider.com
The University of North Carolina Wilmington recently received a commitment from forward Brad Bald out of Severna Park in Maryland. CAA Insider recently caught up with Brad to get his thoughts on his decision.
CAA Insider: Congratulations on choosing the University of North Carolina Wilmington. They had a down season last year, but have been one of the top teams in the CAA over the last decade.
CAA Insider: What impressed you most about the following:
The team?
The coaches?
The school?
Brad Bald: The team: The University of North Carolina Wilmington plays in the Colonial Athletic Association Conference which is one of the strongest mid major conferences in the Country. UNCW has been to the NCAA four of the past eight
years. After meeting with second year Coach Benny Moss and his Coaching staff, I felt confident that he was putting together a team that would have a chance each year to make it to the NCAA's.
The coaches: Coach Moss is awesome, he is a very positive Coach and very easy to talk to. I look forward to playing for him for four years. I felt comfortable with all of Coach Moss' coaching staff. I liked the fact that he is rebuilding the
program and I will be a part of that building process. I believe his team will be much stronger next year and by the time I enroll in 2008 our team will be at the top of the conference once again.
The school: I liked the size of the school, I think around 12,000 students. My mother's family all live in North Carolina, so I am happy that they will be able to come watch many of my games. Since I love the ocean the fact that it is only 5
minutes from the beach was perfect. I also loved the beach volleyball courts and pools on campus. The new student center also looked very nice. On the academic side, I plan on majoring in business and its business program is very strong.
CAA Insider: You are a versatile forward who can score inside or step outside and knock down the jump shot. Which do you prefer doing now and what do you see yourself doing more of in college (if different)? How do you feel this versatility will fit in with what UNCW is trying to do?
Brad Bald: My AAU coach has me playing mostly with my back to the basket since I have very strong post moves and good foot work. If I am being guarded by a smaller person I prefer playing inside so that I can use my low post moves to score. However, if I am being guarded by a bigger or slower person, I prefer to receive the ball on the perimeter where I can beat him off the dribble or knock down the open jumper. Playing for Coach Moss will be perfect for me since he allows his 4 men not only to play inside but also to play out on the wing. His 4 man also trails the break and is able to shoot the 3 pointer. I actually think my game is more suited for college than it is in high school since most of the teams I have played on have required me to stay in the low post since I was always the tallest on the team. In college, I will not be forced to only play inside and Coach Moss' offense will take advantage of my versatility.
CAA Insider: What areas did the UNCW coaches or any other coaches you've talked to tell you that you need to work on?
Brad Bald: As with most high school players I know I need to continue to get stronger. Presently I have been working with a trainer and I already have gotten stronger. I have put on 15 pounds since the season ended. I will continue to work with my trainer up until the time I enroll in UNCW.
CAA Insider: You play with a pretty high profile AAU team in Triple Threat. What have you learned by playing alongside talented players such as Jason Clark (Georgetown) and Chris Braswell (Georgetown)?
Brad Bald: Practicing every day with great players makes you better. I have also learned that when everyone is flowing into the system of play, and we are playing as a team, I play better.
CAA Insider: Who is the best player you've ever had to guard?
Brad Bald: Rudy Gay.
CAA Insider: You are transferring from Archbishop Spalding to Severna Park? Why did you decide to make this move?
Brad Bald: At the end of my sophomore year Spalding's Head Coach, Mike Glick, left. I really only went to Spalding because of Coach Glick and the reputation he had as a great basketball coach, having coached the likes of Rudy Guy and
several other players who have gone on and had great college careers. Once he left, I wanted to transfer to Severna Park, but my parents wanted me to give it one year with the new coach. Since I didn't have as much fun playing my junior year, I decided to transfer to my local high school so that I could finish up my high school career with my childhood and middle school friends. Severna Park also has a very strong academic reputation and its basketball coach, Paul Pellicani, also has a great reputation having coached previously at Maine Central Prep.
CAA Insider: By the time you get to UNCW, they will have graduated a number of frontcourt players? Was potential early playing time a big part of your decision?
Brad Bald: Yes, because itÂ’s definitely a plus to know your going to go to a school where you will be able to play your freshman year.
CAA Insider: Most of the players making commitments this early on are going to high major programs from conferences like the Big East or ACC? A lot of players hold out in hopes of the bigger offer. What make you decide to commitment a mid major program this early?
Brad Bald: Many people have asked me that question. Prior to my commitment to UNCW, I was being actively recruited by over forty schools having received over 22 scholarship offers. The remaining 18+ schools heavily recruiting me were mostly from the Colonial Athletic Conference, Atlantic 10 and Conference USA. I was also starting to get letters from schools like Penn State, Florida, Virginia and Virginia Tech. I felt that even if I did receive offers from a high major
conference, I would not find a place that I felt more comfortable at than UNCW. I did not want to make the mistake my choosing to go to a school just because it had a higher rating only to want to transfer after my first year. I know I could
have waited like many players do for a "bigger offer", but why wait if you know you have found the school that is a perfect fit for you.
CAA Insider: July is a big evaluation period. Do you feel like you'll play more relaxed now that your decision has been made?
Brad Bald: I am actually relaxed because I now do not have to respond to all of the text messages and phone calls. It seemed everyday some new school would call me or text me and I am the type of person that felt obligated to respond to every call or every text. Now I can relax and enjoy my summer. As far as playing more relaxed, I never felt uptight about playing in front of coaches because once the game starts you forget about who is watching and just play basketball. The fact that I have committed won't stop me from playing hard.
CAA Insider: Speaking of July, what camps or events will you are playing at in the upcoming months?
Brad Bald: I recently sprained my ankle and am out for about two weeks. My ankle sprain will cause me to miss the Eastern Camp and a Tournament in West Virginia. The ankle should be fine when I play in Las Vegas with my AAU team, "Triple Threat". Other than that I will wait and see.
CAA Insider: Who has had the most impact on your game?
Brad Bald: My parents and Triple Threat Coach Keith Stevens.
CAA Insider: Do you know what you are going to major in at UNCW?
Brad Bald: I'm not sure but possibly business or pre-law.
CAA Insider: Thank you for your time and good luck at with the Seahawks.
Saturday, July 14
2007 Yellow Jackets Varsity Summer Schedule / Results
Yellow Jackets Summer Basketball Schedule 2007
May 31st vs. Potomac WON +22 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise Summer League
June 7th vs. Wise (Blue) WON +24 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise Summer League
June 9th vs. Suitland WON +37 @ HBC Tourn @ Catholic University
June 9th vs. Gonzaga (DC) Loss -19 @ HBC Tourn @ Catholic University
June 10th vs O'Connell (VA) Loss -8 @ HBC Tourn @ Catholic University
June 12th vs. North Point WON +18 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise Summer League
June 15-16 at Navy Team Camp 5-1 record @ United States Naval Academy
vs. St Mary's Ryken WON + 4 " "
vs. St. Mary's WON + 23 " "
vs. Urbana WON + 24 " "
vs. St. Paul's WON + 13 " "
vs. St.Mary's Ryken WON + 3 " "
vs. Laurel Loss -4 " "
June 18th vs. PCA Loss -8 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise Summer League
June 19th vs. Laurel Loss -5 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise Summer League
June 23 & 24 vs. DC Borad Games 4-2 record @ Dr. Henry Wise High School
vs. Riverdale Baptist WON +11 " "
vs. Oxon Hill Loss -4 " "
vs. Douglas WON + 28 " "
vs. Bowie WON + 26 " "
vs Oxon Hill WON +17 " "
vs. E. Roosevelt Loss -12 " "
June 25th vs DuVal Won + 2 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise SummerLeague
June 28th vs. TC Williams Loss - 5 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise Summer League
July 2nd vs. Largo WON + 31 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise Summer League
July 5-9 at Eastern Invititional Basketball Camp @ Treton New Jersey
July 12th vs. Wise (Gold) Loss - 6 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise Summer League
July 16th vs Lackey Loss -13 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise Summer League
July 19th vs. E. Roosevelt Loss - 2 @ WBG Dr. Henry Wise Summer League
Tuesday, May 22
Chibbie Achucko Making Big Splash on the Football Field
With the talent on Gwynn Park's offense it is simple to understand how an athlete can be overlooked. With Ronald Hobby and Jerel Coles garnering most of the offensive load last year tight end Chibby Achucko went relatively unnoticed, but that is changing.
The 6-3, 205 Achuko is receiving interest from Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Illinois, Villanova, Princeton, William & Mary, Temple and Duquesne; all of this has occurred within the last month.
