By Ryan Minkrmink@digitalsports.comNobody needed to tell Gonzaga’s players that being the defending WCAC champions should still be the team to beat.
Gonzaga simply reminded the rest of the Washington DC boys basketball followers with an 86-76 home win over the Stags Wednesday night.
The No. 3-ranked Eagles now own the top spot in the WCAC standings with a 7-1 conference mark and 16-2 overall record. Gonzaga’s only WCAC loss was against O’Connell on Dec. 9 and the Eagles are now on a nine-game win streak.
“This was definitely a big one,” Gonzaga senior forward
Ian Hummer said. “We just wanted to show we’re No. 1 in the conference, probably No. 1 in the area as a matter of fact.”
Hummer scored a career-high 32 points as he pretty much had his way against DeMatha’s front-court.
Cedrick Lindsay did the rest from the backcourt as he scored 21 points to go along with
Tyler Thornton’s 13.
Gonzaga also sank 21-of-21 free throws.
“I know I had 32, a new career-high, but I’m not really worried about that,” Hummer said. “I’ll just score 10 points, if we beat DeMatha, I’m fine with that.”
DeMatha (14-2, 6-1) was led by 18 points from senior
Naji Hibbert (18 points), 15 points from
Josh Selby (Tennessee) and 10 points from
Quinn Cook,
Victor Oladipo and
Jerian Grant each.
The Stags were viewed by many to be the team to beat this year with a deep roster chalked full of Division I talent. Gonzaga, while being the defending champions, lost talented forward Cameron Johnson and Max Kenyi.
While Gonzaga was still seen as a strong team, it wasn’t the same championship team. But Wednesday proved that doesn’t mean the Eagles are a worse team.
“We already knew we were the best team,” said Lindsay, who made 9-of-9 free throws.
DeMatha started hot our of the gates, as the Stags scored the game’s first points on a slam dunk by
Mikael Hopkins. Gonzaga stormed back and took a 14-7 lead on a
Cahli Thomas three-pointer.
Thornton scored eight of Gonzaga’s first 10 points to start the second half, drawing a DeMatha timeout. The Stags charged, outscoring the Eagles 14-4 to close the half, capped by a layup by Oladipo off a nice assist from Selby.
Gonzaga erased that lead in less than two minutes behind two Hummer layups and a Thornton jumper. The two teams traded hoops from then on, with Gonzaga taking a steady lead behind a pair of long Lindsay three-pointers.
Lindsay struggled a bit in the first half so Thornton grabbed him and said the team would need his sharpshooting in the second half.
“He just told me to shoot the ball,” Lindsay said.
The Eagles took an 11-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter behind a
Malcolm Lemmons field goal, Lindsay and-one and Hummer layup and never looked back from there.
Gonzaga outscored DeMatha, 58-43, in the second half.
“That’s not DeMatha basketball,” DeMatha
Coach Mike Jones said. “We gave up more points in the second half then we usually give up in a game.”
