Blazers Win Big on Senior Night, 48-37

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers defeated the Gaithersburg Trojans last night on Blair's senior night (the last home game of the season), 48-37. It is the third straight senior night that they have celebrated with a win.

As is custom on senior nights of every sport, the longest tenured seniors started the game for the Blazers. Blair's starting lineup consisted of guards Eddie Kolleh and Wayne Henderson, as well as forwards Neil Corran, Josh Gordon, and Leon Sampson. Fittingly, every senior scored at least one point in the game.

"That's never a goal coming into senior night, but I'm glad it happened," coach Mark DeStefano said. "The five guys that started tonight, they've all played here since they were freshman, and I thought it was really important to honor guys that have been in the program for four years."

With fifty seconds left in the first quarter, the 5'4" Kolleh raced down the floor and blocked a potential Gaithersburg layup, his first block of the season, to maintain a Blair lead.

"I was just like, 'He can't make that layup'," Kolleh said. "It feels good, because we haven't lost on senior night for the past three years, since Coach D[eStefano] has been here, so we had to keep the trend going."

About a minute into the second quarter, Sampson started to dominate the court. He rejected two Trojan shots in a row, and then dunked off an offensive rebound on the other end of the floor to make it 15-10 Blair.

"You want to attack me, come at your own risk, because I've got to protect the paint," he said. "Neil drove, and my man left to go attack, and when the shot missed, he didn't box out, so I had a free lane. It was just one of those perfect opportunities and I took advantage of it."

Sampson finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and an outstanding 7 blocks. He added another dunk later, a one-handed jam off of a Mike McClain inbounds pass.

"It was just a perfectly executed play," Sampson said. "My man bit on the fake, and I just saw him behind me, took my time, and got it down."

Coach DeStefano was very pleased with Sampson's effort on the floor.

"It was huge," he said. "The way he played in the second half was [great], he just takes up space in the middle and guys want to test him. He's 6'8" and has long arms, the blocks are nice, but it's the way he changes guys' shots when they dribble in there that is so impressive. He's one of these guys who when he gets activated defensively, he gets activated offensively. We need him to make plays, and he's doing it, and as long as he's doing it, we're gonna be okay. He's worked very hard, he's having a very good senior season. "

The Blazers outscore the Trojans by 11 in the second half, and the game never get close after the third quarter. Senior guard Wayne Henderson scored 10 points and McClain scored 12 points with 12 rebounds and 3 assists.

As I was talking to the players after the game, former Blair basketball star Milton Colquehoun (class of '08) hung around, urging the players to "say my name, say my name." The players obliged.

"Milton told me that I gotta get back all the time," Kolleh said. "Because he doesn't like [when we don't hustle] and he's an alumni. He hates when we lose, so I had to do it for Milton."

"It feels great, it feels great," Henderson said. "It's just an honor to follow in the footsteps of those guys, like Milton Colquehoun, who came before us."

"It was senior night," McClain said. "So I knew that I had to step up my effort and that's what I did. It's great, it's nice that the alumni, such as Milton Colquehoun, set the trend, and it's nice that every senior contributes, we had that kind of team this year."

"[Us winning on senior night is] important, it's tradition," Sampson said. "It started with Ross Williams and them, and then Milton and them followed it up by winning, so we just had to make sure to do it too."

"Milton Colquehoun." DeStefano added.

The Blazers' final regular season game is Tuesday, February 24th, at Wheaton. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M.