Head coach Danny Hayes calls Achuko the "quiet storm" on his team because he has been overlooked up to this point.
His strong leaping ability has been enhanced by his play on the basketball court which is where Hayes first knew he had a talented tight end on his team.
Achuko started playing defensive end for Yellow Jackets and recorded 86 tackles, four sacks, and seven knock downs last season.
Once Hayes saw his Dennis Rodman-like ability to leap for rebounds and physically dominate opponents on the blocks he thought he had the strength. When he saw Achuko start catching the ball he knew he had the makings of a star.
"(He) knows exactly what he wants to do, when he wants to do it and how he wants to do it," Hayes said. "If he wants the ball he's getting it."
Achuko's strength is his hands and intelligence. On the field Achuko caught 11 passes for 168 yards and in the classroom he maintains a 3.5 GPA.
Hayes intends to split Achuko out wide this year giving him more opportunities to make plays.
Gwynn Park has a trio of talented offensive players and even with Cole and Hobby Achuko is sure not to be overlooked for long.
Thursday, May 3
Gwynn Park's Sean Thomas Turning Heads
by James Quinn
MDVarsity.com Magazine Staff
Mike Glick's first season as the head coach at Gwynn Park High School was made a lot easier by the presence, talent and leadership of 6-2.5 junior point guard Sean Thomas.
The Yellow Jackets were looking at a serious rebuilding job in 2006-2007 after veteran Coach Steve Mathews left in the spring of 2006. Gwynn Park lost 11 of 14 players from their 2005-2006 squad and the three returning players had limited experience. (Prior to Mathews, legendary D.C. basketball figure George Leftwich had success at Gwynn Park).
But Gwynn Park has a long, distinguished history as a public school hoops power in Prince George's County and Mike Glick, who had previously built Catholic School powers at Pallotti High School and Archbishop Spalding, quickly built a competitive team from the young talent at his disposal at Gwynn Park.
The Yellow Jackets were a very respectable 13-10 this year even though they had a very young team with little proven size.
One of the key reasons for Gwynn Park's success this year was Sean Thomas. "Sean had a terrific year for us," Coach Glick told MdVarsity.com. "He was our leading scorer at 13.7 points a game. He led us with 3.5 assists per game and his assist-to-turnover rate was 2.5 to 1, which is really good. Sean is a point guard for us, but I think he'll 'combo' in college. He is strong and skilled enough to play either guard position. He is already about 185 pounds and he is still just 16 years old. Sean isn't a great long range shooter, he only attempted 2 three pointers this season, but he is a good mid-range shooter and he can really get to the rim. Sean can really create off the dribble and is strong enough to take the bump. He is a tough kid, he led us in free throw attempts this year. Even though he is not a great shooter, he did hit 48 pct. of his field goal attempts as a junior."
Coach Glick pointed out that Thomas, "Â… played better as the year went along. We won our last five games and Sean had a lot to do with that. His scoring went down a little at the end of the year, but he was running the team and doing a lot of things to lead the team, make us better and win some games. He had a really good year for us."
Coach Glick said that Thomas is already getting recruiting interest "Â…from about 10 Division One colleges. Holy Cross, Navy, George Mason, Akron, LoyolaÂ…we have a few colleges coming in to look at him in 'open gyms' this week. Sean is a great kid, a real good teammate, a kid who can be a real leader. He is a good student, he has a 3.3 GPA and a good, qualifying SAT score already. Even though Sean has a good SAT score already, he is going to take it again so that he can keep some of these real 'high end' academic colleges on him. I really like Sean, I think he is a heckuva player. We could be pretty darn good next year and he'll be a big key for us."
Thomas will be playing AAU ball with the Triple Threat Blue 17 & Under AAU squad this off-season.
Tuesday, December 26
National Cup could be event's top bracket in Salisbury
By Tim Brennan
Staff Writer
SALISBURY -- In six days the basketball will be tossed in the air at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center, and it will be in near constant motion for four days of action at the 2006 Lions Club Holiday Classic.
When things finally come to rest, six championship will be crowned, with the last one being either Gwynn Park, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Archbishop Spalding or Thomas Jefferson. The four schools will be playing in the National Cup, possibly the premiere bracket of the event.
ADVERTISEMENT
The championship will be staged next Saturday, tipping off at 9 p.m.
"We look forward to playing good competition because it only makes us better," Good Councel coach Mike Hibbs said. "It lets us know what we need to do to get better and offers another challenge for us to get ready for our league."
Three of the schools will come from across the bridge in Maryland, while Thomas Jefferson will be making the trip from Brooklyn, N.Y. A team that has been steeped in tradition, the Orange Wave has been down in recent years, and is looking to get back on top, led by senior center Kristin Joyner.
"Jefferson was always competitive through the years, and they fell into the cellar," Thomas Jefferson third-year coach Lawrence Pollard said. "(Our players) don't really know the history, but what they do know now is that we've got a lot of young guys and they want to kind of be the ones to re-establish the program as one of the elite teams in the city and I think we're well on our way to doing that."
Thomas Jefferson will face Gwynn Park in the first round, and should the teams come together in either the championship or consolation game, a Gwynn Park-Archbishop Spalding meeting would be a reunion.
Gwynn Park coach Mike Glick is in his first season leading the Yellow Jackets after coaching Spalding for seven seasons.
"I kind of look at taking it one game at a time," Glick said. "It would be a little special to play Spalding because I have a really good report and relationship with all of my players. It would be great to play against them."
Glick is leading a program that has had a great deal of recent success as Gwynn Park has advanced to four 3A state championship games in the last eight seasons.
The teams in the National Cup bracket look to change up their styles of play, able to run or play a half-court set and with a number of young playersthey are still trying to come together as a team.
"At times we do get a little erratic, because we do have a freshman point guard who's starting for us," Hibbs said. "We have some inexperience in the backcourt and that's caused some trouble at the end of games."
On of the young players making his impact felt early is a 6-foot-5 Thomas Jefferson freshman Joel Wright. He is averaging 15 points and 15 rebounds through his team's first six games and may be the difference in the National Cup.
Thursday, November 30
2006-07 Preview of Gwynn Park Boy's Basketball
Gwynn Park Yellow Jackets
A new era dawns in Brandywine as long-time coach Steve Matthews stepped down last spring.
In his place, Gwynn Park in May hired a proven winner in Glick, a former coach at Archbishop Spalding and St. Vincent Pallotti.
Glick will lead a Yellow Jackets’ boys program that has won more state titles (10) and has played in more state finals (16) than any other program in state history.
Glick led Pallotti to the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference Division II championship in the mid 1990s and led Spalding to several Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference titles.
Glick brings 13 years of experience and 272 career victories to a program that suffered four losses in the state title game during Matthews’ tenure.
“Our objective is very simple and that is to keep getting better and playing our best basketball,“ Glick said. “I’m a defensive-minded coach and we want to be a very good defensive team.“
Gwynn Park will be undersized, with its tallest player standing 6-foot-4, but the Yellow Jackets seek to keep the tempo up by pushing the ball on offense and using its defense to generate points. Junior guards Sean Thomas and Harold Washington will lead the Yellow Jackets’ attack.
Thursday, June 15
Gwynn Park boys & Coach Glick begin from scratch
Gwynn Park boys begin from scratch
Yellow JacketsÂ’ players, new coaching staff have high expectations
Thursday, June 15, 2006
by Terron Hampton
Looking at the Gwynn Park High boysÂ’ basketball teamÂ’s bench during its FalconerÂ’s Summer League game last Thursday, nothing appeared the same.
Aside from three coaches on the sidelines, as the Yellow Jackets had on the sidelines in years past, no noticeable vestiges lingered from the time that Steve Matthews spent with the program.
The starting five that led the Yellow Jackets to the 2004 state final has all graduated and a new coach, Mike Glick, has taken over the program
But the Gwynn Park boysÂ’ program has little problem with starting anew.
‘‘This is a whole new regime here now,” said summer league coach Jarrett Thompson after a lengthy post-game talk with the team outside of Riverdale Baptist last week, after the Yellow Jackets were blown out by Largo. ‘‘We want to weed out all of the bad rumors and garbage that surrounded this team in the past.”
Thompson failed to elaborate on the past or things the new coaching staff did not like.
But a few changes are in store in the coming year for the most successful public boysÂ’ basketball program in state history.
First, the Yellow Jackets will have no starters from 2005-06 returning this season. The teamÂ’s new leaders go by the names of Sean Thomas, Octavius Hinnant and Harold Washington.
Thomas explained what basic training under Glick — one of the most successful coaches in the state over the past decade — has been like.
