Danny Quinn took a pass from point guard Justin Castleberry and laid the ball in as time expired to give No. 4 Spalding its first victory in a close game since December - a 47-45 decision over Towson Catholic in MIAA A Conference play. "These are our first back-to-back wins in over a month," said Spalding coach Mike Glick. "Things are starting to come together for us, both on the court and off. This could be the kind of win that turns our season around." Lawrence Dixon had 15 points to lead the Cavaliers, with Marquis Sullivan adding nine. Spalding looks to make it three in a row on Thursday at home against McDonogh at 7 p.m. Spalding (17-9) 16 15 6 10 _47 T. Catholic (19-4) 18 10 8 9 _45Archbishop Spalding (47) Dixon 6(1) 2-2 15, Sullivan 3(2) 1-2 9, Castleberry 2 0-0 4, Young 3 0-0 6, Quinn 3 2-2 8, Palumbo 2(1) 0-0 5. TOTALS: 19(4) 5-6 47. Towson Catholic (45) Mitchell 3(1) 1-1 8, Delaney 2 1-2 5, English 4(2) 0-0 10, Green 1 1-2 5, Nwezo 2 1-2 5. TOTALS: 18(5) 4-7 45

Passing Duke test sets up 7-footer to be presence vs. Ga. Tech's Schenscher By Jeff Zrebiec Sun Staff Originally published January 30, 2005 COLLEGE PARK - A year ago, Will Bowers felt like he didn't belong. In the Atlantic Coast Conference. With his Maryland teammates. At times, on the basketball court at all. And if there was ever a moment for that feeling to resurface, it was Wednesday night. For the first time since he has been at Maryland, the 7-foot-1, 248-pound sophomore center was in the starting lineup. The Terps were playing second-ranked and undefeated Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, one of the most intimidating venues in sports. The game was on national television and the guy Bowers was assigned to guard (Shelden Williams) is perhaps the best big man in the ACC. "I was very worried," said coach Gary Williams, who informed Bowers he would start in place of Ekene Ibekwe the day before the game. "He hadn't started, and that atmosphere, I've seen it get to really good players. It didn't get to Will." In the first five minutes against the Blue Devils, Bowers, a former All-Metro performer at Archbishop Spalding, had one rebound, a steal and two blocked shots, one coming on a turnaround attempt by Williams. By the time the half ended, he had logged 19 minutes (three short of a career high for a game), grabbed six rebounds (one short of tying a career high), scored four points and established himself as the inside presence that Gary Williams has longed for all season. The performance was another indication of how far Bowers has progressed - since last season, even the beginning of this season. Bowers' emergence, which has coincided with center Hassan Fofana's transfer from Maryland to Loyola last month, has become one of the most popular topics of conversation in College Park these days. "The big difference is I just feel like I belong out there with everybody else," said Bowers, who is averaging 2.1 points and 2.9 rebounds and playing just under 17 minutes a game during the past eight contests. He averaged just over five minutes a game last year and did not play in 13 of the Terps' 32 games. "When I got thrown in last year, people would just jump over me and run around me. And mentally, it's kind of hard to get yourself to believe in the fact that you belong in there when you make a mistake the first minute and you get pulled out. ... I can't blame Coach. I got plenty of opportunity to go in last year and contribute and I didn't do it. This year, I got my opportunity, and I feel like I capitalized on it." Bowers said he expects to start again today as the Terps (12-5, 3-3 in ACC), coming off a huge 75-66 victory over Duke, play host to 22nd-ranked Georgia Tech (12-5, 3-3) at Comcast Center. Suddenly, Maryland has a player who can match up - at least in size - with Yellow Jackets' 7-foot-1, 250-pound senior center Luke Schenscher. A native Australian, Schenscher, who like Bowers, arrived on campus with the reputation of a project, averaged just 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds his sophomore season before emerging late last year, helping Jarrett Jack lead Georgia Tech to the national championship game. Even though Schenscher has been inconsistent this year and gotten blame for some of the Yellow Jackets' struggles, which coach Paul Hewitt hopes ended in Thursday's 102-101 upset of Wake Forest, his development over his career has provided a model that Williams would like Bowers to follow. "I did think of Schenscher when I looked at Will," Williams said. "It's hard because [in high school], he played with [Connecticut freshman] Rudy Gay, really a great player, and Will got no attention. And then he came here ... and he didn't get to play. I told Will, 'Just keep working. Nobody has determined how good you are, how good you are going to be, so just keep working.'" Several Terps have noted how Bowers has been a different player in practice this year than the one who would often brood and sulk after a mistake. "We could see his attitude in practice sometimes, always getting down on himself," said junior forward Travis Garrison. "The way he played against Duke, I think it was a confidence booster. He's giving a lot to the team." Bowers, who has good passing skills for a big man but is still developing inside moves, said he had an epiphany this summer, to focus more on basketball and to work harder. "It has become the major focal point of my life," Bowers said. "When I first got here, I had a lot of things going on, but now, I've settled down, got in a groove and am completely focusing on basketball."

