It was a ritual throughout high school.
Each day after a basketball game, Justin Baker, the best player at West Springfield, and Mike Lee, who starred at the Spartans’ biggest Patriot District rival, Hayfield, always checked the box scores.
They weren’t looking for their own names. Instead, each sought the other’s statistics.
“We were definitely big competitors. I used to look in the papers after every game to find out how many points he had,” said Lee. “I used to call people and find out his stats.”
After years as ferocious adversaries, Lee and Baker are now teammates and the two top scorers for Mary Washington, which is 8-2 despite playing nine of its first 10 games on the road.
“It’s almost like we were trying to top each other,” said Baker. “We were such fierce competitors every time we played against each other, and even in pickup and stuff like that. It almost makes you want to hate the person, but it always stayed on the court. It was a weird transition once it came to Mary Washington, but once we became teammates, it all fell into line where we became good friends.”
Lee got the bestof the rivalry – Hayfield, a perennial power, won two district titles and two Northern Region championships during in his four years. Baker and the Spartans only topped the Hawks in the district semifinals when the two were seniors.
Both players were recruited in high school by Eagles coach Rod Wood, but Baker chose to walk on at William & Mary. The rivalry would have to take a backseat when he transferred to Mary Washington a year later.
“That was part of that decision, but after I decided to transfer, it really didn’t make that much difference to me because all I really cared about was getting the opportunity to play again,” said Baker. “It didn’t matter what obstacles it was perceived that I would have to go through.”
It was more than just Lee, whose backcourt partner on the Eagles was former Hayfield teammate A.J. Fitzgerald.
“I’ve always liked Justin as a player,” said Lee. “We’d talked off the court, but when I found out he was coming to Mary Washington, I knew it was going to be different kind of relationship. It was going to be more of a love relationship than a hate relationship that we had in the past.”
Baker, Lee and Fitzgerald help form the nucleus of a veteran squad aiming to challenge for their first Capital Athletic Conference title since 2003.
“They have sixth sense of what the other is going to do, and they really complement each other real well,” said Wood. “They can switch offenses, they can switch defenses and because they know each other so well, for the most part, they’re usually right.”
“The fact that we had that competition in high school just made everything in college come together,” said Lee. “It feels good to play on the same team with somebody that will compete just as hard as you will.”
Wood still toasting ’81 state title
Mary Washington men’s basketball coach Rod Wood said he feels likeDon Shula. Maybe Larry Csonka is more appropriate.
Under then-coach Charlie Thompson, Wood played for Lee High in 1981, the last Northern Virginia high school boys basketball team to win a Group AAA state title.
The last National Football League team to finish a season undefeated was the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
Neither streak was expected to last so long.
“Coach Thompson and I need to get together now whenever the string continues,” said Wood, “and have a glass of champagne.”
— Craig Stouffer
