MONDAy, MARCH 2 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU D5
es can’t focus on anybody,” said
Dupree, who was named the
game’s mVP.
By winning their second
straight DCSAA Class A title, the
Panthers are eligible to compete i n
Class AA next season.
“We’ve felt like we have been
one of the city’s best for a while
now, so having the opportunity to
play up next year is big,” Dupree
said. “I can’t wait for people to
doubt u s like they did the f irst year,
so we can have the laugh when we
prove t hem wrong again.”
In the Class A girls’ champion-
ship game Sunday, Anacostia beat
Ballou, 59-35.
[email protected]Jan. 11 — part of the Uptown
Hoopfest — a s the t urning point.
“We lost to some really good
teams on the road and at tourna-
ments early on in the year while
we were still getting our timing
right,” J ackson said. “But the g ame
against Coolidge was when it all
started clicking and I knew we
couldn’t b e stopped.”
on Sunday, KIPP received
strong p erformances up and d own
the roster. DeQuan Williams and
Jackson combined for 35 points,
while Dupree was the team’s con-
ductor, finishing with 14 points,
five assists and four s teals.
“We have a team full of guys that
can score double digits, so defens-imminent, a fan threw a beer can
onto the floor. more debris was
aimed at the Gonzaga bench dur-
ing the handshake line.
“It just made me play harder,”
Williams said. “In my four years,
that’s the first time a student
section has ever thrown anything
at m e. And it was crazy. But it gave
me momentum to keep going,
keep making them mad.”
Williams finished with
19 points and 14 r ebounds. After a
close second half, the Eagles
( 25-10) took control by holding
Wilson (24-5) to four points in the
third quarter. In the fourth, every
Tigers run was answered by a big
basket from Williams or Harris.
This is the second DCSAA title
for Gonzaga, which also won in- Harris, Williams and for-
ward myles Stute were freshmen
on that team. Sunday’s victory
gave them another title to book-
end impactful careers.
“This group has been special,”
Coach Steve Turner said. “I’m just
so proud. They’ve really cement-
ed their legacy on Eye Street.”
[email protected]
C arroll on friday to earn a spot in
this game.
But Gonzaga was ready for ev-
erything the upset-minded Tigers
threw at it Sunday, earning a
defiant 55-49 victory.
“These D.C. teams always have
more energy,” Eagles senior
Chuck Harris said. “Their fan bas-
es, too, as we saw today. We know
they want it bad, and we know
we’re the team to beat.”
The crowd — loud and proud
for both sides all night — played a
larger role in the fourth quarter as
Gonzaga tried to hold on to its
lead. The Wilson students treated
Gonzaga to one taunt after anoth-
er, and the Eagles players ate it up.
Senior forward Te rrance Wil-
li ams, after converting a big and-
one with four minutes remaining,
raised his arms high to ask them
for more.
Later, with a few seconds re-
maining and a Gonzaga victoryBY MICHAEL ERRIGOmidway through the second
quarter of the D.C. State Athletic
Association Class AA boys’ bas-
ketball championship game, with
their team leading Gonzaga by
five points, Wilson students who
packed into the upper levels of
George Washington’s Smith Cen-
ter struck up a chant.
“overrated!” they yelled.
“overrated!”
No. 6 Gonzaga carries the repu-
tation of a Washington Catholic
Athletic Conference power. And
brackets such as this are filled
with programs trying to prove
what those students were selling.
Each opponent wants to show
that the Eagles’ ranking and stat-
ure are nonsense. Phony. Unde-
served.
on Sunday, i t was No. 11 Wilson
hoping to make that statement.
The Tigers, playing in their third
consecutive DCSAA champion-
ship game, had knocked off Gon-
zaga before. They toppled the
Eagles in the 2018 semifinals and
beat the WCAC’s Archbishop
D.C. STATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION CLASS AA BOYS’ BASKETBALL FINAL
Eagles rise to occasion against Tigers
GOnzAGA 55,
wILSOn 49WILL NEWTON FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTguard Devin Dinkins was all smiles after no. 6 gonzaga overcame no. 11 wilson at Smith Center.
Scribner said. “You a lways w ant to
win your last game. That’s every-
body’s goal, i sn’t i t?”
fudd accepted the game’s mVP
award, and as she walked back to
the locker room, families stopped
her to take pictures with their
children.
Tim fudd, Azzi’s father and an
assistant coach for St. John’s, re-
members when his daughter
could hardly bend her right knee
after surgery last spring. But even
then, she went to the gym, stood
still near the basket and shot with
her p arents rebounding. W hile his
daughter hasn’t regained her ex-
plosiveness, Tim fudd believes
she’s a better shooter.
Azzi fudd said she feels 85 per-
cent healthy and expects to be at
full health next season. fully
healthy or not, fudd reinforced
she’s o ne o f the a rea’s best players.
“She smiles; she’s h aving a good
time out there,” S cribner said. “She
wants to be out there. She’s the
most unselfish player I’ve ever
seen, with every reason to be self-
ish.”
