Dodson Leads E.R. In Cross-State Thriller
Ron Bailey, Publisher
February 1, 2007 – Rarely do public high schools from Maryland and Virginia match up in regular season play: Partly because of the limited number of non-league games afforded those institutions, and partly as a result of coaches fearing losses generated by talented teams they are fairly unfamiliar with. Even rarer are schools from the Commonwealth and Free State tilting right before their season’s stretch drive.
The coaching staffs at Eleanor Roosevelt (Greenbelt, MD) and Freedom-Woodbridge (Woodbridge, VA) should be applauded for bucking conventional wisdom and scheduling their meeting last night (both are in the i95Ballerz.com Power Poll).
All in attendance were treated to a dandy game, as Roosevelt won in overtime 82-80, at Freedom-Woodbridge’s impressive gym. For the season, Roosevelt is 11-6, while the homestanding Eagles are 13-4.
Roosevelt’s Darnell Dodson (38 points, 11 rebounds, 10 steals) was the star of a talent packed show; not only scoring, but rebounding, defending and when the game was on the line, handling the ball in his hands and leading the Raiders.
Cameron Long (left) and Darnell Dodson are seen here preparing for an inbounds play. The two matched up frequently.
“I saw my shot wasn’t falling” in the first half, said Dodson, a senior and future Pittsburgh Panther, “so I had to do other things to win”.
That he did, including defending Freedom-Woodbridge’s Cameron Long (16 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists) - who will attend George Mason University next year after graduating this spring – along with helping lead the Raiders back from a 40-25 halftime deficit.
Central to Freedom-Woodbridge’s first half lead was the play of senior Jaren Haley (36 points), who repeatedly hit long jumper after long jumper, as well as created steals, pushed the tempo on fast breaks, and found open teammates.
His coach, Ahmed Dorsett, was unfazed by the currently uncommitted Haley’s play, stating “That’s how he plays every night”.
Jaren Haily (right) prepares for a foul shot, while Brendan Straughan (3) looks on. Both played key roles for their teams.
After Long’s three pointer sent the Raiders into intermission down 15, Roosevelt coach Glenn Farello communicated to his team Freedom-Woodbridge was taking the fight to them. “We put up the word ‘attack’” at halftime, he said, since their foes had previously set the game’s tempo.
The tactic worked, as the Raiders outscored the Eagles 57-40 the rest of the way. Elaborating further, Farello said during the second half “We had to get as many shots as possible”. A corollary to this increased activity was to “wear their legs out”, thereby impacting the Eagles’ shooting.
To help effectuate the plan, Roosevelt immediately stepped up their perimeter defense – eliminating many of the open looks the Eagles enjoyed in the first half – and started to feed senior Sean Hawkins (27 points) the ball on the blocks.
Sean’s play “was huge” said Raider coach Brendan O’Connell.
“We wanted to pound it down low”, consequently exploiting
the interior of the Eagle’s defense.