Magruder High School boys basketball coach Dan Harwood took some time after his team’s victory in the Class 4A Maryland State Championship Game to discuss the memory of Spencer Datt, who was killed in an automobile accident in 2011.
We lost Spencer Datt. He graduated in 2010, he was teammates with J.J., Garland, Nick, and Luke. All the kids knew him from my basketball camp. And it was devastating to us. Any time you lose a young person at that stage in their life in a tragic accident – it was unbelievable. But all the things you see with the shirts — the “Who Datt,” the “We Datt,” the stuff with the sayings — it was all kid-generated. You don’t have to report this stuff, I know it’s not the main story, but my team that’s the kind of kids they were. It was all kid-generated, they designed those shirts, they came up with those shirts, they have all the sayings. They were fighting for Spencer all year. I’m just so proud of them that way, and I know Spencer was looking down on us.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Two nights after propelling his team to an overtime victory in the semifinals, junior J.J. Epps hit four free throws in the last minute of play to give the Magruder High School boys basketball team a 39-36 win over Eleanor Roosevelt in the MPSSAA Class 4A championship Saturday at the Comcast Center.
The Roosevelt Raiders (22-5) led Epps’ Colonels (26-1) by one point with 43.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter when Epps stepped to the line to shoot two free throws. Despite the significance of the situation, Epps said he didn’t let it affect his approach.
“No pressure,” the soft-spoken Epps said with a smile after the game. “I mean, it’s just a free throw. You just go up there and shoot it.”
Scott Bolen’s 3-pointer capped a 17-8 run in the last 1:50 of the 4th quarter for Sherwood High School and forced overtime against Magruder in the semifinals of the MPSSAA State Championship Tournament at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md., on March 8, 2012. Magruder dominated the extra period and came away with a 75-68 victory.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Sherwood High School boys basketball team went on a 17-8 run in the last 1:50 of the fourth quarter to force overtime after trailing for most of the game, but Magruder dominated the extra period and came away with a 75-68 victory in the semifinals of the MPSSAA Class 4A State Championship Tournament at the Comcast Center on Thursday night.
Senior guard Scott Bolen sank a long 3-pointer to tie the game with 4.8 seconds left in regulation, then hit a free-throw six seconds into overtime to give the Warriors (17-9) their only lead since early in the first quarter before watching the Colonels (25-1) take control the rest of the way.
Magruder guard J.J. Epps scored six of his 16 points in the four-minute overtime period, helping the Colonels finally take control of a game that seemed on the verge of slipping away.
KENSINGTON, Md. — The 2007-8 season was a special one for the Albert Einstein High School boys basketball team. Led by high-scoring guard Dennis Bassich, coach Ken Bunker’s squad posted a winning record and notched a first-round playoff victory in what was one of their best campaigns in recent memory.
Times have been tough for the Titans since then, though, as the team has failed to win as many games in the past three seasons combined as they did in that one year.
But with a new season comes new hope, and this year one reason for that hope is the arrival of first-year head coach Rich Porac. The 33-year-old Hagerstown native has had stints leading the junior varsity squads at Magruder and Blair, but Tuesday’s 82-29 home loss to Blake marked his varsity head-coaching debut.
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