SATURDAy, MARCH 7 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D5
a Hoyas assistant at the time, was
wondering whether mosely and
his parents had interest in visit-
ing Georgetown. When their 13-
hour unofficial visit ended and
then-coach John Thompson III
offered mosely a scholarship, the
guard didn’t so much as look at
his parents, michael and robyn,
b efore accepting.
“I looked at him, [and] I said:
‘Jagan! We’ve got to go t o Harvard
next week!’ ” michael mosely
said. “ ‘The following week is
Stanford! We have plane tickets!’
But that was it.”
only once has mosely ques-
tioned his path at Georgetown. It
was the day before the Hoyas
played Syracuse in December,
when myron Gardner and Galen
Alexander announced they were
transferring, bringing George-
town’s total to four transfers in
two weeks.
mosely, as the team leader in
the locker room, didn’t k now how
to proceed. He felt as if he were
watching a movie of someone
else’s life. mosely let himself
mope briefly before he fell back
on his old standby: Against the
orange and for the rest of the
season, he figured all he could do
was try his hardest.
“Syracuse doesn’t care,” mose-
ly said. “The next team doesn’t
care about whatever’s going on
with our team. We have to focus
on the game and do the best we
can.”
michael mosely heard the
same sentiment about a week
ago, when he spoke with his son
on the phone two days before
Georgetown lost to Xavier to
effectively ensure the team will
miss its fifth straight NCAA tour-
nament, barring a miraculous
run in next week’s Big East tour-
nament.
“We spoke friday night, [and]
he said: ‘Dad, it’s n ot over. I’ve got
three more games.’ He told me, ‘If
there’s a will, there’s a way,’ ”
michael mosely said. “That’s the
thing: It doesn’t faze him. As a
dad, as an adult, as a basketball
guy, you can see the reality. You
can read all the articles. But he
doesn’t see that. He just believes.”
[email protected]mosely’s game has been this
way since he got to Georgetown.
“When you hear ‘mVP,’ you
usually think of the guy who
scores the most points or gets the
most highlights, but it’s good to
see that my efforts aren’t going
unnoticed,” mosely said after
hearing Ewing’s compliment.
“I’m usually the unsung hero. I do
all the little things; I get my
teammates involved; I make all
the winning plays — because at
the end of the day, I know that
every team needs a guy like me.”
mosely’s game was always
predicated on effort. That’s how
he kept up with his older and
more naturally talented brother,
Cheddi, on the court. The broth-
ers were two grades apart at
St. Anthony’s, a high school pow-
er that closed in 2017, but it was
mosely who made the varsity
team as a freshman.
“In 45 years, I don’t know if I
had eight or 10 freshmen that
were good enough to play varsi-
ty,” Hurley said. “He was so
poised.”
Harvard had been mosely’s top
choice for college, though Stan-
ford, Northwestern and Vander-
bilt were also on the table. Until,
that is, a former grade school
classmate of mosely’s mother
called the family. Kevin Broadus,two hard falls per game, leaving
spectators concerned until he
gingerly gets to his feet. Some-
times he will stay keeled over,
catching his breath, and other
times he will start jogging herky-
jerky back down the court. He
always gets back up.
for all that effort, mosely has
never been an overwhelming
scorer f or Georgetown (15-15, 5-12
Big East), which will host No. 14
Villanova (23-7, 12-5) on Saturday
in its regular season finale.
The finance major averages
8.2 points and 4.4 rebounds, well
down Georgetown’s stat sheet.
But he leads the Hoyas in two
telling categories: minutes
( 34.5 per game, including 38.3 in
conference play) and steals (38).
“I don’t even have a title for
him,” Ewing said. “mVP of our
team — w hatever you want to call
it. He’s been a dream for us.”
“Jagan is basically the heart
and soul of our team,” said gradu-
ate transfer point guard Te rrell
Allen, who will be honored along-
side mosely and George muresan
during Saturday’s senior day fes-
tivities. “He gives us everything
we need offensively and defen-
sively. It doesn’t matter if he has
the most points; it doesn’t matter
if he has no points. He just wants
to win every single night.”BY AVA WALLACEEvery weekday morning of
J agan mosely’s high school life
began the same way. He rose at
home in suburban New Jersey at
5:30 to get dropped off at the
train station at 6, caught the 6:02
train to Newark and from there
took the PATH train, blending in
with his fellow daily commuters.
