By Todd Bradley, DCSportsFan.com
Special to MaxPreps.com
For the first time in the Steve Turner era, Gonzaga's boys' basketball team can call itself city champions. The Eagles defeated Theodore Roosevelt, 78-44, in front of 6,258 fans at the Verizon Center to improve to 31-1 on the season and claim the top spot in the District of Columbia for the 2007-08 season.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Turner, the Gonzaga coach. “This is something that may only happen once in a lifetime. I’m just proud for our kids. This is something they set as a goal since day one, and they went out and earned it. They worked hard every single day. There were days where we had to push them the extra mile, and they stepped up and did it.”
Gonzaga jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and never looked back. With 5:07 left in the first quarter, the Eagles held a 6-1 advantage. Less than two minutes later, Gonzaga went up by 13-1. And by the time the first half ended, the Eagles were in cruise control, holding a commanding 40-18 lead.
“We were trying to get some backdoors and some easy buckets and that happened for us early,” Turner said. “Their (Roosevelt's) shots didn’t fall and we were able to get the rebounds and some easy baskets.”
Sophomore Cedrick Lindsay matched a career high with 15 points, 13 of which came in the first half. Lindsay was expected to play on varsity as a freshman, but he missed the beginning of that season with an injury and never reached the varsity level. This season, however, Lindsay has emerged as Gonzaga’s top player off the bench and a player to be reckoned with over the next two years.
“This year has been something I’ll never forget throughout my life,” Lindsay said. “The older guys let me know what I was getting into at the beginning of the season and helped me through all year. My coach always said he was behind me and told me to just play my game.”
But Lindsay wasn’t the only player to have a big night. Junior center Ian Hummer was named Gonzaga’s Most Valuable Player after he scored 16 points and recorded 14 rebounds.
“Ian was huge,” Turner said. “He was scoring, rebounding and defending. During the WCAC championship, he didn’t have one of his signature games. In that game Max (Kenyi) was great, Tyler (Thornton) stepped up big as well, but tonight Ian came to play and left it on the floor. That’s why he’s the MVP.”
Although Hummer was recognized for his individual performance after the game, it was Gonzaga team basketball through and through. The Eagles dominated from start to finish and every single player scored.
“It was said and we talked about it all year long – this is not a team full of individual superstars,” Turner said. “This is a team and on certain nights when some guys don’t have it going, others step it up.”
The historic run for Gonzaga does not end at the Verizon Center. Gonzaga will travel to the Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament in Cumberland, Maryland, the weekend of March 15.
“What gets hung up in the rafters are the WCAC and City Title, but we want to go out and finish and see where we’re ranked on a national level at the end of the year,” Turner added. “We’re going to go out there and play like we’ve been playing all year.”
Much like Gonzaga, the road doesn’t end for Theodore Roosevelt. The Rough Riders will play Booker T. Washington Saturday afternoon at Model School. Booker T. Washington won the charter school championship for D.C. public schools.
Todd Bradley is the Editor-in-Chief of www.dcsportsfan.com, which covers high school athletics in the Washington, D.C. area. E-mail Todd at editor@dcsportsfan.com.