‘‘The transition, I can’t describe it,” Thomas said, as he struggled for words to explain the new focus at Gwynn Park. ‘‘Just every day, we’re working hard and playing and practicing like we want to win next year.”
The Yellow Jackets are accustomed to winning, having gone to five state Final Fours during MatthewsÂ’ 11 seasons with the team.
But the Yellow Jackets have gained a reputation in recent years for coming up short when the pressure is on.
Leading in the final seconds of the 2004 state championship game, the team allowed its opponent to convert a three-point play and win by one point.
The Yellow Jackets allowed an eight-point lead to evaporate in the final minutes of the 2005 3A East Region final and lost to Crossland on a buzzer-beater.
Washington talked about the intangibles needed for the Yellow Jackets to get over the hump and add to its state-best 11 boysÂ’ basketball championships.
‘‘In order to get better, we have to get stronger mentally,” Washington said in the wake of several years where the Yellow Jackets players and coaches bickered often. ‘‘We’re not a big team, so we have to force teams to play to our size. We’re far along right now from where we began a short while ago.”
Virtually every player Glick has coached over the past decade with the Pallotti and Spalding boysÂ’ basketball teams has gone on to play in college.
Hinnant said he hopes to play four years with a major NCAA program, as his brother Louis has done the past four years with Atlantic Coast Conference power Boston College.
‘‘Coach Glick is a great coach. All he and every other coach we have now is trying to do is get us into college,” said Hinnant, nicknamed ‘‘Lucky” by his coaches and teammates. ‘‘We have a lot of players on this team now that could shock the county next year.”
Said Thompson, ‘‘They’ve never seen anything like this. Everything we do with them now, in terms of drills and things like that, is new. Before the [summer] season, all of the coaches sat down with all of the players and their parents on an individual basis and had a chance to get to know them. The first thing we stress is getting them into college. The second thing we stress is that not everyone goes to Duke or UConn. We just tell them to keep working hard and we’re putting them in positions to win.”
E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.
Thursday, May 25
Before he was a star: Rudy Gay
Today we look at Connecticut forward Rudy Gay.
Gay burst onto the college basketball scene as a true freshman, earning Big East co-Rookie of the Year honors. As a sophomore he averaged 15.2 ppg and 6.4 rpg on a talented UConn team. His upside has him projected as a high lottery pick.
Rudy Gay
Position: Shooting Guard
College: Connecticut
Age: 19
Vitals: 6-foot-9, 220 pounds
High school: Severn (MD) Archbishop Spalding
Coach:Mike Glick
Interview of Rudy Gay's head coach Mike Glick:
When was the first time you remember thinking Rudy eventually could play in the NBA? I had a chance to meet Rudy at the end of his seventh grade year. We recruited him to come to Spalding as an eighth-grader. He decided to go the public school.
He came to Spalding before his junior year. I saw it in him. I've coached a lot of guys. I told him that if he was willing to work on his game, on his grades and in the weight room, he would have been a potential pick out of Spalding. I don't know if he saw it, but I did.
He did a 180 and changed around his academics and changed around his body. He started lifting weights. He got better and better. He had freakish athleticism. He had the wingspan of someone 7 feet 1.
He had tremendous first step and coordination. He had an innate ability to square himself in his jumper. If you were to create the prototype wing in the NBA, it would be in Rudy's body. He's a phenomenal human being. He has not changed since I met him.
What's your fondest game memory of him? His senior year we played St. Francis. They were No. 1 and we were No. 2. I told Rudy they were going to play box-and-one the whole game. He scored 39 against the box-and-one.
There was also his last game. We played in the Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament. We're playing the last game of his senior year. It was the third-place consolation game against DeMatha.
Down nine with three minutes left, I called my last timeout. Rudy said he wasn't going to go out a loser, and he scored the last 11 points of the game and we won by 2. His character showed through.
When's the last time you spoke to him? A week ago maybe. We talk about once a month or a month and half. I had a chance to see him at the Final Four for the Naismith.
What's your draft prediction for him? It looks like most people have him between three and seven. Wherever he goes, his best days are ahead of him.
Whatever NBA team gets him, they will get a guy that will work hard every day and never get into trouble.
Saturday, April 29
Coach Glick Moves Onto Gwynn Park
GLICK UPDATE: Former Spalding coach Mike Glick has accepted the boys basketball coaching job at Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine. The Yellow Jackets, who compete in the Class 3A South Region, finished 17-5 last season, but had to forfeit several games for using an ineligible player.
"I'm very excited to be coaching at a school with such a strong basketball tradition," said Glick, who compiled a 160-78 record during seven years at Spalding and led the Cavaliers to three MIAA A Conference titles (2000, 2002 and 2004) and two Baltimore Catholic League titles (2000 and 2002).
Friday, February 24
Glick steps aside as Spalding coach
Mike Glick has resigned as Archbishop Spalding High School's head boys basketball coach after seven years at the helm, citing a need to spend more time with his ailing father.
Glick, a Silver Spring resident, tendered his resignation yesterday during an emotional meeting with players after school. The announcement comes at the end of a troubling week for the 40-year-old coach.
Glick said his father became seriously ill Thursday, which prompted a meeting Friday with athletic director Lee Dove and other school officials. A decision was made during the meeting that Glick, who also teaches physical education and social studies at the Severn school, would take an indefinite leave of absence from the school.
Five days later, Glick decided to step down permanently.
"My father's health was why I took the leave and it is why I have resigned," Glick said during a phone interview last night. "He is in his mid-70's and he is in poor health. My immediate and first responsibility is to him."
However, a statement released by the school yesterday afternoon stated, "He (Glick) is leaving Spalding to pursue coaching opportunities at the collegiate level."
Last night, Glick said he was interested in coaching college basketball but that he is not currently in contact with any schools.
"As for the resignation, it's something I've been pondering all season," Glick said. "But I still have the passion to coach. I've been at it for a long time and I plan to continue. Whether it be at the high school level or in college, I look forward to the next opportunity that presents itself."
Glick compiled a 160-78 record while at Spalding, led the Cavaliers to three MIAA A Conference titles (2000, 2002 and 2004) and two Baltimore Catholic League titles (2000 and 2002).
Before taking over at Spalding in 1999, Glick coached at St. Vincent Pallotti in Laurel for six years where he compiled a 122-59 record.
He has produced at least one Division I college player every year he has been at Spalding - a total of 14 during his career - including Rudy Gay (Connecticut), Will Bowers (Maryland) and Derrick Snowden (Villanova).
Long-time assistant coach Ralph Burley will coach the Cavaliers (14-18) this weekend when they meet Towson Catholic at 5:15 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals of the season-ending BCL tournament at Loyola College.
The school said the search for a new head coach will begin immediately.
Burley was not available for comment last night.
Players said the timing of their former coach's resignation is what hurt the most.
"Obviously, it was a little unexpected," senior guard Matt Cassilly said. "But stuff happens that you don't expect and we have to support his decision. I think he's a great guy and has done a lot for this program."
Popular summer basketball camps were conducted under Glick's watch, along with the opening this season of a new $5.2 million basketball facility, that seats 1,000 and took two years to build.
"It was very sad - it brought tears to my eyes," said senior combo guard Derek Young, who leads the Cavaliers in scoring and has verbally committed to play at Navy next year. "I thought he was going to finish out the season.
"I met coach when I was in the ninth grade and we've had a very close relationship. He helped me grow up and become a man."
However, a statement released by the school yesterday afternoon stated, "He (Glick) is leaving Spalding to pursue coaching opportunities at the collegiate level."
Last night, Glick said he was interested in coaching college basketball but that he is not currently in contact with any schools.
"As for the resignation, it's something I've been pondering all season," Glick said. "But I still have the passion to coach. I've been at it for a long time and I plan to continue. Whether it be at the high school level or in college, I look forward to the next opportunity that presents itself."
Glick compiled a 160-78 record while at Spalding, led the Cavaliers to three MIAA A Conference titles (2000, 2002 and 2004) and two Baltimore Catholic League titles (2000 and 2002).
Before taking over at Spalding in 1999, Glick coached at St. Vincent Pallotti in Laurel for six years where he compiled a 122-59 record.
Thursday, February 23
Spalding's Glick Steps Down as Boys' Coach
Spalding's Glick Steps Down as Boys' Coach
By Daniel Lyght and Liam Dillon
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 23, 2006; Page E08
Mike Glick resigned yesterday as boys' basketball coach at Spalding, citing family issues.
"I definitely plan to continue my coaching career," Glick said, "but right now I need to take some time away to spend with my family."