[email protected]high 17 points, six rebounds and
five assists. “I’ve never been wor-
ried about my k nees, but I j ust feel
a little bit more like my old self
every game I come b ack.”
St. John’s (22-9) has won five
straight DCSAA titles and six in
seven years. After failing to win
the Washington Catholic Athletic
Conference for the first time in
three years, St. John’s entered the
DCSAA tournament with extra
drive. The Cadets’ experience was
too much for a young s quad from
Sidwell friends (28-6).
St. John’s endured an inconsis-
tent start, but as fudd continued
to regain her health and played
more minutes, the Cadets im-
proved. St. John’s Coach Jonathan
Scribner saw his squad mesh for
the first time in wins over Bishop
o’Connell and Bishop mcNamara
in mid-february.
“It’s easy to lose at WCAC and
just kind of be deflated for this,”BY KYLE MELNICKIn the final seconds of the first
quarter Sunday afternoon,
St. John’s guard Azzi fudd drib-
bled a foot past the midcourt logo
at George Washington’s Smith
Center and pulled up t o shoot.
When fudd returned to the
court in January — nine months
after she tore her right ACL and
medial collateral ligament — she
admitted she w as sometimes hesi-
tant to take open shots. But those
fears have evaporated. After pick-
ing up her dribble, fudd took that
deep shot and drained it as the
buzzer sounded.
Those are the kinds of d azzling
shots fudd made the past two
years to twice earn All-met Player
of the Year h onors. S he just r ecent-
ly started c onnecting o n them r ou-
tinely again, and on Sunday, the
junior led the No. 12 Cadets to a
54-44 win over No. 10 Sidwell
friends in the D.C. State Athletic
Association Class AA girls’ basket-
ball championship g ame.
“It just feels smoother,” said
fudd, who finished with a game-D.C. STATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION CLASS AA GIRLS’ BASKETBALL FINALFudd leads Cadets to fifth straight title
St. JOHn’S 54,
SIDwELL FRIEnDS 44WILL NEWTON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
S t. John’s guard Azzi Fudd had 17 points, six rebounds and five assists in a win over Sidwell Friends.replied: “We knew we were going
to be here all year long. You
should’ve been practicing.”
With eight players returning
from last season, including junior
standouts Saveon Jackson and
rasheed Dupree, it was indeed
always expected that KIPP (31-4)
would find its way back to the top.
The team confronted those expec-
tations with enthusiasm and de-
livered.
“following last season’s cham-up a ladder as he prepared to clip
his piece of the net at Smith Cen-
ter.
Despite taking the same five-
step journey after last year’s title
game, manning appeared n ervous
and uncomfortable, which
prompted his teammates to tease
him.
“I’m not trying to fall, man; this
ladder doesn’t feel safe,” manning
said.
To which one of his teammatesBY TRAMEL RAGGSmoments after dismantling
model School, 65-32, in the D.C.
State Athletic Association Class A
boys’ basketball championship
game, KIPP senior guard Larry
manning took five wobbly steps
pionship, we immediately started
looking forward to this season and
had that championship-or-bust
mind-set,” Coach Chris miller
said. “We never wanted to shy
away from the conversation of go-
ing back-to-back. This was always
the o nly acceptable outcome.”
After a tough start to the s eason
in which the Panthers went 6-4,
KIPP closed the y ear on a 2 5-game
winning streak. The players cited
a 68-67 win against Coolidge onD.C. STATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION CLASS A BOYS’ BASKETBALL FINAL
Shaky early, Panthers complete c limb back to top
KIPP 65,
MODEL 32ASSOCIATED PRESSm oments after getting his first
career PGA To ur win, S ungjae Im
took a moment to reflect on what
it means.
Not for himself — for his
homeland.
The 21-year-old South Korean
started fast and finished stron-
ger Sunday, winning the Honda
Classic in Palm Beach Gardens,
fla., by one shot over mackenzie
Hughes and two over To mmy
fleetwood for his first victory in
50 tries on tour. His thoughts
were not on the trophy or the
$1.26 million winner’s prize but
rather the coronavirus and how
nearly 4,000 cases have been
confirmed by Korean officials.
“over in Korea right now, I
know a lot of people are dealing
with the coronavirus,” Im said.
“A nd it’s kind of a huge deal with
everybody. But I’m just glad as a
Korean player that I can deliver
some good news to the country-
men back home... t o do some-
thing for the country and make
everybody proud.”
Im shot a 4-under-par 66,
finishing at 6 under to match the
second-highest winning score
since the Honda moved to PGA
National in 2007. The tour’s r ook-
ie of the year last season b ecame
the s eventh player from South
Korea to win on tour and the
Honda’s 10th international
champion in the past 16 seasons.
Im birdied four of his first five
holes, then birdied two of the
final four to finish off the victory.
