Junior scores 30 points as Stags dominate Gonzaga, 71-52
The smallest man on the floor in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship game was the best.
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Hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 30 points, 5-foot-11 junior Quinn Cook made the title game his Monday night, as DeMatha ran off with a 71-52 victory over Gonzaga before a packed Bender Arena.
With Cook sparking the offense and 6-9 junior Mikael Hopkins (8 points, 7 rebounds, 10 blocks) ruling at the other end, DeMatha (29-3) was never seriously challenged by a team that it split two close games with in the regular season.
“I was feeling it,” said Cook, who hit 10 of 15 shots. “My teammates kept feeding me the ball and finding me in good spots. Gonzaga did a good job. I was just on today.”
It was the second straight WCAC title for DeMatha and fourth in five years for the Hyattsville powerhouse. DeMatha advances to the City Title Game, Sunday at Verizon Center, against Ballou (30-4), and standout guard Donte Thomas, the top scorer in the DCIAA for the last three years. Ballou made DeMatha work for a 55-48 victory in last year’s City Title Game.
“We’ve won four out of five City Championships,” said DeMatha coach Mike Jones. “We’re gonna prepare like we’ve done every year and come up with whatever game plan we need.”
On Monday night the plan called for lots of Cook and Hopkins. Gonzaga (25-7) led early, 7-6, but DeMatha went on a 15-3 run, Cook hitting a pair of 3-pointers and sophomore James Robinson adding another as the Stags assumed a 21-9 lead.
“I wanted to come in to this game with a chip on my shoulder,” said Cook, who matched his season high. “A lot of people said we were underdogs coming into this game.”
Gonzaga senior Tyler Thornton (16 points) answered DeMatha’s run with back-to-back 3-pointers in the second period, but there was no room to operate inside with Hopkins using his quickness, length, and leaping ability to disrupt the Purple Eagles’ offense.
“He’s the best shot blocker that I’ve ever seen,” said Cook. “It kind of helps when an offensive player beats you and you have a big wall back there. I’m happy I’m playing with him. It was kind of hurting them.”
The Stags began the second half with an 8-0 run, with half the points scored by Cook, to take a 20-point lead. After that, dispirited Gonzaga never made a run.
“You can look in a players eyes and tell they’re felling it. Quinn was feeling it and you could tell he was on,” said Jones. “You kind of let him go, make his own decisions.”
It was a satisfying win for the Stags who came into this season with questions after the graduation of standouts Naji Hibbert (Texas A&M) and Marcus Rouse (Stony Brook).
“Last year with the seniors graduating it was a time we needed a shooter to step up. Quinn Cook obviously took care of that,” said Jones. “We matured. We identified a couple of things we needed. We told the team what we needed and they took those things and you see the result.”