The adults wore suits and button-
downs; he wore his St. Anthony’s
High-mandated black polo and
khakis. They read the Wall Street
Journal; he cracked textbooks to
keep up with his schoolwork. for
90 minutes every morning, the
boy and the businessfolk were the
same.
This bit of mundanity is impor-
tant, at least if you ask Bob
Hurley, the legendary former
coach at St. Anthony’s. He be-
lieves the fact that mosely be-
came a typical New York-area
daily commuter at 14 is pretty
good shorthand for understand-
ing Georgetown’s senior leader.
The commute, Hurley said,
shows mosely acted like an adult
even when he was young. He
found a way to do the work that
needed to be done. And he has
never been one to shy away from
a tough journey.
“He had some good choices for
high schools very close to him,”
Hurley said, “and he commuted
to Jersey City to go to high school
instead.... He was the top of his
class all four years — the valedic-
torian, you know. Nothing ever
fell by the wayside.”
Georgetown fans understand
that about mosely better than
ever this season, when he has
embodied the Hoyas’ grit.
Almost everyone remaining on
Coach Patrick Ewing’s depleted
roster — which features just six
healthy scholarship players —
has played increased minutes
over the past month after the
Hoyas lost second-leading scorer
mac m cClung to a foot injury and
leading scorer omer Yurtseven to
an ankle injury in early february.
With mosely, the toll of all those
minutes shows.
It seems the 6-foot-3,
2 15-pound guard takes at leastThanks to Mosely, grit isn’t an issue for the Hoyas
DOUG KAPUSTIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Senior guard Jagan mosely leads Georgetown in minutes a nd
steals, and Coach Patrick Ewing said he has been “a dream for us.”good.”
In learning to adjust, mikesell
also found it easier to put her
early-season struggles behind
her.
“I let go of what had happened
up until that point, just kind of
tried to move on from everything
mentally and just be present in
the moment.... Just know that
there’s always another play to
make and another shot to make,”
mikesell said. “mentally, that’s
what shifted my focus. It’s been a
lot better since then.”
[email protected]for mikesell, getting her mind-
set right was the third prong that
helped her find success this sea-
son. But changing the shooting
routine she had been doing for
years was a big adjustment.
“I just love being in the gym,”
mikesell said last month before
practice at Xfinity Center. “It’s
hard for me to just like not — I
liked doing that! I don’t want to
not come in here. But I found
other ways, so I’ll do a lot more
recovery stuff on off days and just
try to keep my b ody fresh. As l ong
as I’m doing something, I’mthrough the second quarter,
when mikesell made three-
pointers on consecutive posses-
sions. Purdue couldn’t keep up
with the Terps’ pace or defensive
pressure and never came close
after halftime.
freshman guard Ashley
owusu, starting instead of Wat-
son, had 15 points and 10 assists.
Senior forward Stephanie Jones
added 14 points and a game-high
13 rebounds in a typically steady
performance. Sophomore for-
ward Shakira Austin finished
with 12 points and 11 rebounds.Purdue in the quarterfinals of the
conference tournament friday,
mikesell may be ready to call
herself a full-on convert to her
lean, mean, 30-minute pregame
routine.
“Hey, it’s helping me. It’s help-
ing me a lot,” mikesell said with a
smile and a shrug in the locker
room at Bankers Life fieldhouse.
“Just the first couple minutes I
was like: ‘Whew. Got to get my
legs and my wind back under-
neath me.’ ”
mikesell led No. 6 maryland
(26-4) with 22 points on 8-for-18
shooting against Purdue (18-14),
and she hit six three-pointers —
matching her season high in
conference play — f or the second
game i n a row. She also had s ix in
the Te rps’ thumping of minneso-
ta to end the regular season
Sunday.
The guard hopes the two-game
flash is evidence that she’s peak-
ing at t he right time for maryland,
which has won 15 straight and
will face fourth-seeded Indiana in
Saturday’s semifinals.
mikesell had an uneven start
to the season that bled into the
first six games of conference
play, a stretch in which she shot
17.3 percent from the field and
never reached double digits in
scoring. In her past six games,
she has shot 49.2 percent and
averaged 14 points.
