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Spalding and St. Albans Start Season With a Bang!! By: Mark Thomas MD Varsity.com Date: December 10, 2002 So many things to say as I think about this one...Where to start??? First- Absolutely two of the BEST coaches around going head to head. I'd be crazy to pass up seeing St. Albans Bob Brown (16 seasons, 241 wins and 151 losses) and Spalding's Mike Glick (10th season, 194-92) match wits. I would let either of them coach my team any day. Brown is long overdue for some coaching recognition. Second- Meet the new and improved Rudy Gay. The 6'7 Junior has come so far from where he was as a player last year at Eastern Tech. He is stronger, more assertive, more active, more confident and seems like a flat out better basketball player. His athletic ability is undeniable. Georgetown, Charlotte and West Virginia all saw him score 15 points and block 3? shots tonight. I can only imagine how much more he will develop as last year he kind of floated at times. I am excited to watch him. Credit Rudy for some hard work and Coach Glick and staff for working with him. Third- St. Albans has one of the best backcourts around and they are all underclassmen. Manny Quazada (6'2/180) is a sophomore and is the best of the bunch. He had 20 points tonight and he just plays so smoothly and in control. He really distributes the ball well and can score in multiple ways with never needing to dunk or jump over top of someone. The other two are Junior Cameron Dantlely (6'0/190 and son of THE Adrian Dantley)who also plays quite smart and is effective around the basket getting put-backs. He had 19 points. The 3rd jewel is junior Ruben Montilla (5'11/170). Ruben only had 3 points tonight, but his influence was felt all over the game with his defense and distribution. I say this now and I want you to listen carefully. Manny Quazada is one of the best guards and prehaps the best "basketball player" in the entire DC area. He won't blow you away with his athletic ability, but nobody around can stop him. He is a sophomore. Fourth- There is this 6'2 white kid named Matt Latonick who made 5-6 3pters for Spalding and was HUGE. Fifth- Will Bowers was in early foul trouble and not much of a factor. Watching him play, he gives you everything he has. He really makes you root for him. That being said, I think he is a long way from being able to contribute at MD. Give him 2-3 years. He should redshirt next season, but I hesistate to say that too fast. You should usually see a kid play 2-3 times before judging. Now to the game... Spalding jumped out of the gate fast. Rudy Gay was everywhere and the Cavaliers led 19-6 at the end of the 1st period. 2nd and 3rd Qs belonged to St. Albans. They eventually used some pressure defense to change things up. In the 2nd Q, St. Albans outscored Spalding 18-7 and in the 3rd Q they got them 13-8. Key moments in the 3rd period included a tough Manny Quazada 2 off of a nice pass from Montilla. Then, on the break, St. A's Jugo Karetanovic (I'll have fun saying that one on TV) hit Cameron Dantley for a layup and the Bulldogs took their first lead at 33-31. By the end of the 3rd period, St. Albans was leading 37-34. 4th period...St. Albans was able to extend the lead to 46-39 with about 4:00 to play. Then, Rudy Gay helped launch Spalding on a 9-0 spurt. First Gay blocked a shot, then he came up with a monster follow slam. Latonick hit a 3 (his 5th) and Jesse Brooks got 3 the old fashioned way- 2+1. With 2:52 to play, Spalding reclaimed the lead at 47-46. Manny Q hit a 3 to put St. A up 51-49. Will Bowers got his only bucket of the night to tie it at 51. Will scored on an aggressive layup and really risked fouling out. Tied at 51 with :09 left to play. Spalding calls on Jesse Brooks to go one on one from the top of the key. He gets his shot blocked, but the ref calls a foul on the penetration move. Brooks hits 1-2 FTs as Spalding leads 52-51 with :04.1 to play. St. A gathered the rebound on the missed 2nd shot and called a TO with 2.2 left on the clock. Football QB Cameron Dantley inbounds past the harassing, 7'0 Bowers. They get it to Montilla just across half court. Montilla launches a shot that looks good, but hits the back of the iron and comes out. The St. A players collapse to the floor in disappointment. Spalding wipes off their brow with a sense of relief. They could've easily taken their first loss tonight. A doozie in Northwest Washington tonight.
