Blazers box out Wildcats

NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM-

Only four games into the season, the boys' basketball team has discovered its formula for success: "Box out, box out, box out." The Blazers, once again refusing to accept their height disadvantage, outrebounded the much taller Walter Johnson High School 41-17 and defeated the Wildcats 67-55.

Blair, 3-1, plays nobody taller than six feet two inches – a height that is below average for NBA point guards. First-year coach Jeff Newby has decided to take advantage of the team's quickness, and has designed practices that focus on boxing out for rebounds.

"Newby has forced us to rebound a lot," said senior forward Chijioke Anyanwu, who led his team with nine boards against Walter Johnson. "The main key is to box out, because we know we're a small team. If you don't box out in practice, we have to run." Clearly Newby has connected with his team, which has outrebounded its opponents by an average margin of 37-20 in the first four games.

When the Blazers crash the boards, it not only prevents the opposition from getting second-chance points, but it also allows them to put the ball in veteran point guard Cyril Djoukeng's hands. Djoukeng, a senior, played perhaps the most well rounded game of his career, leading the team in both points (18) and assists (nine), and also grabbing six rebounds.

"I've had those points and assists before," said Djoukeng, "but I've never had these kind of rebounds before. And that's because of Newby being in our ears telling us to rebound and box out."

Anyanwu, who, along with senior guard Ellis Yeadon, was tied for second on the team in scoring with 12 points, has a tremendous amount of confidence in Djoukeng. "A point guard like Cyril can find you under the basket," he said. "So that makes my job easy because all I have to do is run down the court and he'll find me."

Still, the Blazers never showed a killer instinct. They were constantly on the verge of breaking the game open, only to allow the Wildcats to bring Blair's lead back down to single digits. Walter Johnson went on a shooting streak late in the second quarter to cut Blair's lead down to 31-27 at halftime. But by the end of the third quarter, Blair led 45-34 and had the game comfortably out of W.J.'s reach.

The Wildcats were coming off of a four-game winning streak over Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Churchill, Walt Whitman and Einstein high schools to open their season.

While the Blazers dominated in many facets of the game, the Wildcats did force Blair into running more half-court offensive sets instead of constantly running the fast break. "[Walter Johnson] got back on defense very well," said Newby. "It forced us to play the half-court game more than we usually do."

This style of offense was a complete turnaround from Blair's 78-53 win over Paint Branch High School on Dec 11, when the Blazers scored at least half of their points in transition.