By Todd Bradley, DCSportsFan.com
Special to MaxPreps.com
Remember the name Donte Thomas.
While he may not get the recognition many of the area juniors receive, the Ballou standout proved Saturday night why he should be considered among the area's best.
Thomas scored 23 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Knights to a 59-52 victory over McKinley to win the DCIAA championship.
"Donte has been a great player since the ninth grade," Ballou coach Jenkins Dormu said. "All he needed was a little bit more maturity and a little bit more help, and he got that this year. We hope that Dante will get stronger, smarter and more mature as he goes on."
With the game tied at 44 with four minutes to play, Thomas took over for the Knights.
The 6-foot-3 guard hit two free throws to put Ballou up by two points, but it was his play on the following possession that brought the 2,000 people in attendance at Coolidge High School to their feet. Thomas drove through McKinley's full-court press, dribbled behind his back and finished with a spin move and layup to increase Ballou's lead to four points.
On the following possession, which was started by a Marquis Gentry block, Thomas scored another two points to put the Knights up 48-42 with 2:58 left in the game. Thomas capped off the night with an impressive alley-oop pass to Gentry (14 points) to all but seal the game.
"There are so many positives at Ballou that need to come to light," Dormu said. "Right now we're just going to represent our city the best that we can."
One of those positives has been the play of Gentry, a 6-8 sophomore. His 14 points Saturday night tied a season-high, and Gentry was also affective on defense for the Knights.
"Marquis has been a work in progress," Dormu said. "He worked hard last summer playing on the AAU circuit, and he's just been getting stronger and stronger. A lot of people counted him out, but we believe in our kids."
Even with all the positive things going on for Ballou on Saturday, it was the performance of Thomas that really stood out. Often overshadowed by the likes of Tyler Thornton (Gonzaga, Duke commitment), Kendall Marshall (O'Connell/North Carolina), Josh Selby (DeMatha/Tennessee) and Markel Starks (Georgetown Prep/Georgetown), who are also juniors, Thomas has proven to be one of the area's best scorers. He has averaged just under 23 points per game, and Thomas scored at least 10 points in each game this season.
"Part of our motivation this year came from when I pulled out ESPN Rise magazine and saw all the juniors listed in the area," Dormu said. "Donte was the No. 1 sophomore in the area, according to DCSportsFan, he was honorable mention All-Met, but this year he was overlooked. It was a slap in the face. But like I tell our kids, you're always going to have adversity. As long as you fight hard, it's going to be sweet at the end."
Sweet wouldn't give justice to the satisfaction on the face of Thomas after Ballou's victory, but he was quick to put everything into perspective.
"I'm going to work hard regardless," Thomas said. "All the attention doesn't matter. I already know my team is going to step up with me. We've worked hard for this. Everybody thought that we had no role players and we weren't going to be anything, but I told them to work hard. It's not over yet, though. We have one more game."
Ballou will play the winner of Monday's WCAC championship next week at the Verizon Center.
As for McKinley, the loss ends what was an exceptional season for the Trainers. Heading into Saturday's game, McKinley had won 12 straight games, but the Trainers fell just short despite the play of Antonio Jenifer (13 points), Anthony Myers (11 points), Calvin Banks (9 points), Roderick Smith (8 points) and Niiarmah Harper (6 points).
