By Angela Watts
Content Editor
Even though “The Garden” — as T.C. Williams’ fans affectionately call their home gymnasium — has been given a face-lift, don’t let the bright lights and roomy interior fool you.
Home court, even on this new court in the Titans’ brand new school building, will be every bit as intimidating for opponents as that old small and dark, well-worn and well-loved gym used to be. Of course, maybe it’s the reputation of the team playing in the new building that does the trick.
T.C. Williams (3-1) finished 25-4 last season and stands as the defending Northern Region champions — its seventh time holding that title. The Titans are also the two-time defending Patriot District champions and have not lost a district game in the past two seasons. In fact, prior to a five-point stumble at Edison on Dec 14, T.C. Williams had not lost a game to a Northern Region opponent in two years.
To top it off, the Titans return six players from last year’s title-winning team, albeit it no starters.
“We’ve always got the target on our back because of last year,” junior guard Edward Jenkins said. “We just want to keep it going through the years, like a dynasty. We’re trying to continue the dynasty.”
T.C. Williams got off to a good start Friday night against visiting West Potomac, jumping to a quick, 10-point lead. They, not only maintained, but also extended it en route to a convincing, 79-67 victory.
“I think we came out kind of scared because of the crowd and everything,” said West Potomac senior point guard Craig Gaylord,
who led all scorers with a game-high 23 points, five assists, four
steals and three rebounds. “I think we just need to play more together
and not be so timid. We need to forget about the name of whoever we’re
playing and just play basketball.”
The closest the Wolverines got was within 32-27 with 1 minute, 44 seconds remaining in the first half on back-to-back baskets by sophomore guard Martez Redfearn (12 points) and Gaylord. But the Titans immediately answered when senior forward Earl Via connected on two free throws to extend its lead back to seven. A subsequent three-point shot by senior guard Travis Berry — one of his four on the night — pushed the lead back to 37-27 just :46 seconds before half time.
“When they had open looks, they knocked them down,” West Potomac Coach David Houston said. “Seventy-nine points is just too many for us to give up. But a lot of it, too, was that our initial defense was pretty good but then they’d shoot a bad shot and get the offensive rebound. That really hurt us tonight. We didn’t hit the defensive glass as well as we wanted to.”
The Titans, who saw 12 different players score in the game, four reaching double-figures, did not let up in the second half. The home team pushed its lead to as many as 21 points, 73-52, with 5:21 left on pull-up jump shot by Jenkins, the team’s resident spark-plug.
Berry paced T.C. Williams with 18 points, while Jenkins scored 17 (including going 8-for-9 from the foul line) and versatile seniors Anthony Winbush and Joshua Jordan added 12 and 10, respectively.
“We’d gotten off to slow starts the first three games, and so tonight was the first night that we got out quickly and established the lead,” Titans’ Coach Ivan Thomas said. “And the fact that we maintained it throughout was even better.
“But the thing is, we know it’s going to take a while,” added Thomas, whose team graduated two players from last year’s team — Glenn Andrews
(Tulsa University) and Mike Davis (University of Illinois) that averaged a combined 48
points per game. “It’s going to take some time to get back to what we had the past two years. We’re still tweaking our lineup, still trying to figure out what’s going to work for us this year. We’re still learning each other.
“We’re going to get better with each game.”
Boys’ Junior Varsity: T.C. Williams 74, West Potomac 39
Boys’ Freshman: West Potomac 28, T.C. Williams 27
** To see complete video highlights from Friday’s varsity game, click on the “Basketball” Sports Central tab at the
top of the home page and then go to “Boys
Varsity Basketball.”
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