By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Editor
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area
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Watching T.C. Williams dribble out the clock in its Northern Region semifinal win over Lee, 79-61, one would not know the game’s magnitude.
As the scoreboard struck zeroes, the back-up point guard bounced the ball to the nearest official and filed into line with his teammates in front of first-year coach Julian King.
High-fives and a few smiles were all the emotion shown as the Titans clinched their third-straight state tournament berth.
For No. 8 T.C. Williams — who won its 70th-straight game against a Patriot District opponent on Saturday — this level of success has become the norm.
“We expect to be in the regional final,” said Titan senior Ed Jenkins, calling on the teaching of a former coach. “We expect to win everything. We were bred like that since we were freshmen. Coach [Ivan] Thomas put that in my head, ‘You’re supposed to be here. You’re supposed to do everything. You’re supposed to win district, region and state.’ And that’s how I carry it.
“It’s nice that we won, that we’re going to the big dance, but it’s nothing new to me.”
Echoed junior Ryan Yates, celebrating his 17th birthday on Saturday: “It’s a recurring theme. Every game is the same. We’ve played in big games, so it’s like everything is normal.
“Sometimes it feels like practice.”
With that easy-going attitude, the Titans methodically pulled away from the Lancers.
T.C. Williams, ahead by nine points at half time, had its lead trimmed to four midway through the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Lee senior Dimitri Sakellarides.
But the Titans turned to their spark plug — and Northern Region Player of the Year — in Jenkins to establish a favorable tempo and salt away the win.
Jenkins scored 17 of his game-high 28 points in the second half and hit five 3-pointers.
“I always have the green light, but never want to shoot too much, because that’s not me,” he said. “But this night, I came out here, I was ready. And I just shot. Every time I was open, I was going to shoot. If I miss, I was going to get it back and I was going to shoot again. Eventually, they started falling.
“I got in a good rhythm during warm-ups, my teammates found me and I was knocking down shots for us.”
To be fair, the Lancers were knocking down their fair share, as well.
Basketball wisdom suggests that it’s difficult to beat a team three times in one season, referencing a district tournament match-up after a regular-season sweep.
But T.C. Williams was looking for its fourth win against Lee this year, a rare — and even more challenging — accomplishment, especially since the most-recent Titan win, 77-71 in the district tournament, required overtime.
The Lancers hit eight three-pointers on Saturday, five by junior Walter Griffin, but still fell by an 18-point margin, matching their largest loss in the series this year.
“It keeps us calm,” said Yates on the benefits of the Titans’ winning culture. “For other teams, when stuff goes wrong for them they get rattled. A six-point deficit turns to 12, and 12 turns to 20. For us, we come back, forget about it and keep playing.”
Added Jenkins, on the difficulty of the single-season four-peat: “It’s tough, I can tell you that. I get tired of playing the same team more than once or twice.”
Unfortunately for Jenkins., T.C. Williams will play Hayfield in the Northern Region championship on Monday, a team it has already played — and beaten — twice this year.
In addition to their four-year district winning streak, the Titans are two-time defending Northern Region champions and defending Virginia AAA state champions.
They own a 16-game winning streak overall — dating back to a loss to nationally-ranked Montrose Christian — and a 44-game winning streak against Northern Region competition entering Monday’s tournament final.
“It’s a jungle out there,” said junior forward Billy Rowland, who scored 19 points in the semifinal win. “I know I have to do the best that I could. I know I’ve never been in this situation before, but, hey, if I do what I do, we’ll come out champions.”
Added Jenkins: “We’re going to come out here and take it like every [other] game. We have to beat them so we can go on and continue our streak.”
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
Robert E. Lee 11 18 16 16 — 61
No. 8 T.C. Williams 15 23 12 29 — 79
Lee — Holloway 6 4-5 16; Griffin 5 0-0 15; Sakellarides 5 0-0 12; Woldu 2 4-7 9; Gatlin 2 3-5 7; Meija 1 0-0 2.
Team totals: 21 11-17 61.
T.C. Williams — Jenkins 9 5-5 28; Rowland 6 7-10 19; Yates 4 5-8 14; Peterson 2 5-6 10; Chambers 2 0-0 4; Copeland 1 0-0 2; Sitton 0 2-2 2. Team totals: 24 24-31 79.
Three-pointers — Lee 8 (Griffin 5, Sakallarides 2, Woldu); T.C. Williams 7 (Jenkins 5, Yates, Peterson).
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