Colonels serve JV boys' basketball with a defeat

By Jonas Shaffer, JV Journal Reporter

FEB. 6, NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM —

The JV boys basketball team lost 64-43 in Monday's game against the Magruder Colonels. This most recent defeat marked the third in a string of overwhelming losses.

Magruder's continual dominance seemed indicative of the Blazers' performance as a team. During the third quarter, for instance, the prospect of a Blair comeback was looking more and more unlikely as freshman Joshua Gordon, hoping to cut into Magruder's 12-point lead, went up for a jumper from 18 feet out. Out of nowhere came a Magruder defender, who sent the ball back down to the hardcourt almost as quickly as the shot had gone up.

Magruder's transition from defense to offense, as it was for most of the game, was textbook; within seconds, leather met nylon, and the Colonels' back-to-back three-pointers left Blair lagging an insurmountable 16 points behind Magruder.

The defeat was the third in a string of recent losses for the Blazers. On January 30, Whitman put up 69 points, overwhelming Blair by more than 20 points. Just four days later, Sherwood defeated the Blazers, 56-38.

However, the outcomes of the most recent games are unsurprising given the team's predicament. When Blair took the court for the tip-off today, four familiar faces found themselves in relatively new roles: starters. In place of Mohamed Mansary, Che Larracuente, Milton Colquhoun and Quentin Snively — stood Gordon, freshman Eddie Kolleh, freshman Wayne Henderson and sophomore Rexrain Jarrett. Three of the four former starters had been promoted to varsity, leaving the remaining players in a bind. "We needed their scoring," admitted Kolleh.

From the very start, however, the team seemed to lack confidence. Although Blair trailed Magruder by only four points at the end of the first quarter, the occasional turnover snowballed into a worrisome trend. Sometimes unaware of their ability to run the baseline after a made field goal, Magruder stonewalled Blair's capacity to make a clean inbounds pass, wreaking havoc on the Blazer offense.

At halftime, Blair was down 13. Blair's lone frontcourt presence, freshman Leon Sampson, was 42 seconds away from committing his fourth foul, which relegated him to a bench warmer for much of the third and fourth quarter.

But, as freshman Wayne Henderson put it, don't jump ship just yet. Blair heads to Churchill this Wednesday, then finishes up the home schedule with division bottom feeder Walter Johnson, all in preparation for what Henderson and his teammates think could be a breakthrough season next year.

"We're going to be good next year. We got to figure out the raw talent," said Henderson. "Next year we're going to be even better."