By Paul McMullen Sun Staff Originally published December 11, 2004 STORRS, Conn. - Rudy Gay cut a wide swath across the Baltimore basketball landscape. Few doubt that he could do the same on a national scale. Connecticut isn't expecting much from the freshman, only that he be the best in a line of great wings that has turned out Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler and Ben Gordon. The right elbow, pointed at the goal before release, is reminiscent of the form of Reggie Lewis, who was very good to Jim Calhoun. The Archbishop Spalding grad connects other dots: Juan Dixon and Carmelo Anthony prepped in the Baltimore Catholic League and became the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA tournament. Why can't I? "Everyone," Gay says, "wants to be that guy." Many dream, but few are as gifted as Gay, who can play anything from power forward to point guard for the defending NCAA champions. After a practice last month, he nodded at all that name-dropping and prepared to work on a plate of cake and cookies as sweet as his game. When the Huskies were timed in the 40-yard dash, the 6-foot-9, 220-pound Gay certified himself as the quickest guy in a program that feeds off a baseline-to-baseline style. He had little experience facing the basket two years ago, but Calhoun says Gay is probably his third-best ballhandler. Coaches push an inside-out game, and Gay combines spectacular dunks with three-point range and the ability to pull up off the dribble. Connecticut is in a 10-day break, stewing over Thursday's upset loss at Massachusetts. Besides semester exams, Gay must also solve a shooting slump, but his struggles figure to be temporary. "Rudy Gay is young," said Calhoun, the Huskies' coach, "but his talent is something that could be very, very special." Gay won't turn 19 until August, but he's already left a substantial mark, at least in Baltimore. He is an amiable, polite kid, but all that potential made Gay one of the most controversial high school players the area has ever seen. In his sophomore season at Baltimore County's Eastern Tech, the Mavericks earned their first and only trip to College Park for the state semifinals. When Gay transferred to Spalding after the start of his junior year, in September 2002, the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association reviewed its transfer rules. A much larger recruiting ruckus was labeled "Rudygate" by some spurned Maryland fans. In the summer of 2003, Gay emerged as a major national recruit and listed the Terps and Syracuse first among his preferred college destinations, ahead of the Huskies. Gay signed a national letter of intent with Connecticut in November 2003. Ten days later, the Huskies played an exhibition game against the Beltway Ballers, who were affiliated with the Cecil-Kirk Recreation Center, the biggest constant in his basketball development. A community association benefited - the standard payment for preseason foes is approximately $25,000 - but some perceived a quid pro quo. Maryland's Gary Williams, among the coaches who lost out on Gay, lobbed a verbal grenade at Calhoun. Gay spent his senior season earning honors and heckles. "His skin is as thick as anyone's I've ever coached," Spalding coach Mike Glick said. "Rudy had to endure a lot of abuse last season. From the day he announced that he was going to Connecticut to the last all-star game at the Comcast Center, it was a steady stream of humiliation and boos. He handled it great, used it as motivation." The episode greased the way for a Big Ten proposal already in the NCAA legislative pipeline. This season, exhibitions could be played only against other college teams. "A lot of kids benefited off that game," Gay said. "I know I didn't. There would be a lot of things I could have bought if I had that money, but a lot of kids benefited. It helped a lot of people. It [the NCAA rulebook] shouldn't have been changed because of that." Had the controversy never occurred, Calhoun would still get emotional discussing Gay. When they study Gay's square shoulders and knack in traffic, Big East veterans think of Reggie Williams, who helped Georgetown to its only NCAA title in 1984. Calhoun mentioned that similarity, but he links Gay first to Lewis, who had been a lesser-known teammate of Williams at Dunbar High. Calhoun came to Connecticut after a fine run at Northeastern, where he relied on several Baltimoreans who had been developed at Cecil-Kirk by Anthony Lewis, who remains the coach there. The rec center's recent success stories include Dixon at Maryland and Josh Boone, the sophomore center at Connecticut who had a lot to do with Gay going north. A generation ago, Cecil-Kirk's favorite son was Reggie Lewis, who blossomed from a Dunbar reserve into a star at Northeastern under Calhoun. Lewis was emerging as the leader of the Boston Celtics when he died in 1993. "The guys at Cecil-Kirk called Reggie 'Sam,' and they called me 'Big Sam,' " Gay said. "Coach Calhoun calls me 'Truck.' That's what he called Reggie at Northeastern." When Gay shoots a jumper, the comparison comes naturally. "Rudy is taller than Reggie, but when he shoots, he brings the ball back the same way Reggie used to," Calhoun said. "As well as he jumps, he makes it that much more difficult to defend his jump shot, a motion he does very naturally. They have similar personalities, too. Rudy exudes an unspoken warmth. You don't see many kids like him." Calhoun said Gay shows him something new seemingly every day, and raves about his aptitude at both ends of the floor. "Rudy's got the wingspan of a 7-1 