City Title Action - 2011

Ron Bailey, Publisher

The WCAC sweeps this year.

March 8, 2011 - Washington, DC's Verizon Center was abuzz yesterday evening, as the world-class event venue hosted the Abe Pollin City Title Games; the DMV's annual girls and boys’ basketball championships pitting District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association winners versus those of the Washington Catholic Athletic Association. In its 45th year, the City Title Games are a local institution.

As occurred last year, WCAC teams swept the events, with St. Johns College Prep (DC) defeating HD Woodson (DC) 59-44 in girls’ action, while DeMatha (MD) three-peated, this time beating Roosevelt (DC) 52-50.

St. Johns with winning hardware.

HD Woodson led 20-18 at halftime, having done what Coach Frank Oliver, Jr.'s teams do, press, run, and hit long distance shots. Defensively the Lady Warriors' employed a 2-3 zone that at times became 2-1-2, while also going 2-2-1 full court. Their energy and momentum were obvious, despite St. Johns outscoring them 5-2 in closing the stanza.

It wouldn't continue, as this contest was literally the tale of two halves; by the fourth quarter’s 6:27 mark, St. Johns (30-2) outscored Woodson 23-6, manly by getting stops, pushing the tempo, and forcing the Lady Warriors into turnovers. Not only had the game's momentum changed, but so had its energy level.

"Our third quarters have been our strength all season long" shared Jonathan Scribner, head Cadet. "We just came out with the energy that we needed. We started a scramble a little bit...Our style tends to wear people down".

Magnifying that was Scribner's ability to substitute liberally - he described it as "We go deep with very little drop off" - while Woodson could only rely on a seven person rotation, a challenge Oliver acknowledged.

Senior Mooriah Rowser led the Cadets with 16 points and eight rebounds, while classmate and fellow guard Mariah Jones added 15 points. Lindsay Williams, a senior forward dropped 11, all in the second half.

"The third quarter was definitely decisive. I don't make any excuses, we had a lot of opportunities" recalled Oliver, who added defensive lapses to his team's woes. "We got it back to together, but at that point, we got down a little bit. Against a great team like this, you can't get down in a hole".

Woodson (18-12) got 15 points and a game high 14 rebounds from junior forward Jephany Brown, an active interior player that's highly recruited; Georgetown St. Johns and Syracuse sent assistant coaches to see her play, while Maryland's head coach Brenda Frese was also in attendance, as were others from big time programs.

The Stags afterward.

While the girls’ game was somewhat anti-climatic, the boys’ game was opposite: Roosevelt (25-6), a decided underdog, took the lead 48-47 with 1:26 to in regulation, this after falling behind 44-36 early in the fourth quarter. Fueling that comeback was a switch back to man-to-man defense from 2-3 zone, though the latter was successful earlier.

After DeMatha's junior guard James Robinson (eight points, all in the second half) hit two key free throws, giving the Stags their final lead with four seconds to go - charity stripe trips earned by driving to the hoop and being fouled - Roosevelt called a familiar scheme.

"It was our curl play we run. We ran it millions of times this year" recounted Rob Nickens, the team's head coach. "And we had two shooters in the corner, so if Ezell (Starks, who notched six points and four rebounds) can't get all the way to the basket, then he has the shooters in the corner. It was the same play we ran to beat Spingarn up there at Coolidge (DCIAA championship)".

Unfortunately they never got a shot up, instead committing an inbounds turnover.

Early on it was DeMatha's frontcourt that dominated; sophomore forward Beejay Anya (14 points, six rebounds, six blocks) received MVP honors for his work, while senior forward and future Georgetown Hoya, Mikael Hopkins (eight points) also did work.

"A lot of people are pretty much going to say (we won) because we are a lot bigger than them" said Hopkins afterward, who wanted to reinforce "We have a lot of talent (across the board) and our coaching is real good".

"I'm going to say turnovers" Roosevelt senior forward Devin Gallman, who was a thorn in DeMatha's side all night, finishing with 19 points, six rebounds and three blocks, to the loss. "We had a couple of plays where we took it off, didn't play quite as hard".

Senior forward Devaughn Jones and freshman gaurd Jarrell Allen finished with 10 points apiece for the Rough Riders, while Jones added six rebounds.

Nickens on the defeat: "It's a tough loss. It's disappointing, but we will be back...Nobody gave us a chance coming in here. We had the ball on the last possession of the game, and made a bad pass. So it was on outstanding game. I'm proud of my kids".

This was Roosevelt’s first ever City Title Game appearance, while DeMatha (26-7) has won six of the last seven, 21 overall. The Stags have made a total 28 trips there.