DeMatha uses early shooting to down Ryken

By JAMES A. McCRAY III

Staff writer

Quick ball movement, an extra pass and making the St. Mary’s Ryken Knights zone defense shift from one side of the floor to the other allowed the DeMatha Stags to get open looks at the basket during the first half of a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference boys basketball contest on Friday night.

During that first half, DeMatha junior Corey Henson made sure to convert, knocking down four three-point shots in the first half, three of which coming in a second quarter where DeMatha outscored Ryken 23-8, in helping the Stags build a 20-point lead en route to the eventual 91-67 win.

“I think they left me open a little,” Henson said with a smile. “I particularly like when a team plays zone because I get a lot of open threes and I’m a shooter. We swing the ball a lot and I get open and I just shoot it.”

Henson accounted for four of a total nine three-point makes against Ryken, seven of the nine coming in the first half alone for the Stags and head coach Mike Jones.

“We just got open shots,” Jones said. “They played zone and a lot of teams are going to try to key on BeeJay [Anya] and with him getting so much attention, we’re going to get open looks. We have guys that can knock it down.”

After DeMatha (3-3, 2-0 WCAC) led 25-20 after one period of play, the Stags held Ryken to only eight second-quarter points and opened the quarter itself on an 8-0 run sparked by a Henson three-point make.

“I think we came out with a lot of energy,” Henson said. “That was our focus point in the locker room before we came out. I think we came out with a lot of energy, played defense well, got a lot of stops and our offense put the ball in the basket.”

Jones added of his team, “Good in spurts and not so focused. We played hard. I loved the effort that our guys gave tonight. We didn’t always execute as well as we would like to and those are just mental errors. For the most part, though, I cannot and will not question our efforts.”

Henson and Anya finished with 14 points each in the win and the Stags were led by 17 points by Jarius Lyles and Isaiah Buck added 15 to round out DeMatha’s double-digit scorers.

“I think the main point is defense,” Henson added on continuing the winning ways. “We know what we need to do on defense to get easy buckets. Then, the offense will come. If we move the ball, we play inside-out, then we’ll be fine.”

Ryken (6-4, 0-3) was led by 16 points from senior Stan Kaya in a contest filled with turnovers from the Knights.

“We came out real tough, real hard,” Ryken guard Jamaal Satisfield said, “then we just went into a slump. But, we’re going to get it together. We’re going to be competitive and we’re going to get it next time.”

Satisfield and teammate Jordan Oakley each added nine points in the loss.

Satisfield also admitted that the three-ball hurt early in the contest and played a role in the outcome.

“We weren’t really getting out to the shooters,” Satisfield said. “After that, we slowed [them] down, but we couldn’t catch back up.”

After a four-game winning streak for the Knights with wins over Don Bosco Cristo Rey, Heritage Academy, Options Public Charter School (Washington, D.C.) and Grace Brethren-Clinton, the Knights have dropped three of its last four games, all three WCAC contests.

The Knights will return to the floor at home against McLean School at 5 p.m. Saturday.

“We need to have effort all the way through,” Satisfield said of he and his team, “and we’re going to be good.”

jmccray@somdnews.com