Norcom (Portsmouth, Va.) (17-0), ranked No. 5 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 boys basketball rankings sponsored by the Army National Guard, remained undefeated with wins over Maury (73-60) and Granby (76-56) last week.
Virginia Tech-bound Dorian Finney-Smith scored 22 points against Maury and had a game-high 32 in the win against Granby. Decarlos Anderson nailed four 3-pointers to finish with a game-high 22 points against Maury and chipped in 21 against Granby.
The Greyhounds take on Booker T. Washington (4-5, 4-2) on Friday and then host powerhouse DeMatha (13-3, 6-1) Saturday in a nonleague game. The Staggs, after being humbled by No. 2 St. Anthony 75-25 last week, split a pair of games over the weekend.
DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.), which dropped out of the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 for the first time this season, escaped with a narrow 68-64 win over Archbishop Carroll on Friday night. Beejay Anya led the Staggs with 24 points, while Kemy Osse had a game-high 24 for Carroll.
On Sunday night, Bishop O'Connell (Arlington, Va.) sophomore guard Will Ferguson scored a team-high 20 points and Brad Hunt chipped in with 11 and grabbed 15 rebounds in a 61-58 win over DeMatha. It was Hunt's two free throws with 10 seconds remaining that sealed the victory.
HENRICO GIRLS GET REVENGE
It wasn't pretty. But then again, most games between heated rivals aren't.
Henrico (Richmond, Va.) and Highland Springs (Va.) had a combined 52 turnovers in their Capital District matchup Friday night, but when the final buzzer sounded it was Henrico pulling out a hard-fought 56-51 victory to avenge an early-season loss to its longtime rival.
Henrico (11-3, 6-1) shot a horrid 4-for-22 and had 17 turnovers in the first half, including six straight in the second quarter to trail 21-18 at the half. But the Warriors came out of the locker room and continued to chip away, scoring on four straight possessions to take a 37-36 lead into the fourth quarter.
Henrico extended its lead to 45-36, but the Springers battled back to tie the game at 49 with just less than two minutes remaining.
Henrico took over from there. Ashl'e Freeman converted a layup to put the Warriors up by two, and then after failing to convert on their next trip down the court the Springers were forced to foul. The Warriors made them pay, converting on three of five shots from the charity stripe to put the game away.
"The kids listened, they played hard, they withstood the battle," Henrico coach Jean Adkins, whose team lost to Highland Springs 76-63 on Dec. 11, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "We kept our head in it. I know what my kids are capable of doing, and at the crucial time of the game, I expect them to do it."
Freeman led all scorers with 17 points, while Jazzmin Dabney and Kermisha Clark each had 12 for Highland Springs (14-3, 7-2).
BALANCED ATTACK PAYS OFF FOR SANFORD Delaware's top boys team added another Philadelphia school to its list of victims as the Sanford (Hockessin, Del.) Warriors kicked off the Kobe Bryant Classic at Philadelphia University with a solid 60-45 win over Germantown Academy.
Sanford (10-0) once again was led by its trio of playmakers. Syracuse-bound Trevor Cooney, who sat out the last three games nursing a sprained ankle, poured in a game-high 17 points, including 3-pointers at the first-quarter buzzer and with three seconds left in the first half. Deon Jones (10 rebounds) and Khallid Hart each chipped in with 15.
"Yesterday's win was another big step for our team and our program," said Sanford coach Stan Waterman, whose Warriors also have defeated Philly schools Westtown, Archbishop Carroll and Chester. "It was a quality win against another quality program that has tradition and a reputation of being very good. These games will help us continue to improve as we gear up for state tournament play, but it also helps to establish our team and the quality of basketball in the state of Delaware as being on par with some of the recognizable names in the region.
"As for our team, we continue to have good scoring balance. We are playing pretty well together, sharing the ball, and being unselfish. These guys (Cooney, Jones, Hart, Austin Ford) are all capable of scoring 20-plus per contest, but they are beginning to understand how difficult it is for our opponents to defend us when we have that balance."
After playing locally at Wilmington Friends on Tuesday, Sanford will travel Saturday to take on Plymouth Whitemarsh (Pa.) at the Prime Time Shootout.
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