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A Quarter by Quarter Overview of the WCAC Championship Game
The Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, more widely known as the WCAC, is often considered the top basketball conference in the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) and maybe even the country. So, with that you can imagine the championship game was the place to this week, Maryland basketball players Dion Wiley, Jared Nickens and Melo Trimble were in the building as well as Terps coach Mark Turgeon, UAB head coach Jerod Haase and Georgetown coach John Thompson III were also in attendance.A clash between longtime national powerhouse DeMatha, home to alumni such as Victor Oladipo, Mike Brey, Adrian Dantley and many more, verses up and coming St. John’s led by Hometown boy, future Maryland Terp, Anthony Cowan Jr.
First Quarter: After forced shots in the first couple of possessions by DeMatha star’s DJ Harvey and Markelle Fultz and St. John’s taking advantage of numbers in transition, DeMatha falls behind early 11-2. After a timeout taken by the Stags they regroup and set up DJ Harvey for a couple of easy buckets and DeMatha cuts the lead to four by the end of the first.
Second Quarter: The second quarter starts with a two possession St. John’s lead, Cowan starts to put together a really great game in the second quarter scoring, setting up his teammates and locking down Fultz on the defensive end. Even though it felt like St. John’s was dominating the game with about two minutes left the Stags took the lead, but the Cadets recaptured it right back with a Cowan layup where he went up and under in between three DeMatha defenders, causing the St. John’s students to erupt. St. John’s went into the locker room up one at the half.
Third Quarter: A bucket from Cowan and then a three by sharpshooting senior DeJuan Clayton St. John’s lead extends to six and from that point on it is a back and forth quarter. With DeMatha’s senior superstar Markelle Fultz really off, junior DJ Harvey is keeping the Stags in the game with his scoring. DeMatha ends the third quarter down six.
Fourth Quarter: Star Markelle Fultz is still not able to get going and therefore DeMatha is behind by seven with about four and a half minutes left, while the Stags hope for a comeback a defensive lapse leaves Clayton open for another three which hits nothing but net to extend St. John’s lead to double digits for the first time. While everyone thinks DeMatha is done, Fultz has other plans as he gets four quick points to cut the lead to six again. But, another defensive lapse leaves junior Reese Mona open for a three that he hits to go up by nine with 3 minutes left, it was the dagger. From that point on St. John’s took care of their freebies at the free throw line and played smart defense resulting in them being crowned WCAC champions.
Both of these teams will be very competitive again next year as the Stags return DJ Harvey and expect rising junior Tre Wood to make a big impact for the Cadets next year.