The County Times
Thursday December 21, 2006
Section B -
Section
Sports and Community Interest B Perfect Hornets Buzz by Raiders Leonardtown Drops First Game By Andrew Knowlton Staff Writer Hundreds of Raiders fans packed the basketball gym in Leonardtown High School to watch their undefeated team take on the also perfect Great Mills Hornets in the Tip-Off Tournament Saturday. The Raiders are known as a strong outside shooting team, but as Hornets guard Cody Kohn pointed out after the game, offense sells tickets, but defense wins games. Kohn and the Hornets proved it by burying the Raiders 54-25 and shutting down their shooters all night. They used a strong defensive third quarter, in which they gave up just three points, to run away with their fourth victory of the season. “We shut them down, “ Kohn said. “We know Leonardtown’s a three-point team. You shut them down from three-point land, that’s all you got to do. They’re a good team, though, don’t get me wrong, they’re definitely a good team.”
Kohn scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and had seven steals in the win. The Hornets’ game-plan defensively, was to give the Raiders just one look at the basket on each trip down the court, Great Mills head coach Frank Peck said. “If you give them multiple looks, they’re going to eventually knock down outside shots and we wanted to prevent that,” Peck said. “We did a good job on the defensive end throughout the game, especially on their shooters. [Leonardtown] didn’t have a very good shooting night and that’s ultimately the key to the game.” The Hornets, on the other hand, shot well most of the game and had strong contributions from their bench. Guard Zack Sawyer came into the game in the third quarter and swished two straight threes, one from each wing, and boosted the Hornets to a 19-point lead. By the end of the quarter, they were up 38-14. Great Mills owned the glass as well, with center Trae Jacobs, racking up 11 boards.
Photo by Andrew Knowlton
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Point guard Cody Kohn, who scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and collected seven steals in a 54-25 win over Leonardtown in the Tip-Off Tournament, looks for an open teammate in the third quarter.
Knight Life:
Cooler Heads Prevail
Ryken Basketball Seahawks Change Course Dominates DC Area
with 2 Straight Wins By Andrew Knowlton Staff Writer
By Andrew Knowlton Staff Writer
the extra pass, we’ll score just about every time it seems like.” Preston contributed 11 points for the Seahawks and went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. Center Alex Irmer was the lead-
ing scorer for St. Mary’s with 14 points. Guard Dan Engelstad dropped in 10, point guard Mike Smelkinson had eight, and forward Calvin Wise scored seven. “The points were spread out today and that’s the way it’s got to be,” guard Tyson Lesesne said. “We were just making the extra pass and it worked out well.” Guard T.J. Jordan came off the bench and scored nine. Lesesne also contributed big points off the bench. He did not play the first half, but came out of the gates strong in the second. He sunk a long threepointer on his first shot and then made an acrobatic layup while getting fouled on just his second touch of the ball. With his free throw, Lesesne made it a three-point play and extended the Seahawk lead to 47-34. “I was just ready to get out there,” Lesesne said. He had 12 points and six rebounds in just 17 minutes of play. The Seahawks’ lead grew to 18 points, but Washington crawled back Photo by Andrew Knowlton into the game late in the
The St. Mary’s College Seahawks have learned to keep their cool. As a result, they broke a four-game skid and have won two in a row with a road win over Baruch College and a 74-62 home victory against Washington College Saturday. The Seahawks worked the floor offensively against Washington, and maintained intense defensive pressure throughout the game. Most importantly, they kept their heads when the Shoremen made comeback threats. St. Mary’s moved the ball and got the bench involved as well. “It definitely feels good,” guard Valdez Preston said. “We moved the ball today. Sometimes we get too caught up in one-onone because we’ve got some athletes on our team, we’ve got some scorers. But if we move the ball, make Point guard Dan Engelstad scores two of his 10
points on a fast break layup in the second half. The Seahawks beat Washington College Saturday for their consecutive win.
See Seahawks page 2
Knights Crushed By St. Johns By Andrew Knowlton Staff Writer The Ryken girls’ basketball team suffered a crushing 8427 loss to WCAC opponent St. John’s at home Friday. St. John’s took a commanding 21-7 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. The Knights struggled to keep up with St John’s quick pace, and
found themselves behind 30 points at halftime. The devastation continued as St. John’s went on to build their lead to 42 going into the final quarter. “I think we just got really tired,” Ryken coach Tara Pappas said. “We were trying to step up to their intensity, but we’re not quite there.” The Knights are a young
team, with only two upperclassmen on the roster. Most of the team’s players are still getting acclimated to the fast pace of varsity basketball, Pappas said. “Most of our underclassmen just aren’t used to that in-yourface pressure for 32 minutes of the game,” she said. “Just kind of getting them used to that pres-
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With two lopsided wins at the Aberdeen Tournament over the weekend, and a victory over
Photo by Andrew Knowlton
John Flowers posts up on a Meade forward in the third quarter of Ryken’s 64-37 home win Dec. 13. Flowers dominated the inside with 17 points, 13 rebounds, eight blocks and four steals.
a nationally ranked team earlier in the month, the Ryken Knights are clearly staking their claim as one of the best basketball teams in the DC Metropolitan area. On Friday, the Knights, led by John Flowers’ 24 points, flattened Reginald Lewis High School of Baltimore City 98-25. The following day, they beat CM Wright 68-51. “We just jumped on them,” head coach Danny Sancomb said of the blowout against Reginald Lewis. “We played good defense, we moved the ball around, we took high percentage shots.” Along with Flowers’ 24 spot, point guard Julius Brown scored 18 and Janko Kajtez scored 15. Brown was the lead scorer against CM Wright with 20 points, 12 of which were on three pointers. The Knights are now 6-1 on the season and improving with every game. On Dec. 11, they took down Bishop O’Connell, who was ranked 21st in the nation by USA Today. With wins like that, the Knights can expect to move to the top of DC and Maryland rankings. Wins against highly ranked teams also boost team morale, Brown said. “That was a confidence booster because it told us that we can hang with the best,” Brown added. The Knights recorded another blowout during a home game against Meade Dec. 13. Flowers dominated that
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Lady Hornets Win Tourney, Lose Home Opener Andrew Knowlton Staff Writer Two nights after winning the Tip-Off Tournament 43-25 over Chopticon, the Great Mills girls’ basketball team was unable
to put together a solid 32 minutes of play against Lackey in their first home game of the season Monday. The Hornets had the victory in sight throughout the evening, but were unable to consistently
put points on the board and the Chargers slipped away with a 48-42 win. “We know we could have come back and beat them,”
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