Colonels Season Comes To An End

The Magruder boys basketball team went on a wild ride this season. A bit of an afterthought in Montgomery County at the beginning of the year, they racked up wins at a torrid pace, and took that momentum through the playoffs to capture the 4A West title.

However, all rides must come to an end, and Magruder's season ended Thursday night in the state semifinals, falling 71-56 to undefeated North Point.

The loss was largely due to turnovers. North Point used their athleticism to run a strong pressure defense, and forced the Colonels into 24 turnovers.

“The turnovers were the key,” Magruder coach Dan Harwood said. “They have a great press, and they have give guys who can defend. They're strong and physical...it rattled us at times, and that was the difference in the game.”

The teams exchanged short runs throughout the game. Every time the Eagles would go on a short run to extend their lead, it seemed Magruder was right there with a run of their own to climb back into the game. In the first half, Magruder stayed in the game largely due to their three-point shooting, led by senior Edusei Forkkio, who scored 14 points off the bench for the Colonels.

However, the three-point shooting dried up in the second half for Magruder, who shot only 1-10 behind the arc after halftime. While they battled to stay in the game, a late 6-0 run by North Point sealed the game.

“We played in tight ballgames all year,” North Point coach Jimmy Ball said. “Even when they [Magruder] made the game close, our guys stuck to it, did what they needed to do, and didn't panic. That's why we came up with the win.”

The North Point coach also felt that the team had been ignored and somewhat disrespected by the media who had been covering the buildup to the state semifinals, and used that to fire up his players before the game.

“The fire came from the luncheon the other day for the final four teams,” Ball said. “After the meal, when the media asked questions, there wasn't a single question asked of me. Eleanor Roosevelt, Patterson and Magruder all got questions, but not me...I really took offense to that, and I came home and I told the guys that they don't respect us, so we're going to play the underdog role and see what we can do. And our guys can back that up.”

While the season for Magruder is over, the team is relatively young and will be having most of their players come back next year. Coach Harwood believes this experience will be invaluable to the returning players.

“It's a thrill to play here for the kids,” Harwood said. “It's a great goal, and at the beginning of the year, we thought we might be a year away ... but now they've played here, I think this experiene will be great for our younger guys and they'll be fired up to work in the offseason to get back here.”

Harwood also will have fond memories of this season, and this team.

“I've been coaching at Magruder for 21 years,” Harwood said. “We've had some better teams, but I've never had a team, one through 13, that have all just been great kids. This is a super group of kids who have been a joy to coach ... It's been an amazing year, and these are all outstanding young men who will be successful in life.”

North Point will play in the state finals against Patterson on Saturday at 8 p.m. in College Park.

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