OXON HILL — Against fearless Potomac, Zion Cousins and his Douglass teammates knew they couldn’t allow themselves to relax or else the Wolverines could upset them.
“We knew we had to come out with fire because we knew this team was going to fight,” Howard commit Zion Cousins said. “We had to remain humble. We couldn’t get big heads or else we would’ve lost the game.”
The No. 10 Eagles remained focused and cool-headed as they defeated the mettlesome Wolverines on Friday night, 83-65
In the first half of the Prince George’s County matchup, Douglass raced to a quick 9-0 lead backed by athletic guard Saivon Word (game-high 20 points) who attacked the rim for crafty finishes and drew contact to get to the free throw line.
Potomac didn’t score until Travis Henson hit a pair of free throws halfway into the first quarter. The Wolverines struggled for much of the first quarter, but cut into the deficit when Jason Newman found teammates Antonio Robinson, Emmanuel Doby and Cory Dyches to make it 19-11. Douglass pushed its lead back to 10 points when Donald Carey hit two free throws.
In the second quarter, Potomac proved they wouldn’t go down without a fight behind the play of defensive-minded guard Jamoan Brown.
Potomac got to as close as five when Travis Henson hit a baseline jumper to make it 24-29, but Mark Woods responded with a 3 to make it 32-24 late in the second quarter. Woods grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back for a layup to give Douglass a 39-30 lead going into halftime
In the third quarter, things got testy when Gary Robertson hit two technical free throws to make it 57-43, Douglass, at the end of third.
Potomac cut the deficit to nine when Newman sliced his way into the lane for a crafty layup, but Douglass poured it on from that point forward.
Behind the brilliant play of Words, DeMarius Pitts (14 points) and Cousins (14 points), the Eagles increased their lead to as many as 19.
Word continued to attack the paint for acrobatic layups while Pitts and Cousins were hitting their jumpers and attacking the glass.
Christian Dychesv (11 points) and Newman did everything they could to bring back his Wolverine team but it was all for not. As soon as Dyches slammed home a dunk, or Newman successfully attacked the rim, Ryan Ford or Cousins asserted their physicality.
Pitts put the nail in the coffin with a late thunderous slam.
“I was a little frustrated and I missed the last one so I had to make it up” Pitts said with a wide grin.
