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Landstown Wins Beach Tie-Breaker

"Verdana","sans-serif"'>For the fourth time in five years, the
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class=SpellE>Landstown Eagles are Champions of the Beach District in the
regular season. They won a tie-breaker
game for the second time in that stretch to earn a #1 seed for the Eastern
Region Tournament that commences on February 18th, defeating
class=SpellE>Kellam 54-42.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>It was the Eagles' second win this week over
class=SpellE>Kellam, a team that beat them soundly in the season opener,
63-46.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We weren't playing with the proper effort the first
time. This time, we went hard the whole
game, we were all together, played as one and we beat them," said
class=SpellE>Landstown senior Sebastian
Sandifer, who was the game's leading scorer in
the tie-breaker matchup with 13 points, including a pair of pivotal
there-pointers in the opening quarter.
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Landstown
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
shadowed ODU commit Ramone
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Snowden, who scored a career-high 36
points in the first meeting, the whole time.
They were determined to make him earn every point he got.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We knew everybody had five fouls, so we threw
everybody on him," Sandifer noted.
style=> "We had to make sure we rebound and everybody
crashed the boards as a team. We made
him work. By the fourth quarter, he was
dead tired and it was easy after that."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The defensive plan for the Eagles worked.
style=> Snowden finished with a double-double of 11
points and 11 rebounds, but went just 3-of-16 from the field and didn't
dominate the game. Kellam's
other four starters shot only 6-of-21 from the floor and supplied 18 points.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We wanted to make the other guys beat us and not allow
him to beat us. The first time, we
pretty much did the same thing, except we didn't play the Box-and-One this time
and didn't have to because he wasn't hitting his jump shot like he was the first
time. The first time, he hit three 3's
on us and we came out of the zone and put somebody on him everywhere,"
commented Landstown Head Basketball Coach
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Dwight Robinson.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We stayed with our basic plan and didn't have to go to
anything extravagant. We pride ourselves
on playing hard and playing really good defense."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>To go with the great start by Sandifer,
Landstown got steady contributions from seniors
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Cameron Alston and
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Shyheim
normal'> Swinson (CNU football commit), both of
whom reached in double-figures with 12 points apiece.
style=> Swinson's three-pointer
pushed the Eagles' lead to 19-11 late in the first half, but
class=SpellE>Kellam would go on a mini-run to cut the gap to 24-20 by
the break.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>In the third quarter, Landstown
asserted itself inside with their two post players, senior
normal'>Andre Stanley and sophomore Darius
Bolstad.
The 6-foot-8 Bolstad scored the first points
of the second half, while Stanley grabbed 10 rebounds.
style=> Having two big men has made it a different
looking Landstown team.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"In the past, we haven't had post play and have always
been perimeter-oriented. Now, we have
post play, which really helps us a lot and allows our shooters and penetrators
to penetrate and find a big to finish.
Being able to have those bigs means a lot to
us," stated Robinson.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Early in the year, we were trying to find an
identity. After the Christmas break, I
learned a lot about our team and what I needed to do as a coach in order to get
this team where they needed to be. We
really had to change a lot of things. We
don't run as much, trap as much, press as much and have some bigger players
that aren't as mobile as some of the teams I've had in the past.
style=> I had to change my coaching style to fit the
personnel instead of making the personnel fit my coaching style."
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Sandifer
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>,
class=SpellE>Swinson, Alston and Bolstad all
scored in the third quarter as the Eagles made six of their first seven shots
in the period. They ended up 8-of-12
from the field in the stanza. As for
class=SpellE>Kellam, they went just 2-for-10 shooting in the third
quarter. Best of all for
class=SpellE>Landstown, they committed only one personal foul in the
quarter and forced four turnovers.
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Kellam
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
(17-5; 9-1) would make a run behind Snowden and the likes of sophomore point
guard Janai
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Raynor-Powell
and Alex Ratajczak,
who scored 11 points off the bench and made three treys.
style=> The Knights had trimmed what was a 17-point
deficit to start the fourth quarter down to eight.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>With 2:50 to go in the game, Robinson made a surprising
move by inserting their usual starting point guard,
normal'>Jordan Roberson. An
All-District candidate, Roberson sat out the regular season finale victory over
Kellam with a sprained ankle and wasn't expected back
until the district playoffs at the earliest.
He sank four straight free-throws to put the game away with
class=SpellE>Kellam trying to rally late.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"That's what a leader does.
style=> He's an experienced guy and been on those
Championship teams with really good players, so this atmosphere doesn't shake
him," Robinson pointed out of Roberson, whose older brother D.J. was the Beach
District Defensive Player of the Year last season and now plays College
Basketball at CNU.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Some of the other guys haven't been playing on the
court in those type atmospheres. I
needed a steady hand on the court and that's really why I played him.
style=> I was trying not to play him and may have got
through without him, but to make sure we got through, I put him out there."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Thought to be behind both Kellam
and Green Run, the Eagles have been on a roll ever since a trip to L.C. Bird
over the holidays, where they fell to Bird and Middleburg Academy in a tournament
after Christmas. Since then,
class=SpellE>Landstown (19-4; 9-1) has yet to lose in regulation and the
team chemistry has strengthened.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"You could just see before the games, the way we approach
games was totally different once we left Richmond," Robinson said.
style=> "Guys really played together and no one was
really trying to do what they couldn't do.
At first, we were trying to find our roles because everybody was brand
new with no starters back. They accepted
their roles."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
href="http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/914/1362562.WMA">Postgame Audio with
class=SpellE>Landstown Coach Dwight Robinson
style='mso-special-character:line-break'>

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Stats:
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Landstown
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> 54:
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Sebastian Sandifer - - 13Pts. 5-9FG, 2-2 3's, 3Ast.
Cameron Alston - - 12Pts. 5-11FG, 2Reb. 2Ast.
Shyheim Swinson - - 12Pts.
5-8FG, 2-3 3's, 3Ast.
Malcolm Worthy - - 6Pts. 2-4FG, 2-2FT, 3Reb. 3Ast.
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Kellam
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> 42:
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Ramone Snowden - - 11Pts. 3-16FG, 4-9FT, 11Reb. 4Ast.
2Stl.
Alex Ratajczak - - 11Pts. 3-6 3's, 4Reb.
Kobe Copeland - - 8Pts. 3-6FG, 2-2FT, 2Reb.
10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'> 
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none'>Matthew Hatfield
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>
serves as State Basketball Analyst for
href="http://www.virginiapreps.com">
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
text-decoration:none;text-underline:none'>VirginiaPreps.com
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>, part of the Rivals.com
Network. Check out
href="http://www.twitter.com/hatfieldsports">
normal'>
text-decoration:none;text-underline:none'>Hatfield's Twitter page
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> for more sports related updates,
and you can also read his work in the
href="http://www.suffolknewsherald.com">
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
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115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>.
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href="mailto:hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com">
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
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