The guard’s performance has
trended upward in conjunction
with the Te rps’ for a few reasons.
She benefits from the extra rest
she gets with her new shooting
routine — “ She’s d efinitely getting
more sleep,” frese said wryly —
and has settled fully into her new
position.
“Now, as we’ve been able to get
in some comfortable rotations
and with our freshmen settling in
a little bit more, it’s made it a lot
easier,” frese said. “We’ve been
able to find her easier. I think of
that skip pass that Blair [Watson]
had that really broke the game
open. We’re just m aking more
plays like that to be able to find
her.”
on friday, mikesell helped lift
maryland past Purdue after a
shaky start.
The Boilermakers were clearly
more prepared for maryland’s
pressure defense than they were
during the teams’ first meeting,
an 88-45 maryland win feb. 25 in
College Park. Purdue moved the
ball well laterally and made shots
from deep, sinking four three-
pointers in the first quarter to
finish the period trailing 20-19.
The Te rps broke away midwaymArylAnd from d1Terps advance with victory over Purdue
KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST
Four of maryland’s five starters reached double figures in scoring, including forward Shakira Austin.l SOUTH CArOlInA 89,
GEOrGIA 5 6: Seniors mikiah
Herbert Harrigan had 16 points
Ty asha Harris had 15, and the
top-ranked Gamecocks (30-1)
won their 24 th straight game by
beating the Bulldogs (17-14) to
start the SEC tournament in
Greenville, S.C.
To p-seeded South Carolina
will play Saturday in the semifi-
nals against fifth-seeded and
No. 25 Arkansas.
Jenna Staiti led Georgia with
16 points.
l OrEGOn 7 9, UTAH 59: Sa-
brina Ionescu had 19 points,
11 rebounds and eight assists to
lead the top-seeded and third-
ranked Ducks (29-2) past the
eighth-seeded Utes (14-17) in the
quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tour-
nament in Las Vegas.
The Ducks f ace fourth-seeded
and No. 13 Arizona in the semifi-
nals on Saturday.
l UClA 73, USC 66: michaela
onyenwere had a game-high
26 p oints and 15 rebounds to lead
the second-seeded and eighth-
ranked Bruins (26-4) past the
seventh-seeded Trojans (17-14) in
the Pac-12 quarterfinals.
UCLA will play third-seeded
and No. 7 Stanford or sixth-seed-
ed and No. 14 oregon State in the
semifinals.
l mISSISSIPPI STATE 79,
lSU 4 9: r ickea Jackson scored
19 of her 23 points in the second
half, and the second-seeded and
ninth-ranked Bulldogs (26-5)
pulled away from the seventh-
seeded Tigers (20-10) i n the SEC
quarterfinals.
The defending conference
champions w ill play No. 16 Ken-
tucky on Saturday for a spot in
the final.
l nOrTH CArOlInA
STATE 75 , GEOrGIA TECH 48:
Elissa Cunane had 14 of her
16 points in the second half a s the
second-seeded and 10th-ranked
Wolfpack (26-4) beat the Yellow
Jackets (20-11) in the ACC quar-
terfinals.
N.C. State will face Boston
College in the semifinals. Kierra
fletcher had 15 points and nine
rebounds for Georgia Tech.
l PrOVIdEnCE 49,
GEOrGETOWn 46: Senior
Ta ylor Barnes scored 25 points,
and the ninth-seeded Hoyas
(5-25) pulled within one posses-
sion of tying or taking the lead
six times in the fourth quarter,
but Georgetown ended its sea-
son with a loss to the eighth-
seeded friars (13-18) in the first
round of the Big East tourna-
ment in Chicago.ASSOCIATED PRESSmalachi flynn had 22 points,
five rebounds and five assists, KJ
feagin added 21 points and six
rebounds, and No. 5 San Diego
State beat Boise State, 81-68, on
friday night in Las Vegas to
advance to the mountain West
tournament championship game
for the third straight year.
The top-seeded Aztecs (30-1),
who are in contention for a No. 1
seed in the NCAA tournament,
made 15 three-pointers and shot
49.1 percent from the field. They
will face the Utah State-Wyoming
winner in the championship
ga me.
San Diego State trailed by
16 points with five minutes re-
maining in the first half, then
outscored the Broncos 64-31 over
the final 25 minutes on the way to
its third double-digit victory over
Boise State (20-12) this season.