guy," Calhoun said. "We're telling him to give his man space, because he can let someone get off a shot, then block it." Assistant coach George Blaney talked about a quality coaches love, that Gay "doesn't think anything he's taught is beneath him." Not all of the lessons have come on the court, as Gay learned when he wore an earring to the weight room. "Where do you think you are?" Calhoun asked. The nation's best college players head to the NBA as quickly as possible, so Connecticut would probably settle for two seasons out of Gay. Calhoun can caustically dissect his players' shortcomings in public, but he has given the Big East Preseason Rookie of the Year a wide berth. Somewhat more patient than the normal teen, Gay is not going to sweat coming off the Connecticut bench. He averaged a team-high 15.5 points during a four-game exhibition stop in London Thanksgiving week, but has come off the bench in a deep rotation. Juniors Rashad Anderson and Denham Brown are veterans at the shooting guard and small forward spots, respectively, but Gay will be prominent on a team where only Boone will likely average more than 30 minutes. Gay got his first double double in a comeback win over Indiana, but got bumped around by Northeastern and Massachusetts this week, when he shot a combined 7-for-28. His two free throws with 8.8 seconds left tied the game against UMass, but he took more shots than Anderson and Brown combined in the Huskies' 61-59 loss. Despite the recent shooting woes, Gay is averaging 10.2 points and 6.2 rebounds. "I feel," Gay said, "as though my time is coming." Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun | Get home delivery

When Archbishop Spalding routed Coolidge (DC), 103-58, on Saturday night, at the Hayfield (VA) Invitational, the Cavaliers produced the 250th career win for head coach Mike Glick. Glick built St. Vincent Pallotti into one of the region's most successful prep programs in the early 90's before moving to Spalding, where he has transformed the Cavaliers into one of the top teams in the MIAA, as well as the Baltimore Catholic League. In addition, the 103-points scored against Coolidge set a new Spalding single-game scoring record. Perhaps under estimated following the graduation of All-American Rudy Gay, Spalding (3-0) is ranked just eighth in both Baltimore and Washington, but the Cavaliers, with three Division I commitments on their roster, have already knocked oFf National Christian and Hayfield, two highly rated teams in DC.

James Quinn MDVarsity.com Magazine Staff Archbishop Spalding Coach Mike Glick does not believe in keeping freshmen on his Cavalier varsity, regardless of how talented they might be, so when the veteran coach from the Severn, Maryland, Catholic High School tells us that he has two ninth graders, "... who might be ACC players some day", we stand up and take notice. Coach Glick has had seven Spalding seniors sign NCAA Division-I Letters of Intent in the last three years. Two of the players, center Will Bowers at Maryland and forward Rudy Gay at Conneticut, signed with ACC and Big East programs. Last week after formal practices started for Baltimore Catholic League (BCL) schools, Coach Glick told MdVarsity.com that he felt he had two freshmen who had a chance of "... being really special players for Spalding down the road. Kevon Moore is a tremendous athlete and a very skilled, instinctive player. He is the best eighth grader I've ever had commit to Spalding and maybe the best freshman player I've ever had. Brad Bald is a big kid, about 6-5 1/2 and I think he can be a Kevin McHale-type of player, he could grow to 6-10 or 6-11 and he is really good, really tough. He has a chance to be a terrific big man for us. I'm telling you, these are kids who might be ACC players some day." Does that mean that Coach Glick will break with his tradition and policy and put these players on the Spalding varsity this season? "No, I don't believe in that. I don't like to put freshman on the varsity, no matter how good they are. Besides, I think we have a good group of seniors and juniors in our line-up and rotation. But, I'm telling you, these two kids are going to be very good." Marylandprephoops.com rates Kevon Moore, a 6-3 wing player, the top freshman small forward in the state of Maryland's Class of 2008. Moore was a heavily recruited player out of Bowie, Maryland, who helped lead Coach Gary Stein's Bethesda Magic to the AAU 14 & under national tournament in Florida last season. MdVarsity.com recently ran into Coach Stein at Bullis Prep and he told us, "Kevon is really an excellent player. He is very talented and very skilled. He just knows how to play. I like Mike (Glick), I think he is a heck of a coach, I think that Kevon will develop into a great player at Spalding." Although Brad Bald is not as well known or as highly rated as Kevon Moore at this point, Coach Click is very high on the young big man. "Brad is about 6-5 1/2", his father is a big guy, he played at (the University of) Georgia. Brad is from Millersville, but he played youth basketball at Chick Webb in Baltimore City and really faced top competition and got better. He wasn't that big of a name (coming out of the eighth grade), but he grew from like 6-1 to 6-5 1/2 in the last year and he really got bigger and better. He was kind of a 'sleeper'. He could wind up being a very good big man for us down the road." The Cavaliers will take some heavy graduation losses in 2005 and 2006, but is sounds like Coach Glick's talented freshman class will keep Archbishop Spalding near the top of the BCL for years to come.