Oxon Hill Clips Laurel

Ron Bailey, Publisher

January 20, 2007 – Trailing Laurel (Laurel, MD) – the 8th ranked D.C. area team by i95Ballerz.com - and two other schools by a pair of games for third place in Maryland’s Prince George’s 4A league, Oxon Hill’s (Oxon Hill, MD) staff and players knew a victory last night would go along way in terms of playoff positioning. They rose to the occasion, as the Clippers (6-4, 6-4) defeated Laurel (11-3, 7-3) 41-37, at Oxon Hill’s showcase gymnasium.

Oxon Hill’s coach, Billy Lanier, got significant contributions from senior Cedric Daily (11 points) and typically high scoring sophomore Maurice Creek (8 points), but it was senior James Grant whose all-around performance stood out in the win: Supplying 10 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks, Grant repeatedly made important plays, and as well as competed aggressively against Laurel’s Hampton University-bound senior center, Milade Lola-Charles (2 points).

James Grant (right) is seen here before the game's start. Milade Lola-Charles is also setting up to compete for the jump ball.

“James played well for us tonight” said Lanier, who thinks Grant is simply returning to past form. “Last year, the last eight games, he averaged a triple double for us”.

Grant, a team captain, feels his role is “to help the team with my energy”. Creek agreed, and added James “rebounded the ball, shot the ball, and passed the ball”.

Laurel jumped to a 5-2 lead, after a three pointer and two point shot by their other future Hampton University student-athlete, senior Chris Tolson (11 points).

Soon thereafter, both teams employed full court presses, in hopes of slowing their opponents down and creating turnovers. That strategy was confirmed, at least from a Clipper perspective, by Oxon Hill assistant coach Mark Edwards. “Our mission was to make them take difficult shots” he said. “To make them work with the ball in their hands”.

The change had its desired effect, as at halftime the score stood 17-15, with Oxon Hill leading.

After Laurel Spartan Marcus Hebron (7 points) scored, tying the score early in the third quarter, Oxon Hill went on a 12-4 scoring advantage before a Tolson three pointer at the 2:03 mark ended the run. Another Laurel three pointer further diminished their deficit to two, at the start of the fourth quarter.

Many of the game's chief actors are seen here: (left to right) James Grant, Marcus Hebron Cedric Daily, Chris Tolson

At this point, the teams were in slugfest, as members of both squads played with effort. A sequence with a little more than five minutes to play illustrates it: Oxon Hill’s Creek stole the ball, passing it to Daily, whose layup attempt was blocked by the hustling Hebron. Daily was awarded two charity stripe opportunities, in which he sank one.

Creek - who after transferring to Oxon Hill this year and proving himself one of the best shooters in the D.C. area - wasn’t firing as smoothly as normal, yet steeled himself to contribute by passing and playing defense. “I can do that” said Maurice, when asked specifically about his playmaking. “I was helping my teammates. Everybody stepped up with me”.

Which of course included Grant. Soon after the aforementioned sequence, James again impacted the game by sinking a back to back short shot and soon afterward keeping a possession alive through hustle.

Laurel pulled as close as 38-37 after Tolson’s free throw with 51.1 seconds to play, but would not score again.

With Oxon Hill now a game out of the jumbled third place spot in the PG 4A, the league’s plot thickens. Stay tuned to i95Ballerz.com for additional coverage.