Alex Hobbs led the Broncos
with 21 points on 7-for11 shoot-
ing. rJ Williams and Derrick
Alston each had 12 points.
l dAVIdSOn 75 , VCU 65:
Nah’Shon Hyland had 17 points
for the rams (18-13, 8-10 Atlantic
10), who fell to the Wildcats
(16-14, 10-8) in Davidson, N.C., in
the regular season finale for both
teams.
Davidson will be the No. 7 seed
and VCU the No. 9 seed in next
week’s conference tournament.
l rICHmOnd 73,
dUQUESnE 62: Blake francis
had 21 points as the Spiders (24-7,
14-4 Atlantic 10) beat the Dukes
(21-9, 11-7) i n Pittsburgh.
r ichmond earned its fourth
straight victory.
Ta vian Dunn-martin had
17 points for Duquesne.
louisville women roll in ACC
Dana Evans scored 23 points,
and top-seeded and fourth-
ranked Louisville dominated the
second quarter to beat Syracuse,
71-46, in the q uarterfinals of the
ACC tournament in Greensboro,
N.C., avenging its l ast loss from a
month earlier.
Louisville (28-3) h eld the
eighth-seeded orange (16-15) to
just one field goal in the second
quarter. Kiara Lewis scored
18 points for the orange.
The Cardinals advanced to
Saturday’s semifinals to face
fourth-seeded and No. 22 florida
State.
SAN DIEgO StAtE 81,
BOISE StAtE 68COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP
No. 5 Aztecs reach final
in Mountain West again
ing named All-met Player of the
Year. But that wasn’t her goal.
Throughout the regular sea-
son, Harris served as a facilitator,
building her teammates’ confi-
dence by setting up open looks,
racking up assists and scoring
about 10 points per game. The
Jaguars, riding a 19-game win-
ning streak, beat Prince George’s
County opponents by 33.2 points
per game.
“She enjoys the big stage,”
Philip Harris said. “She’s looking
for the big stage every chance she
gets. Games like [friday’s] really
bring out the best of her.”
As C.H. flowers looks to re-
peat, Harris will have help from
her sister, Kristian, a freshman
who scored 10 points against
Severna Park (18-6). Growing up,
Kaniyah would beat her sister in
basketball using her physical ap-
proach. So Kristian developed a
jump shot, and their contrasting
styles now complement each oth-
er.
midway through the first
quarter, Kaniyah Harris drove to
the basket, and when defenders
collapsed on her, she passed to
her sister for an open three-
pointer.
While Hairston believes Kris-
tian will develop into a star, this
postseason is Kaniyah’s show.
“Nobody got up at 6 a.m. like
we did,” Harris said. “Nobody put
in the work we did. That’s what
we go into the playoffs remem-
bering.
“We did all this work, so it’s
time to prove it and show all we
worked for.”
[email protected]BY KYLE MELNICKIn the final minute of the third
quarter friday night, C.H. flow-
ers guard Kaniyah Harris re-
ceived a pass in the post. right
away, four Severna Park defend-
ers sprinted to corral her.
In the regular season, Harris
may have looked for an outlet
pass, trying to get her teammates
involved. But this was a mary-
land 4A quarterfinal game, and
Harris knew she had to be ag-
gressive, so she muscled through
the defenders to finish a layup.
Harris played her most aggres-
sive game offensively, scoring a
game-high 27 points in the No. 6
Jaguars’ 55-34 win in Springdale.
C.H. flowers (24-1) will meet
montgomery County power
Churchill in the state semifinals
Thursday at Towson University’s
SECU Arena.
“It’s game time now,” flowers
Coach roderick Hairston said. “I
don’t c are if we’re up by 100; she’s
going to play until the end. T his is
her senior year. This is her team.
It’s her time.”
Last season, Harris powered
C.H. flowers to its best season
ever as its go-to scorer. She
scored 23 points in the Jaguars’
maryland 4A championship win
over old mill and earned second-
team All-met.
Harris’s father, Philip, envi-
sioned her scoring high point
totals again this season and be-
C.H. FLOwErS 55,
SEvErNA PArK 34MARYLAND 4A GIRLS’ BASKETBALL QUARTERFINALS
Aggressive Harris keeps
Jaguars in line for repeat
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