Landon hoops team beats Middleburg for LWIT championship; MVP & All Tournament team plus other LWIT results

Tonight’s Landon Winter Invitational Tournament pitted two teams that had played several weeks ago. The Dragons of Middleburg beat the Bears last time, relying heavily on VCU bound Mo Alle-Cox, a 6’6” man child. The Bears won this contest 70-57 led by their senior guard, Joe McDonald, but characteristically relying on a team effort. The key to the home team’s victory was a swarming defense and an equally aggressive hydra head offense.

Yes, Joe had an impressive 22 points, 9 steals, 10 rebounds and 3 assists, but both he and his teammates ALL contributed with great picks, creating turnovers, flying on the floor to get loose balls, blocking out on rebounds, crashing the boards, calling out switches, making key free throws, taking charges and the ever-thankless fouling Mr. Alle-Cox. These were the things that resulted in the victory over a Middleburg team that is reputed to have 3 or more Division I players.

Nine of the 12 healthy Bears played in Coach Luther’s strategy of high energy play from the first to last quarter. Such a relentless approach resulted in a 17- 14 lead at the end of the 1^st Q .By half the margin grew to +5 and by the end of the 3^rd Q, the Bears still had the advantage of 44-41. The Bears’ greater depth was most evident during the last 8 minutes, during which they outscored their opponent 26-16. During this period players who added no or few points (like Harry Laird, Hank Brown, Cyrus House and Tumi Onaghise) made the small, but important plays that frustrated the Dragons. The teamwork is also evident in the score book:

Sarter                  17 points

Wellington          11

Colclough            10

Onaghise              4

Brown                   2

House                    2

It was an impressive display of team D that caused turnovers and resulted in fast break points, with ball pressure that forced the Dragons into bad passes and all manner of POOR execution.

TOURNAMENT MVP

JOE McDONALD

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM

STEPHEN BROWN                 CHRIST CHAPEL

DANIEL DIXON                       LANGLEY

TEVIN JOHNSON                   ST. MARY’S

DELANTE JONES                    MIDDLEBURG

MO ALIE-COX                        MIDDLEBURG

RESULTS OF OTHER LWIT GAMES

3^RD PLACE

St.Mary’s 71                 Langley      68

5^th PLACE

Christ Chapel 67           Cesar Chavez       47

7^th PLACE

Trinity  66                     St. Anselm’s        64