By Angela Watts
Assistant G.M., Washington D.C. Metro Area
* Click the above links for photos and video highlights from Osbourn Park’s narrow, 54-52 loss to St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes.
Game 1
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes 54,
Osbourn Park 52
Osbourn Park Coach Bobby Lake
got just the play he wanted in the closing seconds of the Yellow
Jackets’ opening-round game against a well-balanced — and
sharp-shooting — St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes team in Saturday’s
Wakefield Holiday Tournament.
But he — and senior standout center Andrew Brooking — just didn’t get the roll.
Down two points with less than :30 seconds remaining, Brooking worked
his way low in the paint and got a clean look at the basket, but his
shot rolled in — and then out — to help preserve a 54-52 victory for
the Saints.
“Everybody knows we’re going to go to him, and right there at the end
even with :20-some seconds left he still got a look at it,” Lake said.
“That’s a credit to him. But he didn’t use the backboard, and that’s
something we talked about even yesterday. But he had so much success,
so you really can’t blame him. Our entire team gave a good effort. I
have no complaints.”
Brooking shined in the two-point loss, leading all scorers with a
game-high 18 points. Two other Yellow Jackets also scored in
double-figures, as Jamil Brown and Wynton Wilson added 10 points a piece. The catch is that only five total players scored for Osbourn Park.
The Yellow Jackets had one last chance to knot the score, in-bounding
the ball with :17.5 seconds remaining, but faulty ball-handling turned
the ball back over to the Saints.
“At the end it’s about execution and we didn’t do that; that’s what it
boiled down to,” Lake said. “But we have to work on not turning it
over, and on trusting each other. That’s what we have to do. We have to
trust each other, and we’re not doing that yet.”
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes advances to play defending Virginia AAA state champion T.C. Williams at 4:30
p.m. Monday in the semifinals of the championship bracket;
Osbourn Park will meet Washington-Lee at 1 p.m. in the consolation
bracket.
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes 19 12 11 12 — 54
Osbourn Park 19 6 17 10 — 52
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes — Hamilton 16; Lindsey 14; Allison 7; Mcleod 7; Pastorino 3; Bond 2; Goldsborough 2; Newsome 2; Edwards 1. Osbourn Park — Brooking 19; Brown 10; Wilson 10; Bargeron 8; Paige 5.
Game 2
Annandale 71, Forest Park 62
Annandale Coach Anthony Harper
told his players during half time that they absolutely had to start
getting a hand in the face of Forest Park’s outside shooters. The
Bruins had hit eight first-half three-pointers, and still the Atoms
trailed by only six points at the break.
But even he couldn’t have imagined just how well contesting Forest Park’s shots on the perimeter would work.
“They made it kind of easy for us because all they did was jack up
three’s,” Harper said. “So I told the kids that if they contested the
shots and forced them to have to score from within the paint, they’d
struggle. So that’s what we wanted to do in the third quarter.
Mission accomplished.
After totaling 22 and 25 points, respectively, in the first two
quarters of play the Bruins were held without a single point in what
proved a decisive third quarter as Annandale cruised to 71-62 victory.
The Atoms were led by in the score book by sophomore forward Karl Ziegler, who totaled a game-high 24 points, and on the floor by sophomore point guard D’Angelo Boyce, who is already a two-year starter.
Annandale also got 12 points a piece from sophomore forward Melvin Robinson and senior guard John Welsh, while Forest Park got 14 points each from senior forward Matt Boward and junior guard Eric Brent.
“We have a lot of young guys, but the kids in the sophomore and junior
classes have all played together for years,” Harper said. “They grew up
together, so that have that continuity. And, as you can see, they have
no problem sharing the ball.”
Annandale will battle host Wakefield at 6:15 p.m. Monday in the
semifinal round of the championship bracket; Forest Park, meanwhile,
will play Massaponax at 2:45 p.m. in the consolation bracket.
Annandale 21 20 12 18 — 71
Forest Park 22 25 0 15 — 62
Annandale — Ziegler 24; Robinson 12; Welsh 12; Boyce 7; McCoy 5; Samey 5; Ayeah 2; Williams 2. Forest Park — Boward 14; Brent 14; A. Jones 8; T. Brown 7; J. Jones 6; J. Brown 4; Dawkins 3; Greening 2; Lipscomb 2; Williams 2.
Game 3
T.C. Williams 75, Washington-Lee 45
T.C. Williams may have a new coach this season and a host of new
players, but the Titans are still the defending Virginia AAA state
champions.
And they played like it in the third game at Wakefield on Saturday in a 75-45 victory over Washington-Lee.