Published December 8th By KEVIN BRADFORD, Staff Writer Anne Arundel Capital/Gazette COLLEGE PARK -- Archbishop Spalding earned a monumental victory over a storied national program. Annapolis was flat-out embarrassed in a lopsided loss to one of Maryland's most successful public schools. That was the difference between the two Anne Arundel County schools in yesterday's seventh annual Morgan Wootten Invitational at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center. Rudy Gay and Will Bowers led the way as Spalding, ranked No. 2 in the state, defeated Archbishop Molloy 56-52 in a showdown between Baltimore Catholic League and New York Catholic League powerhouses. "I think it's a significant win for our program, our league and Anne Arundel County. Our league is viewed as not as competitive as the New York Catholic League, but this shows our league can play at the national level," Spalding coach Mike Glick. Richard Thomas had 29 points, six rebounds and five steals as seven-time state champion Thomas Johnson handled Annapolis 76-52 in the first prep game ever at Comcast in the opening game of the event. Thomas Johnson, which has won the fourth-most state titles in Maryland history and is ranked No. 6 in the state, ended Annapolis' 42-game regular-season winning streak. It was the Panthers' first regular-season loss since falling to Dulaney 64-61 exactly two years to the day on Dec. 7, 2000. Archbishop Molloy, the alma mater of former ACC and NBA star guards Kenny Anderson and Kenny Smith, has won 817 games and five New York Catholic championships under legendary 45-year coach Jack Curran. Yet the Briarwood, N.Y., school, which finished last season ranked No. 5 in the East Region by USA Today, couldn't handle Gay and Bowers in the post. "Spalding is very good. They have the constant factors with both big guys in the middle. Both are good and Gay played excellent. He was hard to keep away from the basket," Curran said. Gay, a 6-foot-7 swingman rated as one of the nation's top juniors, had 18 points, nine rebounds, two blocked shots and made 8-of-9 field goals in his Spalding debut after transferring from Eastern Tech in Baltimore. "I was so proud of Rudy's performance. He played so composed despite having four fouls the whole fourth quarter. Great players make great plays in big games, and that's what he did. He gives us a versatile player who can play inside or out," Glick said. Bowers, a 7-foot, 250-pound senior center who signed with defending NCAA champion Maryland, totaled 12 points, five boards and one block in his first game on his future homecourt. Gay and Bowers combined for four of the high-flying Cavaliers' five dunks. Bowers couldn't have asked for a better start as he threw down a two-handed monster dunk for his first basket at Comcast. He showed off his athletic ability later in the game when he took a fastbreak pass from point guard Jesse Brooks on the wing and soared in for another slam. While Bowers lifted Spalding in the first half with eight points, Gay took over after halftime with 13 points, including nine in the decisive fourth quarter. "Rudy really carried us in the second half. It's a really good win for us. We could've folded at some parts of the game, but we didn't," Bowers said. Gay put an exclamation point on the win when he jammed home an alley-oop pass from Brooks with 32 seconds left. "Coming from Eastern Tech, we didn't play teams like this. It's great to beat a team with such a great past," Gay said. Brooks, a junior point guard, had an impressive all-around floor game directing the offense with 10 points, eight assists and three rebounds. Senior guard Dave Douglas also stepped up with eight points on 4-for-6 shooting. Douglas also anchored a packed-in defense that held Molloy 5-11 senior guard Marlon Smith, a major Division I recruit, to just 12 points on 3-of-9 shooting. In the first game, Thomas Johnson executed its flex offense to near-perfection in shooting 60 percent from the field (26-for-43) and 56 percent from 3-point range (9-16). The Patriots limited the Panthers to 39 percent shooting (17-for-44). Annapolis senior forward Josh Johnson had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds. The Panthers lost their fifth straight game on the University of Maryland campus, where they've made a state-record 25 state tournament appearances. They fell to 7-24 all-time in College Park, where