Mustangs headed in Northward direction

Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007

Mustangs headed in Northward direction

Boys basketball: Barrie 39, Jewish Day 35

by James Peters | Staff Writer

E-mail this article \ Print this article

Last week started in the wrong direction for the Barrie boys basketball team, but it ended with the Mustangs on the right path toward a second straight Potomac Valley Athletic Conference North Division title and a top seed in the league tournament.

Barrie opened a week of three league games with a 50-34 loss to St. Anselm’s, a South Division squad, but rallied to defeat Jewish Day, 39-35, last Tuesday and Washington Waldorf, 63-43, to improve to 14-9 overall and 12-3 in the league.

Although Jewish Day (16-3, 12-3 PVAC) owned the same league mark heading into this week, the Mustangs hold the tiebreaker as they have swept the Lions this season in what Barrie coach Jack Mitchell believes has become one of the league’s fiercest rivalries.

‘‘Both teams know each other well,” said Mitchell, who experienced the ultimate in rivalries while serving as an assistant coach at Navy in its games against Army. ‘‘JDS is our top rival. This rivalry with JDS is just as intense as a DeMatha-Gonzaga game.”

Locked in a defensive battle, the Mustangs used some timely buckets late and the steady play of senior guard Eric White, who led all scorers with 12 points. Sophomore forward Robert Finkel added eight points and senior center Adam Sachs chipped in seven points.

‘‘It was just a hard, hard fought game,” Mitchell said. ‘‘We were able to grind it out.”

‘‘It was a pretty ugly game,” Lions coach Eyal Fierst said. ‘‘It was a defensive-minded game. There was no flow. We had some turnovers and some bad offensive possessions [down the stretch].”

Barrie followed with a 63-43 shellacking of Washington Waldorf Friday behind 20 points from sophomore guard Bobby Yancey and 10 from White. They combined for four of the team’s six 3-pointers.

‘‘We were able to really score a lot off transition and we did a good job rebounding,” said Mitchell, whose team led 44-25 at halftime. ‘‘The kids showed a lot of character and integrity bouncing back against JDS.”