Bookers Win Va. Wesleyan Team Camp
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Over the years, Booker T. Washington basketball and
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Championships have been synonymous with one another.
style=> Since 1980, the Norfolk school has played in
the State Championship six times, winning three of them.
style=> All three of those victories have come with
current Head Coach Darren
class=SpellE>Sanderlin either on the sidelines coaching or on the
court playing.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Booker T. knows its has a long road ahead to be in
position to capture a state title come March of 2015, but they have made
strides this off-season with the improvement they've shown, highlighted by
rallying to defeat city rival Lake Taylor, 35-30 in overtime to win the Blue
Marlin Team Camp Championship held at Virginia Wesleyan College.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Unlike their 1-3 mark at the ODU Team Camp a month
earlier when each loss came by six points or less, the Bookers pulled out the
close games this time around.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We went through some chemistry issues [at] Old
Dominion Team Camp and had to grow up, mature a little bit.
style=> This Virginia Wesleyan Team Camp was so
competitive. I take my hat off to Lake
Taylor. Both teams fought," stated
class=SpellE>Sanderlin afterwards.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We're still young and have to do some things to get
better. But the mentality right now is
real good. It's always good to win."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>After dropping its opener in the event to Cox 31-28,
the Bookers rattled off eight straight wins over three days.
style=> Six of their victories were by five points or
fewer.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>In each of their tourney wins on Sunday, Booker T.
erased a deficit. And they did it
without rising sophomore guard
normal'>Jermiah Jenkins,
their leading returning scorer from a season ago that sat out while recovering
from injury.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"They're tougher than what they think.
style=> Sometimes when you're immature, mistakes
happen and it kind of saps you. I saw
them fight through mistakes all weekend," Sanderlin
said.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We could've folded, but we pulled our boots up.
style=> This is almost the earliest I've seen in most
any of my teams in being able to have that resiliency.
style=> It's very encouraging for the younger guys."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Lake Taylor, which went 7-3 on the weekend, beat the
likes of Vincentian from Pennsylvania, Kellam
(winners of the Boo Williams Team Camp), King's Fork and Hampton to get to the
Championship game. They appeared to be
headed towards hoisting the trophy when they built a 27-19 lead in the
Championship game with eight minutes to go.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Six-foot-2 shooting guard
normal'>Tommy Banks (Class of 2017) scored 11 points and converted three
shots from behind the arc for Lake Taylor.
Travius
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Smith, a 6-foot-3 rising junior wing,
chipped in eight points and six rebounds.
Six-foot-1 rising junior Josh
Jennings also knocked down a pair of three-pointers to steady the Titans'
lead.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The Bookers didn't have as much success from behind the
three-point line with only one make, though it was a timely one from 5-foot-9
senior Jadon Jenkins (
class=SpellE>Jermiah's brother) with 21 seconds left in regulation to put
his team in front. Each team had its
struggle at the free-throw line as Booker T. went 16-of-31 and Lake Taylor was
9-for-24. However, the Bookers finished
with a decisive advantage on the backboards.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Booker T. out-rebounded Lake Taylor 31-16 as the
front-line consisting of 6-foot-6 senior Ezekiel
Ingram, 6-foot-4 sophomore Brandon
class=SpellE>Gaddy and 6-foot-2, 305-pound sophomore
class=SpellE>Breyon
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Gaddy
imposed its will. Those three alone
combined for 21 rebounds, giving Sanderlin reason to
believe the trio has the potential rank among some of the finer front-courts
the program has produced in recent years.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It can be right up there with [Quinton] Upshur,
[Enoch] Hood and [Quashawn] Valentine," he noted.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Upshur is at Northern Arizona after beginning his
collegiate career at VMI, while Hood started out at James Madison and is now at
North Carolina Central."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Despite not attempting a single shot in the Championship
game, Ingram yanked down three key defensive rebounds in overtime to prevent
Lake Taylor from getting any second chance opportunities.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Brandon Gaddy scored 11
points in the win.
normal'>Lamont Palmer, a 6-foot-tall rising junior, added eight points with
a couple of free-throw makes in OT to increase the lead.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Both Cox and Denbigh had perfect 5-0 records until they
were knocked off by lower seeds in the tourney.
King's Fork ousted Cox to make the quarterfinals, whereas
class=SpellE>Landstown slipped by Denbigh in overtime to reach the
semifinals.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Last season, Booker T. Washington finished 15-10
overall and fell to Glen Allen in the Group 4A-South Region Tournament
semifinals, keeping them one win away from securing their fourth State
Tournament berth in nine years. While
the Bookers have stiff competition within their own conference, including
reigning State Champion Norcom, winning this event
should only bode well for their confidence moving forward.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Enjoy it, but understand how we won it, with the hard
work, dedication and the chemistry. The
chemistry is the biggest thing. We can't
lose that and we have to make sure we keep all those things intact,"
class=SpellE>Sanderlin said.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We just put in a lot of work and stress getting better
every day. We can't relax or rest on our
success because this is just the summer.
It's a whole different ballgame regular season."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>***
Stay
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Camp, including What We Learned, Top Performers and Photos!
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