D6 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MARCH 6 , 2022
BY TRAMEL RAGGSFor as long as Darren Buchanan
Sr. can remember, D.C. has been
enamored with his son.
Dating from Darren Jr.’s time as
a highly recruited youth league
quarterback, members of all four
D.C. corridors have showered Bu-
chanan with the ultimate signs of
respect and admiration: nick-
names.
From “The Prospect” to “June” —
a Southern twist on Darren Jr. be-
ing the second to behold his name
— to his father’s personal favorite,
“Eye of the City,” the Wilson basket-
ball star has heard them all.
On Saturday afternoon, the
three-star recruit added a nick-
name of his own to the burgeoning
list: Hokie. Buchanan announcedhis commitment to play at Vir-
ginia Tech, becoming the first D.C.
Interscholastic Athletic Associa-
tion boys’ basketball player to
commit to a Power Five school
since 2019.
“To watch him carry the weight
of those expectations and get to a
place where he can continue his
legacy at an ACC school, that’s big
time,” Buchanan Sr. said. “I hon-
estly get emotional just thinking
about it sometimes.”
After he received his first Divi-
sion I offer from Bryant and
earned DCIAA player of the year
honors as a sophomore, the 6-
foot-7 wing’s recruitment hit a bit
of a lull when the pandemic halted
high school sports in D.C. for
roughly 18 months.
But following a strong summerwith Team Durant on the AAU
circuit and multiple marquee per-
formances against private school
opponents to start the season, Bu-
chanan saw his recruitment pick
up with offers from George Ma-
son, Pittsburgh and Rutgers.
“The pandemic was tough be-
cause I thought my recruitment
was about to go crazy after I won
player of the year and stuff as a
sophomore but it was honestly the
exact opposite,” Buchanan said.
“I’m just so grateful that the coach-
es at Virginia Tech believed in me
enough to give me this opportu-
nity.”
The two-time DCIAA player of
the year said that in his heart he
knew he was going to commit to
Virginia Tech during his unofficial
visit to campus in January withWilson Coach David “Tee” John-
son and teammate Robert Dock-
ery, but Johnson wouldn’t allow
Buchanan to commit until he took
an official visit with his family.
While Virginia Tech’s style of
play should provide an opportu-
nity for his versatility to flourish, it
was the atmosphere that con-
vinced the Buchanan family a
move to Blacksburg was the best
decision for their son. He chose
the Hokies over Georgetown,
George Mason, George Washing-
ton and Rutgers.
“Coaches at every school say the
right things and try to make you
feel loved, but when the entire
student section started chanting,
‘We want Darren,’ without any
message on the board telling them
to, it really moved us,” BuchananSr. said. “It was like we were back
in the city. Felt just like the [Wil-
son] Tiger Den.”
With his college decision out of
the way, Buchanan — who eclipsed
1,000 career points during a 51-47
win over Gonzaga in Friday’s D.C.
State Athletic Association semifi-
nal — can arguably cement his
place as the best player in Wilson
history by winning a second DC-
SAA championship Sunday
against Sidwell Friends, a rematch
of a Jan. 20 regular season loss to
the Quakers.
“To have a truly legendary lega-
cy, you got to win championships,”
Buchanan said. “Committing to a
Power Five school and having the
individual awards is cool, but I just
want to paint the city green with
my brothers.”Wilson standout Buchanan commits to play for Virginia TechJONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Churchill’s Ethan Nasvaderani n eeded 42 victories this season to reach 100 for his career, and he got there by beating Romeo Tsai of Watkins Mill i n the 120-pound final.ASSOCIATED PRESSB illy Horschel got a rare break
at Bay Hill on a day that punished
so many others, leading to a birdie
on the 18th hole Saturday for a
1-under-par 71 that gave him a
share of the lead with Talor Gooch
in the Arnold Palmer Invitational
in Orlando.
Horschel was buried in deep
rough behind the 18th green and
facing a fast chip down the hill.
His foot was on a sprinkler head,
and he received a free drop. From
the collar, he was able to use
putter, and his 30-foot putt trick-
led into the cup.
“To make that putt on 18, to
shoot 1 under on a really tough
day is really satisfying,” he said.
It was a happy moment, and
those were hard to find in a third
round where Viktor Hovland lost
a four-shot lead at the turn, Matt
Jones heaved his putter into the
water and Rory McIlroy lost mo-
mentum with a tee shot out of
bounds.
Scottie Scheffler managed to
make a charge. After missing
three straight par putts from six
feet or closer to cap off his front
nine, Scheffler made three birdies
and a 20-foot eagle for a 31 on the
back for a 68, matching the low
score of the day.
He started the day eight shots
behind. He ended it two shots out
of the lead. The final group was
making the turn when Scheffler
finished, and he was asked if his
round put him back into the tour-
nament.
“I didn’t really feel out of it at
the beginning of the day,” Schef-
fler said.
