Gazette.Net: Watkins Mill routs Poolesville in key 3A/2A game
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The members of the Watkins Mill High School boys basketball team weren't even teenagers when former NBA All-Star Allen Iverson went on his famous post-game "practice" rant.

Back in 2006, Iverson, who grew tired of reporters asking him about his practice habits, went into a tirade in front of the media about his practice habits.

Fast forward to 2012, and the Wolverines' say they have found their answer in turning around their season.

On Tuesday, host Watkins Mill dismantled a tough Poolesville contingent, 62-40, on the strength of some stellar outside shooting, and an opportunistic, hungry defense which jump started its offense. This result occurred a month and five days after the Wolverines had previously lost to the Falcons during an early season slump, 58-56. So, how has coach Jay Tringone's team improved so much during this time?

You guessed it, practice.

"We picked it up in practice, started practicing better, and then we would come out in games and start winning," senior guard Justin Meade said. "Practice, hanging around each other a lot, building up the team chemistry helps us out a lot.

"All week in practice we've been getting up a lot of shots. So we came in the game feeling good. Because we got so many shots up, I think things started clicking. Our team has a lot of shooters, so if you're open, knock it down."

Senior forward Jeff Adarkwa fired in 19 points, including five 3-pointers to lead all scorers in the rout. Meade provided 12 points, while junior guard Daryl Brown added nine points and five assists for the winners, who won their seventh straight game after losing their opening five. The two teams entered the game in a three-way tie for first place in the Montgomery 3A/2A Division with Seneca Valley. They leave with both Watkins Mill and Seneca atop the division with 7-2 marks.

"We shot the ball well as a team," Adarkwa said. "And played good help defense. We played together [today]."

Adarkwa, when asked about his own performance, provided a succinct answer, "we've been practicing hard."

The Falcons (8-6, 6-3) jumped out to a 4-0 lead, thanks to game’s opening buckets by senior forward DeAndre Parrott (10 points), and held a 6-5 lead when Adarkwa hit the first of his 3s to give the Wolverines the lead for good at 8-6. The hosts then closed the quarter out on a 6-2 run, ending with Adarkwa's second trey.

After taking a 28-16 halftime lead, Watkins Mill (7-7, 7-2) stretched its advantage to 46-29 at the end of the third period, and with 1 minute and 32 seconds left in the game, had opened up its largest lead of the night at 62-37 on a 3-pointer by reserve guard Jessie Sodolo. Brown had the home fans gasping at several plays in the second half, including a spin move on the dead run for a layup with 5:20 left in the third quarter, and an airborne around-the-back pass for an assist to senior forward Le'Nard Wilson (six points, six rebounds).

"We just did not make baskets tonight," said Poolesville coach Tom Lang, whose team fell to 8-4 overall and 6-3 in 3A/2A play. "We got a lot of offensive rebounds tonight, we just didn't make baskets when we got them. And we were horrible from the free throw line (7 for 16). Overall, you have to make baskets. They [Watkins Mill] shot real well, and you know what? You don't make baskets, you lose. They scored in transition, and on the flip side, we missed layups. Once things got going downhill, we had a hard time trying to climb back [up]. Plus, they defended us much better this time around."

Meade's assessment of his team's early season woes coincide with Lang's thoughts.

"In the beginning of the season, we were coming out slow, lazy, and we thought we were better than what we were," Meade said. "When we picked it up in practice, started practicing better, we started to win."

Tringone is enjoying the way his team is playing at the moment, giving them kudos for their performance on Tuesday.

I thought we played very aggressively in our half court man-to-man [defense]," Tringone said. "We've been talking a lot about energy and attitude, and tonight we played with great effort and the right energy for all 32 minutes, which we weren't doing at the beginning of the season. And I am really happy with how had the guys have worked on that. And we came out from the beginning and our energy was there. We missed a couple of assignments early, but we stuck to the plan, and things started to work."

The Falcons out-rebounded the Wolverines 26-22 overall, and received eight points, four rebounds and three assists from junior point guard Kirby Carmack.

Watkins Mill 62, Poolesville 40

Poolesville (8-6, 6-3) 8 8 13 11—40

Watkins Mill (7-7, 7-2) 14 14 18 16— 62

Poolesville -- DeAndre Parrott 10, Kirby Carmack 8, Ean Hill-Addison 5, Andy Baker 4, Conor Hogan 4, Anthony Papagjika 4, Zach Sneed 2, Conor Hogan, 2, Niko Michaels 1.

Watkins Mill -- Jeff Adarkwa 19, Justin Meade 12, Daryl Brown 9, Tyvon Grant 7, Le'Nard Wilson 6, Alex Sotomayor 4, Jessie Sodolo 3, Torez Rhea 2.