Riverdale Baptist Pulls Out Gilbert Title!

Ron Bailey, Publisher

December 30, 2007 – The under-respected school in Upper Marlboro, MD, Riverdale Baptist, defended D.C.’s honor last night, besting The Bronx, NY’s Wings Academy 47-44 in overtime. In the process, the team, coached by Lou Wilson, captured the third annual Michael J. Gilbert Foundation Basketball Tournament’s crown.

The event, which offered hoops supporters an opportunity to see four girls and eight boys teams from across the country – including D.C., Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and New York – compete over the course of two days was held at Trinity University (DC), receiving decent fan support. Based solely upon the confab’s mission, many more should have attended.

“The family started the foundation to receive money for HIV & AIDS patients and education” shared its past president, Charles Gilbert, who went on to further establish the necessity of both. “One out of five teens in the District is HIV positive, and one out of 20 adults is, so the need is there”.

The Gilbert family was drawn into the AIDS fight by the death of Gilbert’s brother Michael several years ago.

Assisting the foundation was of course Trinity, who Gilbert labeled “beautiful”. “It will be be hard to take the event to any other school” going forward, based upon the formation of a great relationship between those entities noted Gilbert.

Thomas Robinson and Lou Wilson, with Riverdale Baptist team members.

The same can be said for Comfort Inn/Choice Hotels, a primary sponsor, which as such was afforded the opportunity to reach a broad population through supporting the tournament. Next year, it is hoped that more sponsors will see the benefit of not only advertising their brand, but aiding literally a life and death struggle.

The event’s mission was not the only thing great, as its final game was one to remember. Tournament MVP, junior forward Thomas Robinson (14 points, 15 rebounds) played virtually the entire contest for Riverdale Baptist (12-2), and was assisted by senior swingman Brian Wilson (12 points) and senior forward Matt Graves (10 points, 10 rebounds).

“It was a tough team win” noted Wilson afterward. “We had to pull it out”.

That it was. Wings led 21-18 at the half, before Riverdale pulled ahead by via their 2-3 match up zone and a constant supply of offensive rebounds (senior forward Phillip Brooks chipped in 11, to go with two points).

Matt Graves

Wings’ coach Bill Turner was impressed with his opponents ability to hit the glass. “We are not going to face a team like that in New York, outside of Lincoln (Brooklyn’s public school powerhouse program)” he said. “They are really big and strong”.

That size came in handy to close regulation, as despite Wings’ battling back into the game, in part due to a full court 2-2-1 press, Robinson was able to corral the initial shot of a missed one and one foul shot opportunity, leading to a pair of successful charity stripe attempts by Wilson. Those points proved crucial, given Wings’ three pointer by junior guard Kevin Opoky (8 points) seconds later, knotting the score at 42.

Their height and aggressiveness also benefited Riverdale Baptist in overtime, where Graves was able to score on a stick back, and later from the foul line, while Robinson again grabbed a missed foul shot, to seal the win with 7.2 seconds left.

“All the workouts are paying off, at least the post man ones” said a jubilant yet tired Robinson, afterwards. “We had to pull it out”.

Let’s hope the world can do the same in its fight against HIV and AIDS. The Michael J. Gilbert Foundation Tournament is a step in that direction.