Schools

Churchill Passes County 4A South Division Test

Bulldogs Defeat B-CC Barons 70-51

 

Following a stressful semester exam week, the Boys varsity basketball team was looking for a little extra credit in the Montgomery County 4A South Division. So the Bulldogs decided to apply some defensive lessons learned earlier this season leading to a 70-51 victory over Bethesda-Chevy Chase on Friday evening. 

Churchill never looked back from a 25-point second quarter that broke open a one-point game en route to earning its tenth victory of the season (10-3 overall) and a two-game lead in the Montgomery County 4A South Division race with a 5-1 record.

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After a sluggish first quarter, the Bulldogs found their mojo in the second quarter behind the efforts of senior forward Thomas Geenen (8 points and nine rebounds in the first half) and junior guard Dominique Williams (11 points) to go into the locker room with a 36-20 halftime lead.

“We stressed all week that it would be important to come out strong after the exam period since we hadn’t played in a week,” Churchill head coach Matt Miller commented. “So when we came out a little flat (in the first quarter) naturally I was a little concerned. But fortunately the guys picked up their intensity in the second quarter and that got us going.”

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Helping the Bulldogs to earn their fourth consecutive victory was Geenen who had a strong overall game with 12 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists. Senior center Kyle Edwards was the leading scorer for Churchill with 14 points while senior guard Sam Edens chipped-in 12 points and Williams added 11 points to balance the Bulldog offense. Churchill also got strong bench contributions from senior center Quan Gill and sophomore guard Matt Moshyedi who had eight points apiece.

Key to the Churchill victory was the Bulldogs' continued strong work on the glass, out rebounding the Barons 40-22, and strong defensive pressure for the first three quarters.

“I thought we did a good job containing their scorers through three quarters and getting rebounds on both ends of the floor," Miller noted. “But our fourth quarter defensive effort was not where we wanted it to be and we allowed them too many open looks. Tonight, we were able to get away with playing three quarters of defense but if we want to be a team that can go deep into the State playoffs, we’re certainly going to have to be solid for all 32 minutes.”

The Barons, who fell to 8-5 on the season and 3-3 in the Montgomery County 4A South, were led by seniors Ghedia Gold-Pastor (12 points) and Nigel Crayton (10 points). 

Next up for the Bulldogs will be Whitman (3-10 overall, 1-5 in MOCO 4A South). Whitman is the lone Montgomery County 4A South team to defeat Churchill so far this season and Miller is well aware of that fact.

“I said before the first Whitman game (a 64-55 loss) that you can throw out the records when the 'W' schools meet and we apparently didn’t understand that. I hope we learned a valuable lesson," he said "Despite their record, we know Whitman is going to be a challenge for us, and this time we need to be ready for that challenge or we will face the same result.”

 


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