Hughes, a Canadian whomade the cut on the number
friday, shot his second consecu-
tive 66. Playing alongside Im, he
missed a birdie putt at the par-5
finishing hole that would have
gotten him into a tie for the top
spot.
fleetwood (71) was alone in
third and is still seeking his first
PGA Tour win.
l PgA toUr CHAMPIonS:
Bernhard Langer closed w ith an
8-under 65 to turn a four-shot
deficit into a two-shot win at the
Cologuard Classic in Tucson.
Langer m ade nine birdies in
17 h oles t o seize control at Tucson
National, finishing two shots
ahead of Woody Austin.
Langer won for the 41st time
on the 50-and-older circuit. Hale
Irwin holds the r ecord with
45 victories.
T he 62-year-old German has
gone 14 consecutive seasons with
at least one victory. Langer fin-
ished at 18-under 201 and moved
to the top of the Charles Schwab
Cup standings.
Brett Quigley began the final
round with a three-shot lead and
was still in the mix until a double
bogey on the par-5 12th hole. He
closed with a 73 and tied for t hird
with rod Pampling.
l eUroPeAn toUr: Sami
Valimaki of finland defeated
South African Brandon Stone on
the third hole of a playoff to win
the o man open i n muscat for his
first career tour victory.
Valimaki and Stone finished at
13-under 275 after both shot
2-under 70s in the final round on
a gusty day.GOLF ROUNDUPIm wins Honda, then reflects
on South Korean homeland
the Hoyas with 18 points, includ-
ing four three-pointers, and ju-
nior wing Jamorko Pickett had
12 points but added six turnovers.
mosely contributed 11 points and
seven assists.
musketeers Coach Travis Steele
heaped praise on Georgetown
and Ewing, but Xavier was its own
worst enemy for much of Sun-
day’s game. The visitors overcame
23 turnovers to eke out a win.
“It wasn’t aesthetically very
pleasing,” Steele said.
Ty rique Jones made up for
many of Xavier’s mistakes. The
senior forward muscled his way
to 18 points, 16 of which came in
the second half, and 13 rebounds.
He provided the answer to many
of the mini-streaks Georgetown
rattled off after halftime with
dunks or fast-break layups, best-
ing the tired Hoyas in the paint.
marshall added a game-high
20 points to go with 10 rebounds.
Steele kept his rotation tight,
using just seven players, but in
28 minutes of playing time Jones
gave Xavier something the Hoyas
just don’t have at this point: a
player who can give his team a
second wind.
After the loss, Ewing chuckled
at the usual round of questions
about whether he frets over how
worn down his team must be.
mosely logged another 40-minute
game (his sixth of the season),
Blair played all but 39 seconds,
and Pickett was on the court for
35 minutes.
“You can’t worry about it.
There are things you can worry
about,” Ewing said, pausing to
laugh. “That’s one of the things
you can’t. These are the guys that
we have.”
[email protected]trailing by 11 in the first. Neither
team shot well for the bulk of the
game — at one point early in the
second half, both teams had more
turnovers than field goals — but
Georgetown had a few runs after
halftime that kept Xavier from
pulling away.
Junior guard Jahvon Blair ledthat’s when he’s going to step out
there. I can’t worry about if he’s
coming back or if mac’s coming
back.... All I can worry about is
who’s ready. That’s who I coach.”
The players Ewing did have
available Sunday kept Xavier
( 19-10, 8-8) within arm’s reach
throughout the second half afterb asket where the rim meets the
backboard.
“We didn’t get some key stops,
especially down the stretch,”
Hoyas Coach Patrick Ewing said.
“We didn’t come up with key
rebounds, especially down the
stretch. So that hurt.”
Equally painful for George-
town (15-14, 5-11 Big East) is that
the Hoyas, on a four-game losing
streak, now face the final two
games of the regular season
knowing that nothing but an in-
credible run in the conference
tournament is likely to put them
back in the NCAA tournament
conversation. They visit No. 10
Creighton (22-7, 11-5) on Wednes-
day and host No. 12 Villanova
(22-7, 11-5) on Saturday.
The Hoyas’ final leg of the regu-
lar season has brought no re-
prieve from the injury bug. Soph-
omore guard mac mcClung
missed another game with a foot
injury; he sat on the bench wear-
ing a walking boot on his right
foot. Beyond a brief appearance
in a loss to Providence on feb. 19,
he hasn’t played since Jan. 28.
Senior center omer Yurtseven re-
mained sidelined with an ankle
injury, and a new player joined
their ranks Sunday: freshman
center malcolm Wilson sported a
walking boot on his left foot.
Ewing said the big man cracked a
bone in his leg in practice Satur-
day but will not need surgery.
Ewing said mcClung hasn’t h ad
surgery. Beyond that, he had no
timetable for m cClung’s or Yurt-
seven’s return.
“There’s no target date [for
Yurtseven],” Ewing said. “When-
ever they tell me that he’s ready,
georgetown from D1
Hoyas’ skid reaches four with a home loss to Xavier
KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST
Junior guard Jahvon Blair made 4 of 11 three-point attempts on his
way to a team-high 18 points during georgetown’s loss Sunday.