they haven't won since capturing their second state title in 1990. "This game was a lesson. Hopefully we can get back here (for the state tournament). I think we can do it. We just need to look at the tape and see what we did wrong and try to have another great season," Johnson said. Annapolis senior guard Laronja Owens, the returning county Player of the Year who averaged 23.4 points last year, was held to 12 points. "They are a well-coached team," Owens said of Thomas Johnson. "We got some experience against another competition level and we'll know how to handle it when we play another tough team later." Spalding (1-0)13111517--56 Molloy (2-1)1513915--52 Spalding (56)Douglas 4-6 0-2 8, Durr 1-6 0-0 2, Latonick 1-5 0-0 3, Gay 8-9 2-4 18, Brackney 1-4 0-0 3, Bowers 4-8 4-8 12, Brooks 3-6 4-6 10. Totals: 22-44 10-18 56. 3-Pointers: 2-9 (Latonick 1-5, Brackney 1-3, Brooks 0-1).Molloy (52)Miller 1-10 0-0 3, Mackey 0-1 0-0 0, Smith 3-9 4-4 12, Gaines 7-10 5-8 23, Marnika 1-8 1-2 3, Abit 4-4 3-4 11. Totals: 19-42 13-18 52. 3-Pointers: 7-27 (Miller 1-9, Mackey 0-1, Smith 2-7, Gaines 4-6, Marnika 0-4). Published December 08, 2002, The Capital, Annapolis, Md. Copyright © 2002 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Gay leads No. 1 Spalding to 56-52 victory Turnovers foil Annapolis in 76-52 loss to T. Johnson By Pat O'Malley Sun Staff Originally published December 8, 2002 COLLEGE PARK - High-flying Rudy Gay took over in the paint in the second half, scoring 13 of his team-high 18 points as top-ranked Archbishop Spalding soared to a 56-52 win over Archbishop Molloy of Briarwood, N.Y., in yesterday's Morgan Wootten Invitational at the Comcast Center. Gay, a 6-foot-7 junior transfer from Eastern Tech, also had nine rebounds, and 7-foot Maryland signee Will Bowers had 12 points and grabbed three of his six rebounds down the stretch. Junior guard Jesse Brooks, who had 10 points, fed them inside and had eight assists. "Their size was the difference," said Molloy coach Jack Curran, who is in his 45th year with 817 wins and has over 1,300 wins coaching baseball. "They did a pretty good job. No. 21 [Gay] was great. He was the difference." The Stanners came in as the No. 5-ranked team in the New York area. No. 3 Annapolis was the only other local team in the four-game event, named in honor of the retired DeMatha coach, and the Panthers committed 27 tu rnovers in losing, 76-52, to Thomas Johnson of Frederick. In the Spalding victory, the Cavaliers started slowly, were down 15-13 after the first quarter and 28-24 at the half after a three-pointer by the Stanners' Sundiata Gaines, who had a game-high 25 points. Gay hit a short jumper in the paint and followed with a two-handed dunk to cut the deficit to 33-30 early in the third quarter before a three by Molloy's Marlon Smith put the Cavaliers behind by six. After a Bowers free throw reduced Molloy's lead to 37-36 with 38 seconds left in the third period, Matt Latonick made a three-pointer with two seconds left to send the Cavaliers into the final quarter leading 39-37. Playing with four fouls, Gay then scored nine of his 18 points. The last two came on another dunk off a perfect lob from Brooks with 30 seconds left to give Spalding a 52-45 lead. Thomas Johnson 76, No. 3 Annapolis 52: The state's two winningest active public school coaches in Tom Dickman of the Patriots and John Brady of Annapolis met in the first game. Thomas Johnson capitalized on Annapolis' sloppy play to build a 40-26 halftime lead and coasted from there. Thomas Richard, a 6-2 junior guard, led the Patriots with a game-high 26 points, and 6-7 senior Josh Johnson led Annapolis with 17 points and 12 rebounds. It was obvious from the beginning that Annapolis could not handle Thomas Johnson's pressure defense. "We didn't take care of the ball," said Brady, who has the highest winning percentage among active coaches at .850 on his 534-94 record as he starts his 26th season. "They're too good of a defensive team that you have to make good passes and crisp cuts or they will burn you." Said Dickman, who holds the all-time public school record for most wins, notching No. 570 (570-134, .810) starting his 31st season: "We were just using our head-up pressure, not trapping and it got us some early layups." Dickman had his Patriots double-team Panthers All-Metro guard and leading scorer Laronja Owens, and held him to 11 points. Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun
