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Williams Scores 23, Landstown Rolls to 4-0

Improving
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their record to 4-0 overall, the Landstown Eagles didn't miss a beat even
without one of their top players as they defeated the visiting Kellam Knights
by a score of 65-48 on Wednesday night.
Through
one quarter of play, Landstown clung to a 20-15 lead and in large part due to
the hot shooting of Reggie Williams,
a Division I prospect receiving interest from a host of mid-major level college
programs. The senior point guard scored
13 points in the opening period.
Williams finished with 23 points in the absence of backcourt mate
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Julian Norfleet,
who did not play after recently having his wisdom teeth pulled.
"Right
before we went out, I said, 'Reggie, put your foot down, man, early.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Don't make me have to tell you to do
it.' I think it's a carry over from the
Green Run game when he took over the game late, and this is how we expect him
to play all the time," said Landstown Head Coach
normal'>Dwight Robinson. "This is
what we've been waiting for, for that light to stay green.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> When he's like that, we're pretty difficult
to defend."
Kellam,
which fell to 1-4 overall, entered the season with expectations much higher
than in past years due to the arrival of 6-foot-5 freshman
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Ramone
normal'> Snowden, already regarded as one of the nation's top prospects
from the Class of 2013, as well as
talented junior guard Trey Freeman.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Together, the two attempted only 15 shots all
game long.
Snowden
scored nine points on 3-of-7 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Freeman had 11 points on 4-of-8 from the
field and dished out three assists. Six
of his points came in the final quarter.
"I know
Kellam has a lot of potential and we didn't want to get upset, so I had to play
hard. We practiced all week preparing
for Ramone and Trey.
Their 1-1-3 defense is complicated to run offense against, too,"
Williams said afterwards.
Kellam
couldn't solve the suffocating pressure applied by the Eagles.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> For the second game in a row, the Landstown
defense forced 22 turnovers, leading to several easy transition points.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> They also held Kellam without a single make
from beyond the three-point arc as the Knights were 0-for-7 from deep.
"The plan
was to get on them early, make them feel it early and then it would take its
toll later on with Freeman being really the only ball-handler that they have.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> They tried to get it to Snowden in the middle
of the court. The thing is that we may
not be as big, but what we try to do is use our quickness and play great
defense," noted Robinson.
"If we
play great defense, then I don't really worry about who's this guy or that guy
or whatever. We do want to get the ball
out of certain people's hands and make other people make plays for them.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> And if the other people beat us, then we're
just going to get beat. But we can't let
the guys that are supposed to be good just do what they want to do."
In
addition to Williams, another one of the headline players on the perimeter for
Landstown is D.J. Woodmore.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> After not being at full strength a week ago
according to Robinson, Woodmore performed at a much
higher level in this contest, scoring 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting while
grabbing five boards, contributing six assists and capitalizing on defense with
five steals.
"We
needed him today. He stepped up and I'm
real proud of him for that," Williams said on Woodmore's
play.
"We put
D.J. in an aggressive offensive mode from the beginning," Robinson added.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> "The offense that we ran, the ball always
gets to him, and he has the option to drive or shoot as soon as he grabs the
ball. It made him become a facilitator
tonight from the position that we put him in, and he knew that coming in the
last couple days, that it was going to be on his shoulders to be aggressive."
Winners
of 21 of their last 22 games against Beach District opponents, the Eagles began
the third quarter on a 17-3 spurt to go up by as many as 23 points.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Kellam was never able to close the deficit to
single digits in the second half, even with 14 more free-throw attempts than
Landstown on the night.
Perhaps
the most encouraging sign for Robinson was how his team responded to the
challenge of battling on the boards, this coming a week after they were
out-rebounded by Green Run 34-16. The
rebounding department was a wash, 26 for each team.
"The big
guys played better, they rebounded a lot better, we've been talking about it,
had some physical practices after that Green Run
game," Robinson said in reference to Andres
Rossy and Kevin
Walton. "They lived up to what I
wanted, and it's about the effort. If we
don't come away with rebounds, we're going to get a lot of tips and stuff like
that, which the guards should go and get, but we just need them to put a body
on somebody and keep the ball alive for us."
Verdana'>Landstown's
Verdana'> final game before the holidays will be on Friday night at Princess
Anne. After Christmas they will need to
New York to participate in the STOP-DWI Holiday Classic, where they will open
up against South Laurel from Kentucky on December 28.
"I think
every week we're getting better, and every game we're getting better," believes
Williams. "For the Christmas tournament,
we need to be real sharp since we'll be playing real big competition."
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Stats:
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Landstown 65:
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
Verdana'>
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Reggie Williams - 23Pts. (13Pts.
in 1stQ), 9-17FG, 4-5FT, 3Ast.
normal'>
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>D.J. Woodmore
- 16Pts. 6-11FG, 3-3FT, 5Reb.
normal'> 6Ast.
5Stl.
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Brandon Norfleet
- 10Pts. 4-6FG, 2-3 3's, 4Ast.
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Andres Rossy
- 6Pts. 3-6FG, 6Reb.
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> 2Blk.
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Kevin Walton - 6Pts. 3-6FG, 4Reb.
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Kellam 48:
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Trey Freeman - 11Pts. 4-8FG,
3-3FT, 3Ast.
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Ramone
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
Verdana'> Snowden - 9Pts. 3-7FG, 3-5FT, 6Reb. 2Ast.
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Ross Ward - 8Pts. 3-5FG, 2-5FT
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Ifeyani
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
Verdana'> Osuchukwu - 8Pts. 4-8FG
Matthew Hatfield has covered Eastern Region Basketball
& Football since 2004 for VirginiaPreps.com - the #1 High School Sports
Site on the Rivals Network. Check out Hatfield's website -
href="http://www.matthewhatfield.com/">www.matthewhatfield.com - for more
on the pro and college sports scene. To contact Matthew, please e-mail
href="mailto:hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com">hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and
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href="http://www.espnradio941.com/">ESPN Radio 94.1.
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