He and everyone else had an
idea of what to expect on a course
that is a strong test in any condi-
tion. Add gusts of about 15 mph
and greens so baked by the sun
there was barely any grass, and
this was all the best players in golf
could handle.
Gooch, the Oklahoman who
won his first PGA Tour title in the
final event of last year, was up to
the task. He rolled in a 35-foot
birdie putt on the tough 15th,
followed with a 15-foot birdie on
the next hole and was in the lead
until a tee shot into ankle-deep
rough on the final hole kept him
from reaching the green.
Gooch and Horschel were at
7-under 209....
Fighting to keep his PGA Tour
status, Ryan Brehm shot a 4-un-
der 68 in rainy conditions t o open
a three-stroke lead in the Puerto
Rico Open in Rio Grande.
Brehm, with wife Chelsey at his
side as his caddie, is making his
final start on a minor medical
extension and needs to win or
finish second alone to retain sta-
tus. He had a 15-under 201 total at
Grand Reserve.
“Obviously, if you would have
given me that at the start of the
week, I’d have taken it,” Brehm,
35, s aid. “There’s just so much golf
left. I mean, honestly, all Chelsey
and I are trying to do is make one
good swing after another and
march along.”
Michael Kim was second after a
70.
l (^) LPGA TOUR: In Gee Chun
shot a 6-under 66 to lead a trio of
South Korean golfers at the top of
the leader board after three
rounds of the W omen’s World
Championship in Singapore.
Chun had a 54-hole total of
12-under 204 on the Sentosa Golf
Club’s Tanjong course. She had a
one-stroke lead over Jeongeun
Lee6 (65) and No. 1-ranked Jin
Young Ko (69).
American Danielle Kang (68),
Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul ( 70)
and another South Korean player,
Amy Yang (71), were tied for
fourth. Canadian Brooke Hender-
son was seventh after a 71.
Chun hasn’t won on the LPGA
Tour in more than three years.
“I tried to make good focus on
the putting green because I have
spasm in my neck, so I didn’t try to
hit hard,” said Chun, who tweaked
a muscle in the first round and
contemplated withdrawing.
l PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS:
Ernie Els rebounded from a bogey
on the par-3 17th with a two-putt
birdie on the par-5 18th to take the
lead in the Hoag Classic on a cool,
windy day at Newport Beach
(Calif.) Country Club.
The defending champion in the
event that was canceled last year,
Els shot a 3-under 68 to take a
one-stroke lead over fellow two-
time U.S. Open champions Lee
Jantzen and Retief Goosen and
first-round leader Cameron Beck-
man.
“It feels like Scotland, doesn’t
it?” said Els, also a two-time Brit-
ish Open winner. “It was a tricky
day.”
GOLF ROUNDUP
P unishing
conditions
take a toll
at Bay Hill
BY SHANE CONNUCK
Before the season, the coaches
at Winston Churchill realized
senior Ethan Nasvaderani was
going to need exactly 42 victories
to reach the century mark.
As the season progressed and
dual meets were being canceled,
Coach Tim Lowe mapped out a
way to make that possible. He
realized in late January that
Nasvaderani could pull it off only
if he went unbeaten and won the
Maryland 4A/3A 120-pound
state championship.
On Saturday evening at Show-
place Arena in Upper Marlboro,
that dream became reality. Nas-
vaderani handed Romeo Tsai of
Watkins Mill a 7-2 decision to
close out a 42-0 season and seal
his 100th victory.
“The narrative just wrote it-
self,” Lowe said. “It was destiny.
It was meant to be.”
Nasvaderani and 170-pounder
Jaden Selby became the Bull-
dogs’ first state champions since
- Churchill didn’t wrestle at
all last season because of the
coronavirus, giving Nasvaderani
— who weighed only about 100
pounds his freshman year —
even fewer opportunities to etch
his name in school history.
“When times got tough, it just
made me stronger,” Nasvaderani
said. “The work I put in for these
12 years really showed in that
match, and it showed on my
record.”
Centennial freshman Calvin
Kraisser grew up watching this
meet. His older brothers, Jason,
Nathan and Austin, share 11 state
titles. Their father, Cliff — the
Eagles’ coach — won the 119-
pound title in 1983.
Calvin added to the Kraisser
family’s Centennial wrestling
legacy S aturday, capping a 27-0
rookie campaign with a 3-2 victo-
ry at 132 pounds over Old Mill
senior Elijah Mills.
“It feels like I have my own
name now,” Kraisser said. “Not
just my last name but my first
name, too.”
Chesapeake’s historic season
continued Saturday. After com-
piling an 18-0 record and win-
ning county and region dual
titles, the Cougars added a cou-
ple of state champions to their
2021-22 résumé — coming from
brothers Chase and Victor Li-storti.
Chase took the 145-pound title
over North Point’s Aidan Riven-
burg, and Victor won at 182
pounds over Springbrook’s Eric
Washington.
