High School Sports: Laurel Prep Roundup

The Laurel High boys team will face a familiar opponent on Friday (Feb. 25) in the first round of the Class 4A South Region tournament. The Spartans will host DuVal, a team Laurel beat in the regular-season finale on Feb. 17 in Lanham.

"Offensively, we just missed a lot of shots," said Zane Carroll, a Laurel senior. "Defensively, we blew a lot of assignments. They got a lot of points off fastbreaks."

This will be the second time this month Laurel has played the same team in back-to-back games. The Spartans also faced Northwestern of Hyattsville twice in a row this month.

"Basically we have to capitilize and work on the mistakes we made last time," Carroll said of facing DuVal. "Hopefully that will help us this coming Friday."

Carroll said Laurel has played better in the second half of the season and adjusted to new head coach Torrence Oxendine. He replaced Laurel High grad Antoine Gaither, who was the head coach for two seasons after serving as an assistant under Keith Coutreyer. "In the second half we came together as a team," Carroll said."We played more like a team and listened to our coach."

New players on the team this season include Carlos Horne, a transfer from Largo High, and sophomore guard Adrian Rousseau, who played last season for KIMA, a charter school in Washington, D.C.

The Laurel girls will face Parkdale in Riverdale in the regionals on Friday (Feb. 25), also at 6 p.m. Former Laurel High girls standout Brittney Jackson had 15 points on Monday in her last regular-season home game on Senior Night for host Bowie State in a win over Virginia Union.

Addy contributes as a freshman at Bethany

Leslie Addy, a graduate of St. Vincent Pallotti High in Laurel, did not play a lot on Feb. 18 for Division III Bethany of West Virginia but he was productive. A freshman forward, Addy played four minutes and made his only shot - a three-pointer - and had a steal as Bethany lost, 74-67, to Washington & Jefferson.

So what is the biggest adjustment to college hoops? "Managing your time and just preparing for game situations. We do a lot more film work than we did in high school," Addy told Laurel Patch on Tuesday. "A lot of teams know what you do."

Bethany was 18-7 overall and 10-4 in league games going into a playoff game on Tuesday against Westminster. In that game Addy had nine points as his team won, 90-58.

This season Addy, who is from Savage, came off the bench in 21 of the first 25 games and averaged 7.5 minutes, 1.9 points and 1.0 rebounds per contest. "It is tough, but you have to adjust," Addy said of being a starter in high school to coming off the bench in college.

Other Pallotti graduates at the college level include Leon Porter, of Laurel, who is a sophomore guard for Division II Dominican in New York. He started 25 of the first 26 games and led the team in minutes per game (35.0) and was second in scoring at 14.2 points per game and had a team-high 132 assists.

He came off the bench for the first time this season on Feb. 17 and still played a team-high 36 minutes, with 11 points and four assists. Dominican was 14-12 overall.

Laurel resident Branden Washington, a Pallotti grad, is a junior forward for Division II Washington Adventist in Takoma Park. His teammate is Jamie Newton, who is from Laurel and played in high school at Capital Christian Academy.

The team fell to 8-15 with a loss on Monday to Southern Virginia. Newton had 16 points in that game and Washington had three. Former Pallotti player Ryan Cook, from Laurel, played last season at Division II Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia and is now a redshirt at Division I Maryland, Baltimore County, according to Addy.

Laurel High swimmers take third

The Laurel High boys and girls swim teams both took third on Saturday in the Prince George's County regionals at Fairland Aquatic Center in West Laurel. The Eleanor Roosevelt High girls won with 405 points, followed by Bowie (289) and Laurel (231).

The Roosevelt boys won with 358 points, followed by Bowie (347) and Laurel (275). Laurel's Ryan Pauling was first in the 100 breast and second in the 200 free and Jade Hill of the Laurel girls was first in the 100 breast and second in the IM.

Dunning aids Seton hoops

Melanie Dunning, of Laurel, is a senior on the girls basketball team at Elizabeth Seton in Bladensburg. Her brother, Wesley, who played at Gonzaga, plays at Hampton University. Both of them are products of the Laurel Boys and Girls Club. Seton plays ranked Holy Cross for the third time on Friday, Feb. 25. The Holy Cross coach last season was Russell Davis, a former Pallotti coach.

Pallotti grad Pease at Belmont-Abbey

Mike Pease, a graduate of St. Vincent Pallotti, is a senior captain on the men's lacrosse team at Division II Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. The team lost, 11-10, to Seton Hill on Sunday in a game that was played at CCBC-Dundalk. Pease started in the first game of the season, a 10-9 win over Lenoir-Rhyne.

"He's a great defender," Jim Dietsch, the Belmont Abbey head coach, said of Pease. "He was my first recruit when I got here four years ago." Dietsch is a former assistant lacrosse coach at the University of Maryland. Pease is a four-year starter.

The McDaniel men's lacrosse roster includes former Pallotti players Matt Dean and Mike Marks.