By Pat O'Malley Sun Staff Originally published December 6, 2002 Top-ranked Archbishop Spalding and the No. 3 Annapolis boys basketball teams will be in the spotlight tomorrow at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center. Annapolis and Spalding are playing in back-to-back games in the four-game Morgan Wootten Invitational at 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively. Tickets are $15 at the door and $10 at the schools, with VIP tickets going for $25. Meanwhile, Dunbar High School is the site of the boys Baltimore-D.C. Challenge tomorrow. Classes for Baltimore City schools today have been canceled, as has the girls portion of the Challenge. "If [Baltimore City] school is called off [today], the girls games will not be played or rescheduled," Baltimore city athletic coordinator Bob Wade said last night. "After this week, they go into their league games and we go into ours. This is the only time we can play." Annapolis plays the first of four high school games to be played at the new Comcast Center, at 1:30 p.m. against Frederick's Thomas Johnson. The game matches the state's top two active winningest public school coaches, John Brady (534-93, .852) of Annapolis and the Patriots' Tom Dickman (569-134, .809). Dickman passed deceased Allegany coach Walter Bowers last year for the most wins by a public school coach. Bowers was 566-166 (.773) in 30 seasons at the Western Maryland high school. Thomas Johnson returns two starters in 6-foot-2 junior Thomas Richard, who averaged 17.2 points for last year's 25-2, 4A state finalist and 6-3 Luke Ledyard. "We're fortunate to get invited, and we're going to play a well-coached team," Brady said. Annapolis (25-1) is led by the All-Anne Arundel County duo of guard Laronja Owens (23.4 ppg, All-Metro) and 6-7 center Josh Johnson (19.6 ppg, 12.7 rpg, second-team All-Metro) and 6-5 junior Elliott Devoe. "It's going to be a lot of intensity up there, and I might get sidetracked or something and try to show off," Johnson said. "I just hope to have a good game in front of my friends. Spalding (28-5) plays Archbishop Molloy of New York at 3:30 p.m. The Cavaliers are led by 7-0 center Will Bowers, forwards Rudy Gay and Gus Durr and guard Jesse Brooks. "Molloy is one of the best-coached teams in the country, and they have a tremendous point guard and are not that big inside," said Spalding coach Mike Glick. "Most people would say they're going to beat us. So, we're going in as the underdog, but it's a great experience for our kids to play at the University of Maryland." WNAV (1430 AM) will broadcast the Annapolis and Spalding games on tape delay tomorrow at 5 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., respectively. Bishop O'Connell of Arlington (Va.) plays defending Class 4A champion Eleanor Roosevelt at 5 p.m. with host DeMatha meeting Magruder at 7 p.m. in the other Comcast games. Several interesting boys matchups are set for tomorrow in the Challenge, with the feature game at 5:30 p.m. pitting defending Class 3A state champion and No. 4 Douglass and defending D.C. champion Spingarn. Spingarn, led by 6-7 Babacar Thiam and 6-4 Sohi Frazier, lost last weekend's IAABO Tip-off final by 79-78 to No. 10 St. Frances. The other Baltimore-D.C. Challenge games tomorrow are: No. 6 Mervo vs. Dunbar, D.C., with their high-scoring guards Tre Kelley and Earl Risby, at 1:30 p.m., and No. 2 Lake Clifton vs. H.D. Woodson at 3:30 p.m. Host Dunbar plays Coolidge at 7:30. Sun staff writer Lem Satterfield contributed to this article. Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun
MARYLAND AP STATE BASKETBALL POLL By: Jeff Graves Date: December 4, 2002 Here is the boys preseason state poll: 1. Montrose Christian (8), 196 2. Spalding (2), 191 3. DeMatha, 178 4. Oxon Hill, 162 5. Lake Clifton, 145 6. Thomas Johnson, 139 7. Friendly, 128 8. Good Counsel, 119 9. Suitland, 110 10. Eleanor Roosevelt, 96 11. National Christian, 89 12. Mervo, 84 13. Riverdale Baptist, 79 14. Magruder, 70 15. Annapolis, 65 16. Mt St Joe, 47 17. Gwynn Park, 37 18. Randallstown, 32 19. St Maria Goretti, 27 20. Bishop McNamara, 22 Others Receiving Votes: Georgetown Prep, 16 Douglass-Balt, 15 Pocomoke, 11 St Francis, 9 Sherwood, 8 St. John's-PH, 7 Southern-Balt, 4 Watkins Mill, 3 Bullis, 3 Southern-AA, 3 Wicomico, 2 Blair, 1 Northwest, 1 Lansdowne, 1