Blair's trying season continues with rough home loss

JAN. 31, NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM-

It has been a very trying season for the Blair Blazers basketball team. Coming off a week where the team lost at home by 32 and on the road by 16, it seemed as if it could now get worse. But, at least in one sense, Blair continues to defy the odds.

The Blazers had their worst shooting performance in years and scored zero points in the fourth quarter, en route to a 46-22 defeat at the hands of the Walt Whitman Vikings. The Vikings stripped Blair of the ball 15 times, and the Blazers' leading scorer contributed just five points.

Blair assistant coach Emmanuel Charles was blunt about the loss. "We played terribly," he said.

It was the fourth loss in a row for Blair (3-11), which has now fallen to seventh place in the Maryland 4A East standings. They are one game ahead of last place Churchill, who is 1-10 in the division, with their only win coming against the Blazers.

While Charles could explain the loss, everybody was at a loss for words about the scoreless fourth quarter. "I have no idea how we couldn't score a point," said head coach Orlando Larracuente.

Mohammed Roberson, who was Blair's second-leading scorer tonight with four points, couldn't explain it either. "I can't give you any reason for that. That was insane."

It was likely a combination of turnovers, terrible shooting and slow play. The Vikings, up 17 points headed into the quarter, held the ball much of the period. Whitman scored only five points themselves.

"It was really ugly; the whole game," Larracuente said.

Blair fell behind early tonight and couldn't recover. The team made just two field goals in the first quarter, trailing Whitman (11-3) by 10. The Blazers actually rallied a bit in the second, and went into the half down just 23-15.

In the third, however, a game that was ugly on both ends became one-sided. Whitman, led by Antony Ngunjiri and Mike Gruner, outscored Blair by 11 in the quarter to put the game out of reach.

Larracuente attributed the game's result to poor shooting by his players, as well as a roster that has been through tumult the last week. "We really struggled to execute. We just didn't play well. And it's also because we had a lot of kids come up from [junior varsity] before this game."

The JV call-ups were necessitated after Ross Williams and John Orr quit the team for what Larracuente called "personal reasons." An unnamed parent of a former player on the team said essentially that the two were fed up with Larracuente's coaching style and for being benched by him.

And actually, the JV call-ups played well, considering Blair had only 22 points. Quentin Snively, in his first varsity game, led Blair with five points. Within the first two minutes on the court, he had drilled a three-pointer, and made an exciting no-look pass that excited the crowd.

In addition to Snively and Roberson, Blair got four points from Larry Johnson and three from Jacob Wade and Tori Patton. Patton also had nine rebounds.

Nevertheless, when the leading scorer has five points, it's not a good night. But Charles gave the 19th-ranked Vikings credit for shutting Blair down. "They played together. They moved the ball well; they stole the ball from us a lot."

Charles stopped short of saying the Blazers were out-coached, instead deflecting the blame on Blair's players. "We don't have guys who can play basketball. Our kids can't focus on the court at all."

"I just can't figure out why," Charles said, "that these smaller teams like Whitman keep beating us."

Kind of surprisingly, Roberson was not upset about being called out by the coaching staff, and actually agreed with Charles. "He's right, we're not playing well," Roberson said.

Roberson added: "These losses are our fault. We're the ones who keep screwing up."