Blazers Lose 6th Straight, 49-40, to Undefeated Blake

1 2 3 4 T
Blair (3-6) 10 13 1 16 40
Blake (11-0) 3 18 10 16 49

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers continued their losing streak last night, losing their 6th straight game, 49-40, to Blake. It was the Blazers third game out of their last four against an undefeated squad.

Blair started out extremely well on both ends of the court, outscoring the Bengals 10-3 in the first quarter. Blake did not make a single basket in the first quarter, getting all three points on free throws.

Blair's success waned in the second quarter, and it was a 23-21 Blazer lead at the half. At one point, with little more than two minutes left in the half, Blake had an 18-12 lead, and it finally looked like the Bengals were pulling away. However, Blair senior guard Wayne Henderson hit three straight three-pointers to make it 21-18 Blair.

"We called a timeout before that, and coach just said 'Shoot the ball', because I wasn't shooting," Henderson said. "I was just trying to pull up and force shots, so I just started shooting."

"[That sequence was] huge, especially since we're struggling so much to get points," coach Mark DeStefano said. "We have to have a guy who's not afraid to shoot the ball, who's not afraid to be offensively aggressive. [Wayne]'s made the realization that 'Hey, if I do what the coaches tell me to do, it's not going to restrict my game, it's going to expand my game.'"

Henderson led all players with 18 points, a season high for the guard.

"I'm just doing what coach says. He said 'Get shots up'," Henderson said. "Me, Mike [McClain], and Leon [Sampson] have to average at least 15 points [each] for us to win, because our team is not scoring. I mean, we scored 40 tonight, but usually that doesn't happen. We have to work on catching the ball, actually looking to score, and finishing layups."

"He's still learning to do a lot," DeStefano said. "He's doing so much with the ball in his hands now that he's never had to do before. As soon as he gets comfortable with his decision-making when he beats guys and can't get all the way to the rim, in that mid-range game, and he doesn't shoot the floater or get off balance but is nice and square and takes a good mid-range jumper, then he'll be even better."

DeStefano said he is very happy with Henderson's recent production, but warned not to expect the same when he faces teams a second time around.

"[Wayne]'s got the potential, in our county, to put up points on given nights," he said. "When we start seeing these teams the second time around, they're not going to let him do that. Blake's gonna know that if gets the ball in his hands that you've got to respect his speed and respect his shot. But that should establish and help the other guys. This is a team sport, other guys will have opportunities to score."

The third quarter was a complete role reversal, as the Bengals outscored Blair 10-1, making the score 33-24. Both teams scored 16 points in the final quarter, ending the game at 49-40.

According to DeStefano, much of the team's decline has been due to a lack of discipline from some of the players.

"There just comes a point where there's no magic answer," he said. "In tough times, in basketball and life, if you don't have good habits you rely on what you've always done, and if what you've always done isn't good enough, then things are never gonna change. And what's going on with us right now is we have a lot of guys, a few in particular, who simply want to do their own thing. Instead of doing what the coaching staff asks them, they think they're better than the game, they think they're better than the team, they think they're above the team, and we might have to make some changes, lineup-wise or personnel-wise, to find a combination of five guys who are willing to be coached. We did a lot of things tonight that we didn't do Monday night [against Springbrook] and that cost us the game, in terms of our decision making.

I know why it happens, but if kids aren't gonna listen to me, then what's the point? What's the point if I'm just gonna get ignored by somebody who thinks they're better than me?"

The Blazers once again had trouble holding on to the ball, committing 27 turnovers. It is their third game this season with at least 25 turnovers and fourth with at least 20. Also, Blair's bench was only able to score 2 points.

"Some of those turnovers were us just not catching the ball, and that's just concentration," DeStefano said. "You know, you hate to say it, but sometimes you've got to teach high school basketball players how to catch the ball. We tried to get guys some reps in the third quarter, we made some substitutes, and guys didn't produce. They didn't run the stuff we're asking them to run, they didn't do the stuff we wanted them to do. It's hard, because we can't find a rotation of guys to consistently do what we want done. Until that occurs, we're gonna have nights like tonight. We should have won this game tonight, I'll say it flat out. We should have won this game tonight."

Blazer starting point guard Cooper Neimand once again showed off his ball handling skills, using a great behind-the-back dribble and a quick change of direction to fake out defenders.

"My coach wants me to zig-zag, keep the defense moving," he said. "And I like to change speed to catch them off guard."

Leon Sampson continued his recovery from his tooth injury. The senior forward score 10 points with 18 rebounds, and held the Bengals' big men to only 6 points.

"Right now, I'm just trying to go out there and not think about [the injury] at all and just play," Sampson said. "It's hard, because teams know what they have to do against me - keep me off the boards and just try to play me hard. We're just not executing on offense. It's not our defense, it's our offense."

Sampson said that when guarding big men, he has an efficient plant to keep them in check.

"Most big men aren't very agile, they're powerful," Sampson said. "I know they try to get to the paint and get garbage buckets, so when I'm guarding a big man, my strategy is simple: Keep him off the glass, and when he gets the ball, keep in front of him."

Sophomore guard Ryan Frazier led the Bengals in scoring with 17 points. Frazier also had four rebounds, five steals, and was 12-16 from the free throw line.

"I felt like we could have played a lot better, but towards the end we pulled it together out on defense," Frazier said. "I think I hit [free throws] when they counted, I still got to work some, I missed four, but overall it was pretty good."

Senior forward Mike McClain scored 8 points and had 8 rebounds for the Blazers, but also accounted for 6 turnovers. Every Blair starter had at least three turnovers. Blake junior guard Carlton Agwu scored 12 points, and sophomore Brandon Headley had 9 points for the Bengals.

Blair's next game is tomorrow, January 9th, at 2-7 Magruder. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15.