The Basketball Report

Robert Stephens, Writer

In the Association the Washington Wizards defeated the Detroit Pistons 98-77 to capture a rare road win.
The Wizards were led by JaVale McGhee’s 22 points and 11 rebounds. Nick Young chipped in with 22 points. John Wall added a career high with 15 assists. The Wizards improved to 6-22 on the season.

The Wizards have a tough three game road trip with games against the Trailblazers, Clippers, and Jazz.

If the playoffs were held this week in the Eastern Conference it would be Chicago versus Knicks or Bucks, Miami versus Boston, Philadelphia versus Orlando, and Atlanta at Indiana would round out the conference.

Dwayne Wade and the Heat are playing good ball (file photo).

The Western Conference would shape up as follows. Oklahoma would face Utah, the Clippers would tangle with Denver, San Antonio and Houston would face each other and Dallas and the Lakers would renew last year's conference championship final.

The Georgetown Hoyas bounced back from their 64-61 loss to Syracuse with a 71-61 win over St. John’s Saturday at the Verizon Center.

I had mentioned to editor Ron Bailey that I had not read anything about Cuse forward Kris Joseph being a graduate of Archbishop Carroll which I thought was an interesting sidebar of home boy excels against against a BIG EAST rival school. Joseph for the record led Syracuse with 29 points and 6 rebounds. Joseph is a native of Montreal but played his prep ball in Northeast.

The Hoya's win over St. John’s featured five players in double figures led Greg Whittington’s 12 points. Otto Porter 11 points and 8 rebounds. Jason Clark 11 points, Markel Starks 11 points, and Hollis Thompson 10 points led the balanced Hoya attack.

Georgetown head coach John Thompson III, at his press conference after the game, talked about the close calls his team has had this year.

“This group doesn’t get rattled.” This was a game that a group could get rattled because of (St. John’s) defense, because you don’t know where you are going to get your shots and because today early on we missed shots.”
said the Hoya coach.

Georgetown improved to 19-5 (9-4 Big East) and they will face Providence on the road Saturday.

The Howard University Bison won a thriller Friday night at Burr Gymnasium with a 71-69 win over Florida A&M. The Bison final margin came on a free throw by Trey Lee in a tightly fought MEAC contest.

Calvin Thompson led the Bison with 15 points. Tre Lee chipped in with 12 points. Prince Okoroh finished his night with 10 points.

Monday was not as kind to the Bison as they dropped a 73-67 conference game to Bethune-Cookman. Glenn Adams led Howard with 15 points. The Bison record now stands at 7-19 (5-9 MEAC).

Howard will face Coppin St. Saturday in Baltimore.

The MEAC shapes as follows as we prepare for tournament play: .
Norfolk St. 10-2 18-8
Savannah St. 9-2 16-10
Bethune-Cookman 8-3 12-14
Coppin State 8-4 13-12
North Carolina Central 7-5 13-12
N.C.A&T 6-6 11-16

Freshman Sim Frazier played aggressively in defeat against BCU.

The Maryland Terrapins fell to Duke 73-55 in Durham. The
Duke tandem of Miles Plumlee 13 points and 22 rebounds, and brother Mason Plumlee 16 points 10 rebounds led the Blue Devils to the win and exposed one of the weaknesses this Maryland team has. The Terps do not have the depth to stay with the big boys with any consistency.

Nick Faust led the Terps with 15 points. Terrell Stoglin chipped in with 13 points. Pe’Shon Howard one of Maryland’s veteran guards is out for the year with a torn right knee ligament.

Maryland is now 14-10, (4-6 ACC). The Terps hosts Boston College Thursday night.

The CIAA is gearing up for its 100th anniversary this year and Bowie State hopes to be a major player at their upcoming tournament. The CIAA Standings are as follows:

Northern Division
Bowie State 7-1 19-4
Virginia Union 5-1 13-11
Elizabeth City 4-4 12-12
Lincoln (Pa.) 4-4 11-14

Southern Division
Shaw University 6-0 20-2
Johnson C. Smith 3-3 10-12
St. Augustine 3-3 13-9
Winston Salem St. 3-3 17-5

In high school hoops their were several big games on tap. In the DCIAA Coolidge beat Wilson 73-48 at Coolidge. The Tigers were without their leading scorer Dimitri Gaither.
The Colts were led by De’Shaun Moorman’s 18 points. Coolidge with a balanced attack Khalen Cumberlander 16 points, Jade Dade 13 points, and Omar Roberts 12 points took control of the game in the second half.

“I knew our length would bother them,” said Colts head coach Vaughn Jones. “The first half they played us tough, we had to take away the guard penetration.”'

Coolidge improved to 23-6 (12-0 DCIAA) divisional play.
Wilson head coach Andre Williams talked about his team prior to the games start. “When I got here the record was 3-21.” said the Tigers' head coach. “The next year we were 14-13, the following year we were 14-8, followed by 20-10 and this year were 18-8 so we are building something here.” More later with Coach Williams.

If the DCIAA playoffs were to being after this weekend:

East
Spingarn 12-0 20-5
Ballou 9-2 12-10
McKinley 6-6 11-9
Luke C. Moore 3-7 3-10

West
Coolidge 12-0 23-6
Roosevelt 9-3 15-9
Wilson 7-4 18-8
Dunbar 7-5 13-9

In the WCAC Paul VI edged Gonzaga in double overtime 85-83 in a thriller. As the score indicated the game was nip and tuck all the way to the final buzzer.

“We have been in tight games all this year.” said Panther head coach Glenn Farello. “We have a veteran group that has played together (95) together and they know how to win.”

Coleman Johnson led the Panthers with 33 points and 16 rebounds.

“He (Coleman) is an assassin in the 15 to 17 foot range.” He recognized what was available and took advantage of it.” said coach Farello.

Patrick Holloway chipped in with 17 points. Marcus Derrickson (13 points) and Stan Robinson (11 points) contributed to the Panthers win.

Gonzaga was led by Nate Britt who finished with 35. Kris Jenkins chipped in with 28.

The WCAC standings as of Valentine’s Day !:
Paul VI 15-0 23-2
DeMatha 13-2 23-3
Gonzaga 11-4 22-4
St. John’s 11-5 17-10

In PG 4 A:
Ch Flowers 15-2 15-4
E. Roosevelt 14-3 17-4
Suitland 12-5 14-5
DuVal 12-5 14-6
Wise 12-5 14-6

In PG 3/2/1:
Gwynn Park 15-2 16-5
Largo 15-2 17-4
Potomac 13-4 15-6

In a big game this weekend Largo defeated Gwynn Park 68-44