Glick, who coached University of Connecticut star Rudy Gay and University of Maryland center Will Bowers, said he took a leave of absence Friday after his father fell ill Thursday evening.
Spalding President Michael Murphy said Glick's departure did not come as a surprise.
"It's a decision that Mike made and we respect that decision," Murphy said. "Mike Glick has helped develop a program here since he got here seven years ago. Students come here to play for Mike. The student-athletes we've had in our basketball program go on to great schools: Bucknell, Mount St. Mary's, Connecticut, Maryland. . . . He's done a great job for the school and we appreciate what he's done."
The Cavaliers (14-18) play Towson Catholic on Saturday in the Baltimore Catholic League tournament at Loyola College, where they will be led by assistant coach Ralph Burley.
"My father's very, very ill," Glick said. "That's why I'm leaving immediately, because I need to spend time with him."
According to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association, Glick was 167-82 in seven seasons at Spalding, winning three MIAA titles and two Baltimore Catholic League Tourney championships. Before going to Spalding, Glick coached six seasons at Pallotti. In 13 seasons, his career mark is 287-141.
Wednesday, February 22
MIKE GLICK RESIGNS AS SPALDING BASKETBALL COACH
In a surprising development, Dr. Michael Murphy, president of Archbishop Spalding High School, announced the resignation of Mike Glick, the school's head basketball coach and assistant athletic director, in a press release earlier today.
The news comes on the same day that the school's athletic director, Lee Dove, was quoted in the Baltimore Sun, confirming that the school had asked Glick to take a leave of absence to straighten out a "personal matter."
The release sent out by the school, however, states that Glick is leaving Spalding to pursue coaching opportunities at the collegiate level. According to the release, Dr. Murphy thanked Glick for his service to the school and its athletic program and announced an immediate search for a new head coach.
In a response to an inquiry following the release, Dove told MIAASports.com that Glick made the decision to step down today.
"Coach Glick did have some personal issues he was dealing with. We asked him to take a step back and do that. He did," said Dove. "He came in today and resigned. He did meet with the kids and explained his decision."
Reached at his home this evening, Glick expressed gratitude for his seven years at Spalding and said the decision was made so he could spend time with his father, who took seriously ill this week.
"I loved my seven years at Spalding and I am grateful to the administation for the opportunity to work there," said Glick. "I had nothing but great experiences as a teacher and coach and I have no doubt the school will continue its winning tradition."
Glick added that he does plan to coach again and said he will investigate opportunities on both the high school and college level, but said he had no specific timetable for his return.
Speculation about Glick surfaced on Monday when he was absent from the MIAA A Conference championship game, which was played at Spalding's brand new athletic field house.
The timing of the leave of absence seemed odd since the Cavaliers have yet to complete their season, but Glick explained that he could not devote the time necessary to adequately prepare the team and still spend time with his ailing father.
The Cavaliers are scheduled to play Towson Catholic on Saturday afternoon at Loyola College in the first round of the 2006 Baltimore Catholic League Tournament and will now be led by assistant coach Ralph Burley.
This was Glick's seventh season at Spalding and he led the Cavaliers to three A Conference titles (2003-2004, 2001-2002 and 1999-2000), after replacing current John Carroll head coach Tony Martin. The 1999-2000 team finished the year ranked 14th nationally by USA Today. During his tenure, Glick posted a record of 167-82 (.671) and produced numerous Division I stars, including Rudy Gay (Connecticut), Will Bowers (Maryland) and Derrick Snowden (Villanova).
This season, the Cavaliers struggled to a 14-18 overall record and went just 5-11 in the A Conference, as they failed to make the league playoffs for the first time in Glick's tenure.
Prior to moving to Spalding, Glick had a very successful run at St. Vincent Pallotti, as its head coach, going 120-59 in six years and producing several Division I players for the Panthers, as well. At that time, Pallotti competed in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and Glick led it to two WCAC titles and was the league's Coach of the Year in 1995.
Thursday, February 9
Glick's last victory at Spalding a 57-52 2OT victory over Calvert Hall
ARCHBISHOP SPALDING 57, CALVERT HALL 52 (2OT): Despite missing the front end of three 1-and-1 opportunities in overtime, the Cavaliers were able to outdistance the Cardinals, taking a five-point win in double overtime.
"This is by far the biggest win we've had since we lost Daniel Palumbo to a knee injury," Spalding coach Mike Glick said. "We're starting to jell as a team, and our defense really came together tonight."
Senior guard Derek Young led the way for Spalding with 23 points and 12 rebounds. He was joined in double figures by senior Danny Quinn (10 points), as well as sophomores Brad Bald (10) and Kevon Moore (12).
Spalding gets big 57-51 win in overtime at McDonogh
Derek Young nailed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in regulation and hit two clutch free throws in overtime to help Spalding (12-10, 3-4) overcome a 14-point first-half deficit and upset McDonough (16-5, 5-3), 57-51, in overtime last night.
"It's the biggest win of the season for us, no question," Spalding head coach Mike Glick said. "Down 14 on the road, to come back and win was a test of our character. This could turn our season in a different direction."
With Spalding up two and 10 seconds left in the overtime period, Young hit two free throws to make it a four-point cushion. The senior scored 20 points on the night and Danny Quinn added 18 points and 10 rebounds. Kevon Moore scored 13 for Spalding.
"We're starting to jell and play much more unselfish basketball," Glick said.
Spalding (12-10) 4 16 11 17 9 - 57
McDonough (16-5) 12 13 4 19 3 - 51
Spalding (57) Young 5(3) 7-8 20; Quinn 8 2-4 18; Bald 0 2-2 2; Moore 4(2) 3-4 13; Davis 1 2-2 4. TOTALS: 17(5) 16-22 57.
McDonough (51) Summers 7 5-8 19; Herbert 5(3) 0-0 13; Yermal 3(1) 1-2 8; Sheppard 1 3-4 5; Ventura 0 1-2 1; Gavinfort 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 19(4) 9-14 51.
Cavaliers open new gym with victory
Archbishop Spalding High School opened its new $5.2 million sports facility yesterday and sophomore guard Kevon Moore scored 24 points to lead the Cavaliers to a 72-56 win over St. John's at Prospect Hall in a MIAA A Conference basketball game.
Spalding snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 10-11 overall and 2-4 in the conference. St. John's fell to 12-9, 2-5.
"We played a very complete game," Cavaliers coach Mike Glick said. "It was also a wonderful way to open up the new facility."
Senior guard Derek Young added 19 points for Spalding and senior forward Daniel Palumbo chipped in 14.
St. John's P/H (12-9) 13 13 14 16 - 56
Archbishop Spalding (11-10) 14 18 19 21 - 72
St. John's P/H (56)
Vann 4 9-11 17, Smedley 2(1) 2-4 7, Houston 4 4-6 12, Henry 8(2) 0-0 18, Dunkin 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19(3) 15-22 56.
Archbishop Spalding (72)
Young 6(1) 6-8 19, Palumbo 6 2-2 14, Quinn 1 1-2 3, Bald 3 0-0 6, Moore 8(2) 6-6 24, Wood 0 0-2 0, Desouza 1 2-2 4, Brinkley 0 2-2 2. Totals: 25(3) 19-24 72.
Saturday, January 14
It hardly feels like home for Spalding
By BILL WAGNER, Staff Writer
In an ideal world, Archbishop Spalding would have christened its new gymnasium with a resounding upset of highly-rated Towson Catholic in boys basketball.
Unfortunately, the multi-million dollar facility wasn't quite ready and the Cavaliers absorbed a thorough whipping from the Owls in their old gym.
Junior forward Donte Greene overcame early foul trouble to score 18 points to lead Towson Catholic to a convincing 66-49 victory over Spalding.
Greene, a 6-foot-8 slasher who has committed to Syracuse, was 10-for-10 from the free throw line and also grabbed 11 rebounds.
Guard Malcolm Delaney scored 15 points while freshman swingman Le'Shon Edwards added 14 for Towson Catholic, now 16-5 overall and 5-2 in the Catholic League.
"I thought we kept our composure, handled the defensive pressure and ran our offense well," Towson Catholic coach Josh Pratt said. "Every game is important in this league and it's always tough to win on the road."
Pratt, a Crofton resident, served seven seasons as an assistant at Spalding under head coach Mike Glick. He spent a year as head coach at St. Mary's before taking over Towson Catholic this past summer.
Last night was the first time Pratt had faced Spalding since leaving the private school in Severn.
"I was very proud to coach against Josh and I'm impressed with his development as a coach," Glick said. "He's doing a fantastic job. Towson Catholic is one of the best teams in the area."