“To do that is remarkable,”
Victor said about sharing this
moment with his brother. “Twen-
ty years from now, we’ll be
looking at our names on the
record boards and be proud of
that.”
Laurel 126-pounder Alex Bel-
larin has enjoyed a very success-
ful season, with an unblemished
record ascending him to the top
of Prince George’s County. He
repped the Spartans well Satur-
day.
After earning a 6-4 decision to
defeat Broadneck’s Liam De-
Baugh, Bellarin was psyched —
so much so that he did a front
flip, igniting the crowd as heleaped into Coach Marcus Jack-
son’s arms.
Local champions on the girls’
side included Arundel sopho-
more Jada Chaves (105 pounds);
Gwynn Park freshman Masiya
Wills (115); Emma Hardeman
(120) and Brianna Holcomb (125)
of Northern (Calvert); Meade’s
Brienna Blackwood (130); Rich-
ard Montgomery’s Nadia Estrada
(135); Watkins Mill’s Nebi Tsarni
(145) and Jabea Ewane (170);
Eleanor Roosevelt’s Arrey Mbu-
tambe (190); and Great Mills’
Jocelyn Cacek (235).
Other local champions from
the 4A/3A field were Spring-
brook’s Ayden Smith (106
pounds), Marriotts Ridge’s Arya
Habibi (113), Bethesda Chevy-
Chase’s Isaac Guttentag (138),
Springbrook’s Grayson Wendel
(160) and Severna Park’s Patrick
Ellis (220).MARYLAND WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPSChurchill’s Nasvaderani gets 100th win and title
Centennial’s K raisser
joins father and brothers
as a state championield, 60-48, to earn the program’s
15th consecutive state title.
“We’ve overcome so much ad-
versity to get to this point,” senior
forward Jaelyn Talley said. “It’s
been all about adjusting and stay-
ing focused for us this year. And
we got it, so hopefully the next
few years they can continue the
streak.”
The Panthers, playing without
Coach Scott Allen because of a
family matter, bounced back
from a disappointing WCAC tour-
nament to send their seniors off
with a win.
“It was a big weight off our
back to end this season in the way
those seniors have earned,” act-
ing coach Jeff Benjamin said.
“The last time those kids had a
normal school year was their
freshman year, so they deserve
this.”started two days later with a
quarterfinal matchup against
Virginia Beach’s Catholic High.
The Panthers trailed by as many
as 10 and squeaked by with a
one-point win. They looked more
like themselves in Friday’s semifi-
nal as they pounded IAC contend-
er Episcopal. By the time Satur-
day’s championship tipped, their
minds were set on making this a
two-trophy week.
“It’s hard to find the energy
sometimes in a stretch like this,”
junior forward DeShawn Harris-
Smith said. “But we’re all compet-
itors. So when you line up for a
championship game, that kicks
in, and we do what we do.”Paul VI girls extend run to 15
In the VISAA Division I girls
final, No. 6 Paul VI kept tradition
alive by beating St. Anne’s Belf-the second half with three min-
utes remaining in the game. From
there, back-to-back defensive
stops and four free throws from
sophomore Ben Hammond
helped them ice it.
“They were fighting a little
more for it at first,” Hammond
said. “But we found the energy
and got it done.... We fight for
each other, and at the end of the
day we get wins.”
If Paul VI faced any kind of
championship hangover this
week, you could hardly blame it.
Saturday was the team’s sixth
game in eight days, and Monday’s
WCAC final saw the Panthers
beat No. 3 Bishop McNamara in
dramatic f ashion as freshman
forward Jaquan Womack gave his
team the win with a last-second
lay-in.
The team’s VISAA journey“We have a young team, so
being able to win a championship
earlier this week carries over to
today,” senior guard Dug McDan-
iel said. “Our guys were ready and
knew what to expect.”
The Panthers were not the only
team on the floor with a confer-
ence championship under its
belt. The Saints won the Inter-
state Athletic Conference last
month. On Saturday, they seemed
hungry for a chance to prove their
season, their conference and
their roster were superior.
St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes (20-4)
led for much of the afternoon,
riding a balanced scoring ap-
proach and a tight defense that
seemed to rattle Paul VI for much
of the first half. But the Panthers
(29-4) hung around and finally
made their move in the fourth
quarter, taking their first lead ofBY MICHAEL ERRIGOpetersburg, va. — For the
second time in a week, the Paul VI
boys’ basketball team laughed
and hugged and took turns get-
ting a touch on a newly acquired
trophy.
Days after they won the Wash-
ington Catholic Athletic Confer-
ence tournament, the No. 1 Pan-
thers returned to their champi-
onship routine at Virginia State
University on Saturday afternoon
following a 56-52 win over No. 4
St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes in the
Virginia Independent Schools
Athletic Association Division I
title game.VISAA BASKETBALL FINALSPanthers secure clean sweep to add to overflowing trophy case
PAUL VI 56,
SS/SA 52