by Robert Klemko

Atholton High boys' basketball team ended Long Reach's 30-game home winning streak with a resounding 75-45 decision Wednesday in a battle of first in the Howard County league.

Long Reach’s last home defeat was on Dec. 14, 2005, when it lost 69-62 to Hammond. The Lightning lost just twice that season on their way to the program's first state championship.

"I don’t think we did anything right tonight," said Long Reach coach Al Moraz, whose team dropped to 10-2 overall, 8-2 league. "We watched a lot of tape on them, but we just didn’t rise to the occasion. I can live with a loss, but I’m just upset that they came to our place and spanked us."

After scoring Atholton’s first ten points, Anthony Jones held Long Reach senior forward Obi Ukwuoma to 12 points. The Long Reach inside force has been a big reason for his team’s 10-2 record, averaging 16 points a game.

"They came out harder than us. They had more fire, more passion," Ukwuoma said. "We just slacked in every phase of the game tonight and played horrible… if we keep doing this were going to lose to everybody else."

Atholton (10-3 overall, 9-1 league) is tied with Marriotts Ridge for first. After giving the Raiders a first quarter lead they would never relinquish, Jones turned his attention to shutting down the highly-touted Ukwuoma.

"It was just in my mind that, okay, now I got my points so I have to try and get my team points and stop up [Long Reach’s] inside game," said Jones, a senior. "They get all their buckets off of rebounds so the game plan was to keep them off of the glass and stop them from getting second chances and to make them shoot shots that they didn’t want to shoot."

Atholton coach Jim Albert said he was surprised by the final outcome though he expected a win.

"I was kind of surprised by it… the first time I looked up and saw a 20-point difference and before that I had no idea," Albert said. "I was real pleased with our defense. They played four great quarters and we were consistent and we never allowed them a run. We take great pride in this game."

Albert was pleased with his perimeter shooters including senior Deyon Cook, whose fade away three-pointer with foul shot turned the tide late in the second quarter. Senior guard Aziz Iscandari converted a steal into a lay-up four seconds later give the Raiders their first double-digit lead of the night, 31-21. Junior point guard Shane Brown set the tempo of the contest with a team-high 16 points.

"We practiced so hard this week and we knew we were number one," Brown said. "We knew that Long Reach was going to come out extra strong and give us a fight, so we wanted to keep the tempo at our tempo, and that’s fast transition ball."

Brown called the win the biggest of the year, but Albert said the Raiders' work is just beginning.

"I think that al the games in this league are tough and if you take a night off you don’t come ready to play," Albert said. "We do that sometimes. [If] you take somebody lightly it can come back to bite you, so I’m hoping that we’ve learned that and we can continue to play the whole 32 minutes."

Atholton 75, Long Reach 45
Atholton: Brown 16, Cook 14, Jones 11, Iscandari 9, Cortes 7, Settle 6, Robinson 5, Hairston 5, Cristaldi 2. Totals 29 11-19 75.
Long Reach: Ukwuoma 12, Fambro 7, Devine-Hernandez 7, Bell 7, Queen 6, Crenshaw 4, Lloyde 2. Totals 18 7-15 45.
Halftime: Atholton 38, Long Reach 21.