That was apparent during the second quarter as Greene, Delaney and Ronald Nicholson (10 points) keyed a strong surge that broke open a close game. The Owls outscored the Cavaliers 23-12 in the period to take a 37-23 halftime lead.
Spalding never got closer and the lead ultimately ballooned to 20 before both coaches inserted the reserves.
Navy-bound guard Derek Young scored 16 points to lead Spalding, now 10-11 overall and 1-4 in the league. Senior forward Danny Quinn totaled eight points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers, who shot a miserable 16-for-50 (32 percent) from the field.
"I was impressed with the way we competed and the way we played together tonight," Glick said. "We're starting to play more team-oriented basketball."
Glick is fielding a young and inexperienced squad that is still learning the level of intensity required in the high-powered Catholic League.
"We still need to show more patience on offense and we need to do a better job of competing on every possession," Glick said.
Athletic director Lee Dove said the Spalding Athletic Center will officially open today with a wrestling tri-meet against Glenelg and Poly. Spalding will host St. John's-Prospect Hall on Sunday in the first basketball game at the $5.2 million facility, which took two years to build and will seat 1,000.
Towson Catholic (16-5) 14-23-14-15=66
Spalding (10-11) 11-12-11-15=49
Towson Catholic (66)
Delaney 5(3) 1-3 15, D. Greene 4 10-10 18, Nicholson 2(2) 4-4 10, Bastfield 0 1-2 1, B. Greene 3 1-2 7, Edwards 5(1) 3-4 14, Brekinridge 0 1-2 1, Bruce 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19(6) 20-24 66.
Spalding (49)
Young 5 6-9 16, Palumbo 2(1) 0-0 5, Quinn 2 4-4 8, Bald 3 0-0 6, Cassilly 0 1-2 1, Moore 3 0-0 6, Wood 1 2-2 4, DeSouza 0 3-4 3. TOTALS: 16(1) 16-19 49.
Published January 14, 2006, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Top Stories | Search | Classifieds | Archive | Local Directory | Buy the paper | Contact Us |
Spalding forward Danny Quinn has played his way into D-I interest
by Jim Quinn MD Varsity.com
Another player who we saw over last weekend's long Tournament schedule who impresed us was Archbishop Spalding's 6'7" 225 pound senior forward Danny Quinn... Quinn "held court" inside in Spalding's 79-76 loss to SMCA with his strength, toughness, and willingness to bang inside..... what is different about Quinn's game this year from his junior year at Spalding is his ability to step out and drain 15 to 19 foot jump shots. Quinn hit three outside shots against SMCA, one from just inside the arc,,,,
Quinn transferred to Spalding in 2004-2005 after two years at DeMatha.
"He has really improved, Coach Glick told us at Bulis. "Danny can really step out and hit the outside shot, he couldn't really do that last year. He has really improved, gotten stronger, and he's playing with more confidence. He's always been a tough kid who doesn't mind mixing it up inside. He is starting to get D-I interest and I definitely think he can plat D-I." Glick added that, toughness, size, and emerging skills aside, colleges like Quinn's 3.6 GPA and 1300 SAT score.
The other two senior starters at Spalding are already committed to colleges: senior point guard Derek Young (another outstanding student/athlete) has committed to the Naval Academy and swingman Danny Palumbo has committed to play baseball at George Maso University.
Young and Palumbo, like Quinn, also started their prep careers out at other schools. Palumbo, whose father is now thge Athletic Director at Towson Catholic, originally attended DeMatha with Quinn. Young attended Suitland High School as a freshman.
2005-06 Baltimore Sun Preseason Basketball Poll
1. Mount St. Joseph
Last season: 31-4, No. 2
The Gaels are loaded once again, with a quality front row of 6-foot-6 Louis Birdsong, 6-8 Dino Gregory and 6-9 Henry Sims and a bevy of quick, sharp-shooting guards.
2. Towson Catholic
Last season: 26-12, ranked No. 7
Few high school teams have an inside-outside combination like Owls juniors Donte' Greene and Malcolm Delaney. First-year coach Josh Pratt has also inherited a strong supporting cast.
3. St. Frances
Last season: 19-15, No. 11
Sophomore Sean Mosley, a returning All-Metro swing guard, and 6-7 forward Rashawn Alexander lead a deep Panther squad whose only question is chemistry.
4. McDonogh
Last season: 23-6, No. 5
Former assistant coach Donta Evans takes the reins of a potentially powerful Eagles team led by Georgetown-bound Player of the Year DaJuan Summers, Joe Yermal and Brandon Herbert.
5. Walbrook
Last season: 26-2, No. 1
The defending Class 4A state champs re- turn three starters in Baltimore City Player of the Year Rodney Spruill, Marc Davis and Eric Pitts, and a developing group of reserves from last season.
6. Southwestern
Last season: 22-4, No. 6
All-Metro guard Jamal Barney and second-team All-Metro forward Juawan Rheubottom make the Sabers a City contender and threat to Walbrook in Class 4A.
7. Dunbar
Last season: 23-3, No. 3
Graduation hit the defending state 1A champion Poets hard, but senior guard Marcus Taylor is back to lead the never-ending influx of talent at the East Baltimore school.
8. Randallstown
Last season: 26-1, No. 4
Coach Kim Rivers, whose team has moved down to Class 2A after he led the Rams to a third 3A state title, is a master at reloading. He will build round second-team All-Metro guard Johnny Higgins.
9. Annapolis
Last season: 20-7, No. 10
With the return of 6-5 Kevin Coates, Anne Arundel County's Player of the Year, along with high flying, 6-4 Daishawn Anderson, the Panthers could be in for their best season since 2003 (23-2) and add to their record number of 26 appearances in the state tournament.
10. Calvert Hall
Last season: 23-13, No. 13
The rapid development of 6-7, 245-pound junior Braxton Dupree, who orally committed to Maryland, and the rest of the returning cast make the Cardinals a contender in the Baltimore Catholic League and Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference.
11. Arch. Spalding
Last season: 21-12, No. 14
Guard Derek Young, 6-7 Danny Quinn and 6-4 Dan Palumbo will make the Cavaliers competitive in the Baltimore Catholic League and MIAA A Conference.
12. Douglass
Last season: 19-7, No. 12
The Ducks have three key re- turning starters in seniors Antoine Smithson, Tyrone Flemming and Kendal Alexander, as they chase Randallstown from Class 3A North to 2A North.
13. Old Mill
Last season: 23-4, No. 9
Coming off their first Anne Arundel County championship, second appearance in the state semifinals and a school record for wins, the Patriots were hit by graduation, but point guard Andrew Engel and 6-8 Rodney Stokes return to make another run in Class 4A East.
14. Howard
Last season: 8-15, unranked
Chris Moore, Howard County's Player of the Year at Centennial, transferred transferring to the Lions, bringing his 16 points and 10 rebounds per game with him.
15. Lake Clifton
Last season: 9-14, unranked
Guards Terrence Jones and Brandon Brown and forward Brandon Davis all started as sophomores last season.
Spalding Defeats Coolidege 60-57
12/2/2005
Archbishop Spalding began a three-day stay in Northern Virginia with a 60-57 non-conference victory over Coolidge (DC) on the first night of competition at the Hayfields (VA) Invitational.
The Cavaliers, as they were in their season-opening win over John Carroll, were led by seniors Derek Young and Dan Palumbo, who combined for 33-points. Young led all scorers with 19.
Spalding established a five-point lead at the half and led most of the way, as it improved to 2-0.
Tonight, the Cavaliers will face host Hayfields and will conclude their trip with a game again TC Williams (VA), tomorrow evening.
Archbishop Spalding 60, Coolidge (DC) 57
Archbishop Spalding: Young 19, Quinn 14, Palumbo 8, Moore 6, Desouza 5, Bald 4, Cassilly 2, Congo 2. Totals 19 21-31 60.
Coolidge: Harris 15, Lawson 9, Coleman 8, Thomas 8, Brisbon 6, Binion 4, Malone 3, Smith 2, Taylor 2. Totals 22 9-13 57.
Half: Archbishop Spalding, 33-28.
Navy nets services of Spalding guard Derek Young
By BILL WAGNER Staff Writer
Maryland Gazette
Coach Billy Lange is looking for a certain type of prospect to help rebuild the Navy basketball program.
Lange wants quick, athletic players who can handle the ball and play tenacious man-to-man defense. He didn't need to travel far down the road to find a recruit who fits that profile perfectly.
Navy picked up one of the top seniors in the Baltimore Catholic League on Monday when Archbishop Spalding combination guard Derek Young gave Lange a verbal commitment. Young, 6 feet 1 and 185 pounds, chose Navy over The Citadel, Vermont, Stetson and Central Connecticut.