“We picked up the intensity tonight,” first-year coach Julian King
said. “We’re a blue-collar team. That’s how we’ve been the past three
years and that’s how we want to continue to be. It’s just the defensive
effort tonight was a lot better than it’s been the past few games.”
In addition to the upgraded defense, the Titans also displayed a wealth of athleticism, depth and strength.
But that’s not what impresses King most about his team. It’s their speed.
“We’re fast,” he said. “Fast. And the thing is, if we play hard and we
play good team defense and live off our speed, we’ll be in most games.
“Now, we have a lot of young guys so when I say we’re fast sometimes
it’s a good thing and sometimes it’s a bad thing because they’re moving
at such a high speed that we’re out-of-control sometimes. But as we go
on and get a little more seasoned, hopefully we’ll gel at the right
time.”
That could spell more than a little trouble for Titan opponents,
because T.C. Williams is already looking pretty solid. Junior forward Billy Rowland
led all scorers with a game-high 21 points, but 10 different players
scored for T.C. Williams, including 13 points from junior forward Ryan Yates.
Washington-Lee was paced by senior guard Charles Fuller with 12 points and junior guard Dajon Taylor with 10.
T.C. Williams advances to play St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes at 4:30
p.m. Monday in the semifinals of the championship bracket;
Washington-Lee will meet Osbourn Park at 1 p.m. in the consolation
bracket.
“Even without the state title we were one of the top teams in the area,
so these kids know we get everybody’s best effort every night,” King
said. “But that’s something that I remind them of every day.”
T.C. Williams 17 21 20 17 — 75
Washington-Lee 9 9 10 17 — 45
T.C. Williams — Rowland 23; Lewis 13; Yates 8; Peterson 7; Chambers 6; Jenkins 6; Wood 5; Taylor 3; Sitton 2; Whitmire 2. Washington-Lee — Fuller 13; Taylor 10; Edwards 7; Pasqueretiv 5; Treweek 4; Donahue 2; North 2; Battle 1; Powell 1.
Game 4
Wakefield 90, Massaponax 71
To most onlookers, Saturday night’s last game on night one of the Wakefield Holiday Tournament likely appeared to be the Jonathan Ford
show. The Warriors’ senior forward totaled 33 points in the game — the
highest output of any player all day — and, even more impressively,
notched 31 of those in the first three quarters of play.
But what the spectators might not have noticed was what happened after
Ford left the game in the fourth quarter with Wakefield’s eventual
90-71 victory already in-hand.
He leapt to his feet — and was the only player to do so — waving a
towel and cheering every time one of his teammates even attempted a
shot, let alone made one.
“He’s playing well, no doubt, and he’s starting to come into his own,” Wakefield Coach Tony Bently
said of Ford. “He’s a player who can play out on the wing or down in
the post; whatever we ask him to do he can do. But we also talk a lot
about how you can be the best player on the team, but how well are you
liked? And that’s the thing with Jon. He’s liked by his peers. He
prides himself on being a good teammate.”
Added Ford: “A lot of my points and a lot of my accolades and stats
come because of my teammates. And they don’t get stats for getting
loose balls or diving to the floor, but that’s what my teammates do.
They do the little things that make it easier for me to get my thing
off. So when they score or they do something that makes them better or
gets them into the spotlight, I love it.”
Wakefield also loved that its opening-round opponent, Massaponax, wanted to play an quick, up-and-down tempo.
“We look forward to teams who want to try and run with us, because that
is our thing,” Ford said. “And teams who vibe on running, we look at
that as them challenging our style of basketball.”
The Knights’ speed and athleticism did lead to a higher-than-usual
number of Warrior turnovers, but the combination of Ford and senior
guard Robel Getu (23 points) proved too much to overcome. Wakefield scored at least 21 points in all four quarters on Saturday.
The host Warriors face Annandale at 6:15 p.m. Monday in the semifinal
round of the championship bracket; Massaponax will meet Forest Park at
2:45 p.m. in the consolation bracket.
“This tournament is in our house, and you want to protect your house at
all costs,” Ford said. “We’re undefeated at home right now, and we want
to keep it that way. We never want to lose here. This is our gym.”
Massaponax 17 15 25 14 — 71
Wakefield 22 21 23 24 — 90
Massaponax — Regins 13; Williams 13; Sanders 12; White 11; Green 9; Lattimore 6; Hamilton 3; Battle 2; Latney 2. Wakefield — Ford 33; Getu 23; Brown 10; Caginesa 6; Taylor 5; Goffney 4; Stewart 3; Aldrich 2; Denny 2; Glenn 2.
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
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