Norcom (Portsmouth, Va.) advanced to the Virginia AAA semifinals with a 49-43 win over Annandale Saturday afternoon at William and Mary's Kaplan Arena.
The Greyhounds (28-1), ranked No. 5 in this week's
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 sponsored by the Army National Guard, were led by Virginia Tech-bound Dorian Finney-Smith's game-high 20 points.
Annandale (20-9) jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead and led 14-12 after the first quarter. But a 9-0 run midway through the second quarter gave the Greyhounds a 27-24 halftime lead.
Annandale would regain the lead at the end of the third quarter, but
Dorian Finney-Smith took over in the fourth, scoring seven points and making a key block and steal with under a minute to play. He finished with nine rebounds and four blocks.
Decarlos Anderson had 16 points for Norcom, while Annandale was led by Sanar Shamdeen's 12 points.
Norcom (28-1) faces
Highland Springs (Va.) in Wednesday's semifinals. Tip-off is at 9 p.m. at Virginia Commonwealth University's Siegal Center.
In the other semifinal,
Bird (Chesterfield, Va.) faces
T.C. Williams (Alexandria, Va.) at 3:45.
MaxPreps Virginia boys basketball playoff bracketsPATTERSON EASILY WINS MARYLAND 4A NORTH REGIONPatterson (Baltimore) continued its dominance in the state tournament with an easy 93-55 win over Urbana to capture the school's first 4A North Region title and advance to the state semifinals.
Sophomore sensation
Aquille Carr lit up Urbana for 43 points. In the first half alone, Carr scored 22 points, and, along with senior guard
Rickey Meekins' 15, helped the Clippers jump out to a 48-23 halftime lead. Meekins finished with 21.
Patterson (24-1) will face
Eleanor Roosevelt (Greenbelt, Md.) (17-8) in the semifinals March 10 at 7 p.m. at the Comcast Center. Roosevelt won the South Region with a 51-30 victory over C.H. Flowers.
"We understood from the beginning [that] our season is Nov. 15 to March 12, and this was just one step in the right direction," Patterson coach Harry Martin told The Baltimore Sun. "So they understand, there was no reason to celebrate because we know our ultimate goal is to win the state championship."
North Point (Waldorf, Md.) (25-0) defeated Glen Burnie, 78-59, to win the East Region and will play
Magruder (Rockville, Md.) (22-3) in the other semifinal at 9. Magruder won the West Region with a 68-61 win over Springbrook.
TOP FOUR SEEDS ADVANCE TO DELAWARE GIRLS SEMISHighly recruited senior
Betnijah Laney scored a game-high 19 points to lead top-seeded
Smyrna (Del.) to a 43-29 win over No. 8 St. Mark's in the quarterfinals of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls Basketball Tournament.
Smyrna (22-1) will face defending champion
Sanford (Hockessin, Del.) (18-4) in the semifinals Wednesday at 8. Sanford handled Charter of Wilmington, 42-23, by holding the Force's Kelly Perillo to just six points.
"We need to come out fast against Sanford," head coach James Kiger said. "In last year's finals they jumped on us early and we could never recover. They are a very well coached team who, when you watch them, you can tell they have played together a long time and know each other and have great team chemistry. We need to match, then exceed, their intensity."
No. 2
Ursuline Academy (Wilmington, Del.) (20-2) and No. 3
Cape Henlopen (Lewes, Del.) (18-4) square off in the other semifinal game at 6:30. Ursuline defeated Cape 53-47 on Jan. 14.
MaxPreps Delaware girls basketball playoff bracketsBOYS SEMIS SET IN DELAWAREConcord (Wilmington, Del.) defeated Smyrna 49-43 in the DIAA Boys Basketball Tournament and will face defending champion
Sanford (Hockessin, Del.) (18-4) in Thursday night's semifinals at 8. The Warriors knocked off Delcastle, 53-42.
The early semifinal game matches up top-seeded
Red Lion Christian Academy (Bear, Del.) (19-3) and No. 5
St. Elizabeth (Wilmington, Del.) (19-3) at 6:30. The Lions roared into the semifinals with a 63-57 win over Hodgson, while St. Elizabeth needed overtime, but came away with a 59-55 victory over Polytech.
Both games will be played at the Bob Carpenter Center on the UD campus.
THE BUZZPunches were thrown at the end of two Delaware tournament games this past week, each incident resulting in police officers intervening.
At the end of the Appoquinimink-St. Georges Tech first-round boys game on Wednesday, a victorious St. Georges player taunted an Appoquinimink player, who then responded by throwing a punch. The incident reportedly spilled out into the parking lot later when the cheerleaders from both teams had to be separated.
At the end of the Ursuline-Hodgson girls semifinal game Saturday, punches were thrown during the post-game handshake. The incident was a carryover from a hard-fought contest that ended with Hodgson committing several hard personal fouls in order to stop the clock.
Kevin Charles, executive director of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association, said in an e-mail that both incidents are still active investigations and therefore could not comment on either.
While it's not the first time something like this has happened and, unfortunately, won't be the last, any time the word "investigation" is used to describe an incident that happened in a high school game, it's not good.
This one is no different.
Jon Buzby is the sports columnist for the Newark Post, a freelance writer, and on the broadcast team for the 1290AM The Ticket High School Football and Basketball Games of the Week. You can reach him at jonbuzby@hotmail.com.