"Derek is a special kid who is a great fit for the Naval Academy," Spalding coach Mike Glick said. "He has tremendous charisma and a very engaging personality. He has a ton of energy and strong internal drive. He possesses all the skills necessary to do well at a service academy."
Young averaged 9.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists as a junior at Spalding. He is the team's leading returning scorer and will likely start at point guard this season.
"Derek works and plays as hard as any kid I've coached, which is really saying something," Glick said. "He is very, very athletic with a high level of intensity. Billy Lange loves those two traits."
Young was a high-priority recruit for Navy, evidenced by the fact Lange and/or assistant Joe Burke attended all 10 days of Spalding's basketball camp to see the prospect.
"Coach Lange did a great job of recruiting me. He showed me a lot of love and really impressed me with his enthusiastic personality," said Young, a Seat Pleasant resident who played at Suitland as a freshman. "I think Navy is an up and coming program and a great opportunity for me as a person. You are set for life with a degree from Navy."
Young's commitment continues Spalding's streak of producing at least one Division I player every year since Glick arrived in 1999. It also continues a strong early performance on the recruiting trail for Navy, which has secured two other commitments.
Trey Stanton, a well-regarded big man from Friendswood, Texas, picked Navy in early September. The 6-foot-9 power forward also considered Colgate, Centenary, Sacramento State and Air Force.
"As soon as I went up there and met the young coaching staff, I knew it was the place for me," Stanton told Scout.com. "They have great energy and I know they're going to win. They're building something good and I want to be a part of it."
Late last month, Navy nabbed
North Carolina swingman Scott Brooks, who received numerous scholarship offers following a breakout summer campaign. Brooks, who averaged 12 points and five rebounds as a junior at Raleigh Wakefield, cited the team atmosphere he discovered in Annapolis.
"It's a building program with a lot of chemistry," he told Scout.com.
2 Teenage Friends Killed, 1 Hurt in Fiery Crash
3 Arundel High Schools Touched by Tragedy
By Daniel de Vise and Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 23, 2005; Page A01
Three teenage boys returning from a Saturday night trip to a burger joint were waiting for a traffic light to change on Governor Ritchie Highway near Annapolis when a pickup truck struck them from behind, turning their car into a fireball and killing two of them.
"They weren't doing anything wrong. They were just sitting there," said Kay Snyder, mother of David Snyder, 16, one of the victims.
Kevin Durm, 16, died over the weekend from injuries he sustained when a pickup hit the vehicle in which he was riding while it was stopped at a red light near Annapolis.
The three 16-year-olds were out enjoying the last moments of the waning summer before each returned to his high school. David, an incoming sophomore at the college preparatory Severn School in Severna Park, died Saturday night from injuries sustained in the back seat of the 1987 Volkswagen Cabriolet convertible. Kevin Durm, a junior at Archbishop Spalding High in Severn, was pronounced dead the next morning.
Nick Kirby, the driver, came home yesterday after a brief hospital stay for treatment of a head injury. Friends said the Broadneck High School student suffered a concussion and a burned left hand.
Police said Linda Lee Nichols, 47, the pickup driver, failed a breath test and was handcuffed outside the cab of her Chevrolet Silverado. They declined to divulge the result of the breath test. Nichols has not been charged, pending the outcome of an investigation, said Kristin Riggin, a spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel County state's attorney.
Nichols could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The teenagers were basketball buddies who hailed from the Anne Arundel bedroom community of Arnold. They had spent Saturday watching a DVD of "Kill Bill Vol. 1" and playing with crabs in the Magothy River before heading out to Wendy's for a late dinner.
When David's parents went out, they left some money for the boys in case they got hungry. Kay Snyder told David to call her cell phone if they left the house. A short while later, David called to say they were leaving. Whether because of noise or poor reception, his mother never heard the call come in, and he left her a message.
The boys drove five miles to Wendy's, got their food and headed back south down Governor Ritchie Highway, a busy north-south thoroughfare between Baltimore and Annapolis that many motorists take at freeway speeds. The youths hit the first stoplight at McKinsey Road, a brightly lit intersection flanked by strip malls, at 9:53 p.m.
Also at that intersection was Richard Lee Martin, idling in his Buick, waiting to cross Governor Ritchie Highway and pick up his grandson after a shift at Dunkin' Donuts. As the teenagers' light turned red, Martin's turned green.
Martin heard squealing brakes. Then he saw the pickup.
"She put on her brakes just before she hit them. She was moving pretty good," recalled Martin, 70. "Just as soon as she hit it, it exploded and fire flew out of there. . . . It came right at me."
3 Arundel High Schools Touched by Tragedy
The impact with the 6,400-pound pickup drove the 2,200-pound Volkswagen across six lanes of traffic into Martin's Buick, and it ruptured the convertible's fuel tank.
"I looked up and [saw] two people slumped over in the front seat," Martin said. "I didn't see the other one."
Kevin Durm, 16, died over the weekend from injuries he sustained when a pickup hit the vehicle in which he was riding while it was stopped at a red light near Annapolis. (Family Photo - Family Photo)
That intersection is a hub of activity for teenagers from Arnold and Severna Park, and at that post-dinner hour, a few youths were at the 7-Eleven and Dunkin' Donuts. The crowd that gathered around the wreckage included a few of the boys' classmates, according to their families.
Martin said he watched several young men open the front of the convertible and drag Nick and Kevin from the front seats. Someone ran to the scene with a fire extinguisher and doused the blaze before it could spread inside the vehicle and burn the passengers. A few minutes later, as rescue trucks arrived, Martin heard someone cry, "There's another guy in there." Rescuers pulled David from the back seat.
Police handcuffed Nichols at her pickup, which was stopped 100 feet down the highway. She refused medical treatment. A mandatory breath test showed her blood alcohol level surpassed the legal limit, police said. None of the youths had been drinking anything stronger than Coke, police said. A police synopsis said Nichols had "made no apparent effort to stop" for the red light.
David and Kevin were airlifted to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. David was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Flowers and a teddy bear sat yesterday at the intersection where the accident occurred, all but lost in the din as rescue trucks responded to another bad wreck.
The teenagers had a friendship forged in the youth basketball and soccer leagues in the Broadneck high area of Arnold and Annapolis, a network in which David's father, Larry Snyder, is well-known as a coach.
Family members said David had just made the varsity soccer team at Severn School.
But his first love was basketball, and his favorite player was Michael Jordan. He hoped to follow in his father's path, perhaps as a star athlete at Duke University and then as a trainer or coach.
Kevin, a talented shooting guard, was about to try out for the varsity basketball squad at Archbishop Spaulding.
He "would be out at 2 a.m. playing basketball in the street," recalled Brian Durm, his older brother. According to friends, Kevin would take at least 100 shots in his driveway before every basketball practice.
He played trumpet in the school band and cultivated a relationship with the best friend who had become a girlfriend six months ago.
High school just days away, the boys spent Saturday being kids. They took a live crab from the river and chased David's mother around the house with it until she told them to stop.
At a viewing for David yesterday evening, lanky teammates from the Severn basketball squad dotted the line that stretched out the door, across the parking lot and down the street, blocking traffic.
The largest picture in the room depicted David as a child, a big grin on his face as he stretched his arm up high to dunk a basketball through a net. A classmate brought a basketball signed by David's teammates.
Mark Bennett, 15, had played ball with David for several years and as recently as last Tuesday. He and David were on the same team that day, but it was David, with his aggressive skills, who was making all the shots. David good-naturedly teased Mark about his misses.
"He'd say things that weren't funny, but when he said them, people would laugh," Mark said.
On Sunday, Mark picked up the phone to call David to see if he wanted to catch a movie at the Annapolis Mall, maybe "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."
But the phone rang as he held it. It was David's father. That's when Mark found out that his friend was dead.
Other friends and family filed slowly by David's open coffin yesterday. One girl in a striped button-down shirt and flip-flops hung back.
"Oh God, I don't think I can," she said.
Her steps grew slower as she came closer to the coffin. Then she paused, her eyes full of tears, and turned away.
Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
SEVERN AND SPALDING MOURN THE LOSS OF TWO YOUNG ATHLETES KILLED SATURDAY IN A TRAGIC ACCIDENT
8/22/2005
The MIAA community joins member schools Severn and Archbishop Spalding in mourning the loss of two young athletes who were killed on Saturday night when a vehicle in which they were passengers was struck from behind, at a traffic light, by a drunk driver.
