Sports
Basketball: Roosevelt Begins Season on a Positive Note
The Raiders beat Oxon Hill in their regular season opener Tuesday night.
On the heels of two straight trips to the Class 4A state semifinals, Eleanor Roosevelt’s basketball took its first steps towards a third consecutive trip Tuesday night, cruising to a 68-55 win against visiting Oxon Hill in its regular season opener.
The Raiders held a narrow 36-29 advantage at the end of the first half but pulled away behind the strong offensive play of Malachi Alexander (17 points), Jesse Ason (15 points) and Chaun Miller (14 points).
Roosevelt led by as much as 16 during the second half and by no less than 11 points during any point of the fourth quarter.
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After losing its first game each of the previous two seasons, Raiders coach Brendan O’Connell said “it definitely feels good to start the season 1-0.”
The Raiders fell to Patterson, the eventual state runner-up, 67-59, in last season's 4A state semifinals.
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With several experienced players back from that team, O’Connell is optimistic this year’s team can make a similar run, and possibly even further.
“We have a lot of talent,” O’Connell said. “We have a lot of size, and some experience, too. Now, we just need to get used to playing together.”
Like O’Connell, Miller was happy to begin the season on a positive note.
“It feels really good,” Miller said. “The last two seasons, we started off with Ls [losses], and that’s tough, so it definitely feels good to start this year with a win.”
Miller was also encouraged by what he saw from Roosevelt’s defense Tuesday night, especially after halftime.
After allowing Oxon Hill to have some success offensively during the first half, the Clippers, harassed by the Raiders’ aggressive defensive pressure, connected on just nine of their 35 second half shot attempts, including only four of their first 24.
“We didn’t defend very well in the first half, and we weren’t content with that,” Miller said. “But we picked up the heat in the second half and really picked it up on defense.”
O’Connell still sees plenty of room for improvement, however, heading into the Raiders’ next game Friday against DuVal.
“I’d still like to see us contain the ball a little bit better,” O’Connell said. “I feel like their [Oxon Hill’s] guards pretty much got where they wanted to. I’d also like to see us take care of the ball a little better.”