When Northwest and Seneca Valley meet up its always a big game battling to see which team is the best between the two rivals whether its football or basketball. Northwest came out the gates firing while Seneca Valley fierce rally came up short as the short-handed Northwest Jaguars came away with a 57-52 win over the Seneca Valley Eagles.
The Jaguars were without several football players that were making their way back from just winning a state championship but the young Jaguar squad stepped up big time as the relentlessly attacked on defense getting steals and blocks which led to transition points in their favor. This strong defensive front was led by sophomore Tim Biakapia and junior Quincy Ofori. They also were efficient on offense with juniors Donnie Gaines and Reagan Zemena leading the charge with Gaines scoring 13 points and Zemena added 12.
Northwest jumped out to an early and actually built the lead up to 20 at one point but then the Eagles led by Keion Adams and Jae Jang cut the lead down to 4 points before the Jaguars regained momentum and started to knockdown free throws to end the game. The Eagles never gave up in this game and showed some flashes of improvement from last season when they went win less.
Northwest starting back court from last year Rodney Snider and Jamar Wilson along with key transfer Rasheed Gillis sat as they work to get ready and into basketball shape in order to contribute to the basketball program along with others but Northwest coach Usman Jamil feels that his group rose to the occasion in order to bring home victory.
“I was pleased with the effort as well as the growth my young and inexperienced team has shown since the beginning of the season. Majority of our experience just arrived and have not had a full basketball practice yet, because of the amazing run our NW Football team had in the state playoffs. Pleased with our development, but eager to get everyone more reps in practice with our tempo and style of play.” Coach Jamil said.
Although they were pleased with a win against their rivals, Zemena added”We did pretty good , we stuck with the game plan the entire first half. But we need to maintain that and really close the game.” Seneca Valley will look bounce back on Friday searching for their first win of the season as they take on Gaithersburg while Northwest looks to improve to 2-0 as they will battle with Damascus.
Final Score Northwest HS 57 Seneca Valley HS 52
Story by Dominique Butler and Photos by Jeffrey Vogt
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All photos from the game can be viewed and purchased at https://mocodaily.smugmug.com/High-School-Sports/20132014-High-School-Sports/Basketball/12-11-2013-Northwest-HS-vs