David Snyder, 16, who played soccer, basketball and lacrosse at Severn, and Kevin Durm, also 16, a junior varsity basketball player last year at Spalding, suffered fatal injuries when their vehicle, a Volkswagon Rabbit, was struck from the rear by a pickup truck while stopped at the intersection of Ritchie Highway and McKinsey Road in Severna Park. A third boy, 16-year Nick Kirby of Broadneck High School, who was driving the Rabbit, suffered head injuries and was hospitalized, but is expected to recover.
The Rabbit burst into flames when its fuel tank was ruptured, upon impact, and was pushed through the intersection where it stuck a third vehicle. Linda Lee Nichols, 47, of Annapolis, the driver of a Chevrolet Silverado, which caused the collision, failed a mandatory field sobriety test and was arrested. The case was forwarded to the State's Attorney Office for review and Ms. Nichols faces potential vehicular manslaughter charges.
There was no evidence that any of youths had been drinking. According to family members, they were on their way to Wendy's Restaurant and planned to return home to play video games.
"They were really in the wrong place at the wrong time - 10 seconds either way," Larry Snyder, David's father, told the The Capital newspaper.
Snyder recently learned that he had made the varsity soccer team at Severn and was preparing for the fall season with the Admirals. Durm, according to his JV coach, was expected to make Spalding's varsity basketball team this winter.
Those wishing to pay their respects to Snyder and his family can visit the Hardesty Funeral Home in Annapolis from 630-8:30 pm on Monday or from 9:00-10:00 am on Tuesday. The funeral will be private.
A wake and public viewing will be held for Durm, who donated seven organs upon his death, at St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park on Thursday from 2:00-4:00 pm and again from 7:00-9:00 pm Thursday evening. Durm's funeral will take place Friday morning at 10:00 am.
Spalding's Summer A Preview Of Winter?
By Jon Gallo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 11, 2005; Page AA14
Spalding Coach Mike Glick grew nostalgic as he watched his boys' basketball team post a convincing 47-37 victory over Arundel in the championship game of the Anne Arundel Recreation and Parks summer league last week at Severna Park Middle School.
"It's like I'm watching the team we had in 2002," Glick said. "I think this year's team plays so well together like that team did. We really didn't have a lot of stars on that team, but the intensity that team had and the way it played defense is very similar to this one."
"We don't really have any dominant players this year, but we don't have any bad players," said Spalding's Derek Young, above, with ball, who is switching from shooting guard to point guard. (By Don Wright For The Washington Post)
If this year's squad is going to live up to Glick's comparison, it must win the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference tournament title this winter. That's a lofty goal for a squad that lost its top three scorers to graduation.
Justin Castleberry (Bucknell), Marquis Sullivan (Loyola) and Lawrence Dixon (Holy Cross) have departed, but since Glick took over at Spalding in 1999, he has turned the private school into a factory that produces college basketball players at an impressive rate. Including Kyle Snowden (Villanova), Landy Thompson (Mount St. Mary's), Will Bowers (Maryland) and Rudy Gay (Connecticut), Glick has sent a dozen Cavaliers to Division I colleges.
"We know the history of our team," said senior center Danny Quinn. "This summer, Rudy Gay came to our camp and you can learn a lot from someone who could be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft next year. We know how we need to play to get looks from colleges."
Glick is confident that his number of college-bound players will grow this winter as long as Quinn and standout senior Derek Young, who is switching from shooting guard to point guard, continue to make major strides as they did this summer.
Glick is optimistic about his team's chances in the MIAA this winter because this is one of his most balanced teams. Senior forwards Matt Cassilly and Daniel Palumbo are more athletes than basketball players, and sophomore guards Kavon Moore and Nick DeSouza are poised for breakthrough years in their first varsity seasons.
"We don't really have any dominant players this year, but we don't have any bad players," said Young, who scored a game-high 15 points against Arundel. "This summer has been more of a learning experience than anything else because we have a new team. But as the summer went on, I could feel the camaraderie on the court."
Spalding concluded its summer 17-6 as it went 6-6 in the Scholastic Scout Summer League at St. Albans and 11-0 in the Anne Arundel Recreation and Parks league. But the underlying story wasn't the number of wins. It was the manner in which they were earned.
Spalding traditionally thrives in a half-court game, methodically picking apart opponents with screens and cuts to get the ball to its top players, who then exploit size mismatches.
But this summer, Spalding's games resembled track meets. Players sprinted toward the basket as Young orchestrated the fast break. And the Cavaliers attacked opponents with a stifling man-to-man defense instead of using their traditional array of zones, which can be susceptible to perimeter shooting.
"Our first game of the summer we lost to McNamara by 35 points, and I was a little worried," Young said. "But with the way we are playing now, we're really playing to our strengths, and everyone feels a whole lot better."
Gym a first step in upgrade for Archbishop Spalding
By MICHAEL PIPER, Staff Writer
Since it opened as an all-girls school in 1966, Archbishop Spalding has never built a new building from the ground up and as recently as seven years ago, many of the facilities athletic and otherwise, remained much the same as they were nearly a full four decades ago.
That is changing in a hurry.
Spalding bought 22 acres of farmland for $2 million in January of 2003 and broke ground on a 34,000 square foot athletic facility, scheduled to be opened in October. The new building will have eight new versatile classrooms and house a mobile computer lab of 30 laptops. The main attraction, however, is a drastically enlarged gymnasium big enough to seat 1,000 with standing room on either end. There'll be a fitness center complete with elliptical machines, stack machines and free weights and there will be new facilities for the athletic trainer. Rounding out the new building is an enlarged parking lot stretching down the south side of the school and locker room facilities big enough to accommodate every in-season team.
Needless to say, the building has athletic director Lee Dove almost giddy with anticipation.
'It will be a tremendous focal point of pride for every kid in the school,' Dove said. 'It's just a tremendous accomplishment for our school to be in a position to open a new facility like this.'
Dove explained that when people marvel at the facilities of Baltimore private schools Calvert Hall, McDonogh, Boys' Latin, Loyola Blakefield and the like, what they are looking at is schools that have been established for, in most cases, well over 100 years. Calvert Hall was founded in 1845. Boys Latin is in its 161st year of existence. What that means, of course, is sprawling alumni bases and a well-established endowment.
Spalding, on the other hand, managed to save nearly $1 million and finance another $1 million, according to Dr. Michael Murphy, the school's president.
Spalding then embarked on its capital campaign which has raised more than $2.5 million of an estimated goal of $3.2 million. The new athletic facility will come to a total of around $5.3 million.
'This school has only been around for 40 years (39 actually) and we're where we want to be in terms of enrollment (1,100),' Dove said. 'This new facility will allow us to expand so much in terms of what we offer, from extra curriculars to class offerings.'
The facility's main draw, of course, will be its athletic aspects. Spalding has had a competitive A Conference boys basketball program for several years and this will only help draw prospective student-athletes to the Severn campus, which will have a facility equal to or perhaps better than those of its A Conference rivals.
'When you have student athletes at your school you want to give them the ability to do as much as they can academically and athletically,' Murphy said. 'We want our student-athletes to have every opportunity to compete at the highest level and (the new building) will help.'
One advantage to all involved is the expanded practice space, particularly for winter sports. In the past, basketball practices have run until 9 or 9:30 p.m. With a pair of gyms scheduled to be ready for the winter season, practices should be finishing up around 7 or 7:30 p.m.
The new gym is only part of Spalding's proposed expansion. It is referred to as Phase I in a two-phase plan that will eventually include a new softball field, a football/lacrosse complex (potentially including FieldTurf or some type of synthetic field) and a track in what is now vacant farmland not even suitable for practice fields.
Those further projects could be a ways off, however.
'There's no time frame for Phase 2 right now,' Dove said. 'It all depends on how long it takes us to pay off (the new gym) and it could be a while.'
As of now, Spalding has agreed to name the fitness center portion after the late Lt. James Love, a graduate of the school who was killed in the first Gulf War. The naming rights for the gym are yet to be determined.
Spalding hopes to get Phase II underway next year,.
Summer basketball: Spalding still solid win Lake Waterford Title
By RON SNYDER ,Staff Writer
Both Archbishop Spalding's boys basketball team and St. Mary's girls team are entering transitional periods in their respective programs.
Spalding comes into the 2005-2006 school year looking to replace three Division I-bound graduates in point guard Justin Castleberry (Bucknell), shooting guard Marquis Sullivan (Loyola), and Lawrence Dixon (Holy Cross). The trio combined for about 45 points per game.
St. Mary's is also looking to replace three top players, including the program's centerpiece the last four years in Mount St. Mary's-bound point guard Bri Gauthier.
