Battle supposed to place his staff’s destiny within the fingers of DeAngelo Fogle, the Falcons’ celebrity guard. His assistants had some other concept.
“They grabbed me and were like, ‘Wait; let’s give it to Damari [Thompson],’ ” Battle mentioned. “ ‘I believe in him, Coach. Let’s let him finish this thing out for us.’ ”
Thompson was once 3 for 10 from the sphere to that time, however Battle gave him the fairway gentle to head win it. Thompson did simply that.
With a defender draped on his hip, he discovered a sliver of separation, then knocked down the go-ahead shot from the suitable wing to present Bard the lead. A SEED turnover and a loose throw later, and Bard had its first DCSAA title with a 67-64 victory.
“Man, that meant everything to me, bro,” Thompson mentioned. “For them to rock with me like that with the game on the line, when I wasn’t even hooping for real, is special. I’m low-key about to cry.”
Thompson supplied the very best finishing to a season that adopted a Disney-esque script. The gymless Falcons (24-7) stunned Jackson-Reed in a D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association event semifinal, then beat McKinley Tech within the ultimate.
“This season been crazy as hell,” title sport MVP Nate Pondexter mentioned. “… This ain’t supposed to happen to teams like us.”
Despite successful the DCIAA title, the Falcons have been assigned to the decrease bracket of the DCSAA playoffs in a preseason sorting by way of the coaches. Starting subsequent season, any staff that wins the DCIAA title will mechanically qualify for the Class AA bracket, irrespective of its preseason designation.
Bard struggled to shoulder the lofty expectancies generated by way of its DCIAA title. The Falcons slipped by way of Banneker and IDEA by way of a mixed 8 issues previous within the DCSAA event, then confronted more than one double-digit deficits within the ultimate.
“When you lose the ability to sneak up on a team, it definitely makes things a bit tougher,” Battle mentioned. “But overcoming adversity is nothing new to our kids. They do it every day when they trudge through one of the toughest neighborhoods in the city just to get to our campus.”
Pondexter had 18 issues and 8 rebounds. Thompson added 11 issues and 6 rebounds, and Kwari Harvey had 8 issues and 9 assists.
For SEED (29-6), its season led to heartbreak for the second one 12 months in a row. Last season, it suffered an time beyond regulation loss within the public constitution championship sport. Senior Carmello Myles had 30 issues, 11 rebounds and 4 steals Sunday.
“We did a lot of really good things, but at the end of the day we didn’t do enough of them when it mattered most,” SEED Coach Joe Thompson mentioned. “Being that close will sting for a while, but we’ll recover and grow this moment.”
Carroll ladies get first title
As the buzzer sounded one final time, Archbishop Carroll’s gamers and coaches amassed round senior Ayva Tillmon and began to weep.
After years taking their lumps within the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, Tillmon and the Lions in any case had their second within the solar once they knocked off Jackson-Reed, 39-31, within the DCSAA Class A ladies’ title sport at Smith Center. It was once the primary D.C. title in staff historical past.
“This is just so unbelievable to me,” mentioned Tillmon, whose 14 issues earned her MVP honors. “I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I was in eighth grade.”
In the rematch of a common season sport that Carroll gained, 70-23, the Lions (21-12) opened with an 8-0 flurry. Behind Kryslynn Stewart’s game-high 17 issues, Jackson-Reed (21-9) battled again and by way of the second one quarter had a 17-16 lead.
“We just wanted to show that we belonged,” Jackson-Reed Coach Derek Campbell Sr. mentioned. “Last time, we were missing five players to covid. Our girls really showed up.”
Carroll took a 29-27 benefit within the fourth quarter. From there, the Lions grew to become up the depth on protection.
“This is a program-defining win for us,” Carroll Coach Edythe White mentioned. “We’ve been knocking on that door for a while — today, we finally broke it down.”