Having lost seven seniors from last year’s state championship squad that accumulated a 29-3 record, most figure there’s no way the Titans could replicate the 2007-08 season. But how much worse would they be? Would senior Edward Jenkins, a 1st-team all Patriot District selection last year, be able to take the mantle as the team’s bona fide go-to scorer and leader? Will the transition from head coach Ivan Thomas to former assistant Julian King go as smoothly as planned?
One game in, all those questions remain unanswered, but after T.C. Williams battled the odds to defeat the Majors, 70-66, Tuesday night, there’s no doubt the heart of the champion remains intact.
The Titans were faced with a debatable foul discrepancy — 25 fouls for T.C. Williams to just 18 for Mount Vernon — and a slow start to the first half that left many in the T.C. Williams gym wondering just how the Titans would respond. Even Jenkins wasn’t immune to the bad breaks, as he was forced to become a spectator after fouling out early in the fourth quarter.
But thanks in large part to the heady play of junior Ryan Yates (16 points, seven rebounds, and five assists), the T.C. Williams proved that no one player is going to make or break its season.
“Coach always tells me that if you play hard, play the way I tell you, then you’ll be a stat stuffer and that’s the way I try to play every game,” said Yates, who served primarily as a defensive stopper during the state title run of a year ago.
“It shows our players that they can get it done without one of our big stars on the floor,” said Jenkins, who despite the foul trouble was impressive nonetheless, finishing with a team-high 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting. Senior point guard Gavin Peterson also added 11 points and three assists for the cause.
<b>THE TITANS OPENED</b> the first half blazing fast, and according to King, too fast, thanks to some pre-game anxiousness about the season’s first game. T.C. Williams committed several silly turnovers and took some wild shots, culminating in a Jenkins airball midway through the first quarter.
“I was kind of jittery even though I was a senior,” said Jenkins. Still, T.C. Williams held onto to a slim lead throughout and went into halftime with a one-point lead against a Mount Vernon squad that should be one of the best in the National District this season.
The turning point came early in the fourth quarter after Mount Vernon closed to within four points, 52-48. T.C. Williams proceeded to go on one of its patented runs, this time a 14-5 burst that gave them an insurmountable 11-point lead.
“To be honest, the first half effort, I wasn’t so pleased,” said a smiling King after his first win as head coach. “The second half was much better. That was the TC of old, that’s the motto we live by — play hard every minute of the game. That’s what they showed in the second half and that was the difference.”