However, the two programs showed the ability to reload as both schools came up with wins yesterday in the county summer league championship at Severna Park Middle School.
Spalding, a perennial MIAA A Conference championship contender, capped its 11-0 league season with a 47-37 win over a young, athletic Arundel squad.
St. Mary's (9-1), which advanced to the title game a day after a double-overtime win over Spalding, rallied to defeat Old Mill, 37-35.
"The goal of playing in this league is to get all of our guys into the mix, which has been tough with guys playing AAU ball, or baseball this summer," said Spalding assistant Sean Whalen, who is coaching the team while regular season coach Mike Glick watches from the sidelines. "This is a chance to get a lot of guys into situations where they are involved in big-game situations but not until crucial moments like in the regular season."
Senior guard Derek Young led Spalding yesterday with 15 points while making the transition from small forward this year. The Cavaliers also got 12 points from Kevon Moore, a 6-foot-2 sophomore who is expected to start at shooting guard this year. Moore led the junior varsity team in scoring last year and has the ability to be one of the best guards in the area.
Glick said this team compares to his 2001-2002 squad with Young playing the role of current Mount St. Mary's guard Landy Thompson with the rest of the roster young, but athletic. The roster includes four seniors in center Danny Quinn, and guards Matt Cassilly, Danny Palumbo and Young. Among the youngsters expected to produce is junior guard Nick DeSouza, who did not play last night but should back up Young during the regular season.
"The chemistry on this team will be fantastic," said Glick, who has produced 12 Division I players since arriving at Spalding in 1999. "This may be one of the best defensive teams I've coached here. We are going to run more, play man-to-man defense much better and be much better in transition than last year."
Young said playing in the summer league was the best way to help him develop his on-court leadership style as the team's point guard.
"This has been a great learning experience this summer," Young said. "I thought making the move would be easy, but it wasn't. The pressure is always on you to get your team involved."
Arundel coach Sam Golder said he couldn't be more pleased with how his team performed this summer, especially since the Wildcats have just three players on their roster - guard Austin Miller, forward Justin Kondos and center Jake Eastep - with varsity experience.
Eastep led the team with 10 points yesterday, while Alex Erhard had nine points and Miller and Ray Hill finished with six each for Arundel (7-3), which pulled within 41-35 late in the second half.
"This is a very coachable group that had a great year on JV last year," said Golder, who stepped down as the team's coach to become a school administrator. "They were feisty tonight and gave Spalding all they could handle."
The Guards Keep Coming for Spalding
Young, Moore, DeSouza Get a Chance
By Dave Yanovitz
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, July 28, 2005; Page AA14
Derek Young, Kevon Moore, and Nick DeSouza will be playing guard for Archbishop Spalding's basketball team this winter, and their task is a challenging one: Replace three Division I-bound graduates -- point guard Justin Castleberry (Bucknell), shooting guard Marquis Dixon (Loyola College) and forward Lawrence Dixon (Holy Cross) -- who contributed roughly 45 points per game.
But Spalding fans have reason to smile. Two years removed from the Rudy Gay-led season in which they won the MIAA championship and made the Baltimore Catholic League title game, the Cavaliers' backcourt, judging from their play in two leagues this summer, is in fine shape.
Derek Young, above middle, and Kevon Moore, below with ball, are a couple reasons Spalding is having a successful summer in two leagues. (Photos By Katherine Frey For The Washington Post)
Spalding is undefeated in the Anne Arundel Recreation and Parks Senior League, played on the outdoor courts at Lake Waterford Park, and seem likely to win the championship when it is contested next Tuesday. In the more competitive ScholasticScout.com league, played indoors in the District, Spalding is holding its own against some of the Washington area's top-ranked squads. The team is 5-5 and made this week's playoffs.
"If we learn to rebound the basketball, we're going to be a championship team," Coach Mike Glick confidently told his players following last weekend's 79-54 ScholasticScout victory over Hayfield. Moments earlier, in the same postgame huddle, assistant coach Ralph Burley drove home a point about defense and about not becoming complacent.
"When we get a chance to put somebody away, let's do it. We can't play down to the competition," said Burley, who, with assistant Sean Whalen, is coaching the team in the summer league with Glick observing.
Young, 17, a 6-1 senior who started at small forward last season and is making the transition to point guard, is the centerpiece of the offense. His smooth stroke from outside and a tireless determination after missed shots led to 26 points in the Hayfield game. He hit four three-pointers and was 10 for 14 from the field.
"A lot of people are going to underestimate us [because of the graduating seniors], but I think we're going to surprise some people," said Young, the team captain and a Capitol Heights resident. "The way we defend and attack the glass on offense. We [the guards] might be a little undersized, but all of us play hard. That'll take us far."
Whalen called the 15-year-old Moore, who is 6-2, one of the best sophomore guards in the area. He plays AAU basketball for Triple Threat in the national U-15 and U-16 division and will start at shooting guard this winter. But it is his first year on varsity; he led the junior varsity last winter, averaging about 15 points per game.
Moore scored 10 points in the Hayfield victory, including finishing a fast break off a pass from DeSouza and taking a nifty, no-look, fake-shot pass from Young down low and converting two points. His long arms and sizable reach will be assets for Spalding. A basketball player since age 4, he has seen his outside shot improve recently.
"Since I came here [to Spalding], individual work between me and the coaches has made my shot better," said Moore, a Bowie resident. Moving up to varsity, Moore said, will "be a challenge but I'm ready for that challenge."
DeSouza, 16, also of Bowie, will back up Young at point guard. It is also his first year on varsity. On several occasions in last week's victory over Severn at Lake Waterford, DeSouza adeptly ran the break and made accurate passes leading to points. He also scored 12 first-half points, including two three-pointers, and finished with 18 points.
"I think [the passing] is something I work on. Once you develop a skill you get better at what you do," said DeSouza.
"I also get to learn a lot from this guy each and every day," he added, motioning to Young. "People sleep on Derek, but he's one of the best point guards in this area. If somebody did go down, I think I'll be fully prepared."
2005 Varsity Summer Schedule
Below is the varsity summer basketball schedule for Archbishop Spalding.
2005 Scholastic Scout Varsity Summer League Schedule
All games held at St. Albans High School NW Washington DC
2005 Anne Arundel County Senior Basketball League Schedule
All games held at Lake Waterford Park
Loss June 5th SPALDING vs McNamara -31 St. Albans
WON June 10th SPALDING vs Georgetown Prep +13 St. Albans
WON June 11th SPALDING vs Notre Dame (VA)HBC +21 Catholic Univ
WON June 11th SPALDING vs Arch Ryan (PA) HBC + 2 Catholic Univ
Loss June 11th SPALDING vs Tallwood (NJ) HBC - 2 Catholic Univ
WON June 12th SPALDING vs Prospect Hall +19 St. Albans
Loss June 17th SPALDING vs Paul IV -14 St. Albans
WON June 18th SPALDING vs Woodson (VA) +11 St. Albans
WON June 21th SPALDING vs Chesapeake + 8 Lake Waterford
WON June 22nd SPALDING vs Key School +22 Lake Waterford
WON June 29th SPALDING vs North County +3 Lake Waterford
Loss July 3rd SPLADING vs McNamara -20 St. Albans
July 5-10 Most Spalding players will attend Eastern Invitational Exposure Camp
WON July 12th SPALDING vs Northeast +9 Lake Waterford
WON July 13th SPALDING vs Broadneck +18 Lake Waterford
WON July 14th SPALDING vs Glen Burnie +20 Lake Waterford
Loss July 16th SPALDING vs Carroll (DC) -5 St. Albans
Loss July 17th SPALDING vs Gonzaga (DC) -19 St. Albans
WON July 19th SPALDING vs Shake-N-Go +8 Lake Waterford
WON July 20th SPALDING vs St. Mary's +31 St. Albans
Won July 21st SPALDING vs Severn +27 Lake Waterford
WON July 23rd SPALDING vs Hayfield (VA) +28 St. Albans
WON July 24th SPALDING vs St. Mary's forfet Lake Waterford
Loss July 25th SPALDING vs Paul IV (playoffs) -14 St. Albans
WON August 2 SPALDING vs Arundel(Championship)+10 Lake Waterford
2005 Junior Varsity Summer Schedule
Ban The Brick JV Summer League Schedule
All games at St. Albans High School (updated as of 6-4)
Saturday June 11th
9:15 Prep vs Ireton
10:30 Heights vs Whitman
11:45 &n |
Comments
Actually, this is return trip to Pallotti for Coach Pratt, as he coached the men's teams there in the mid-to-late 90's as an assistant to Mike Glick.