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Suitland Rising Up

By Marcus Helton, 04/02/11, 12:00AM EDT

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In his first season as the boys’ basketball coach at Suitland last year, George McClure led the Rams to a 10-10 record – a marked improvement from their five-win campaign in 2008-09.

This year, the Rams have continued their rapid rise, taking a 14-2 record – including a mark of 12-1 against Prince George’s County 4A foes – into Friday’s game at Bowie.

“I’ve seen the growth, oh, no doubt,” McClure said after his team’s 69-59 over Parkdale on Thursday. “I knew November 15th that we were a totally different team than the team I inherited last November 15th. They’ve got a year with me, a year under the system, a year with my expectations, and a year of us kind of knowing each other over. It’s been good.”

The Rams opened the season 5-0 before a non-league loss to Kellam (Virginia Beach) and then reeled off six more wins before suffering their only county loss thus far, a 77-71 loss at Wise on Jan. 25. Suitland led Wise by 16 points in the fourth quarter before Wise stormed back to win and take sole possession of first in P.G. 4A.

Despite that loss, the Rams still appear geared up to make a postseason run, and McClure said his team’s improvement began over the summer.ve,

“It started over the summer,” McClure said. “Our kids stayed together over the summer, and they played in a couple of summer leagues and a good bunch of them played together on an AAU team, and it’s really helped. It helped to get them kick-started, I think, and I think that’s a big reason why we are where we are. People don’t realize, we’re really got three – almost four – starters back from last year.”

In Thursday’s win over Parkdale, the Rams twice jumped out to nine point leads only to have the Panthers rally back to make it a one-point game. Suitland made the big plays and free throws down the stretch, though, and got double-figure scoring outings from senior guard Nicho Tyson (19 points), sophomore guard Roddy Peters (14) and forward Marquise Green (13).

Balanced scoring has been a big key for the Rams this season, and they currently have four players averaging double figures in Tyson (18.9), Peters (14.3), Green (10.3) and senior guard William Gilmore (10.1). Junior center Dequan Page is averaging 8.3 points per contest.

“Coming into the season, I think most teams thought if they kind of took Tyson out, they could stop Suitland,” McClure said, “but Green has really played well under the boards. Page started every game last season. Gilmore had a whole year of running the point last year and played the point all summer, and having a dude with the ball in his hands that knows what you want just means a lot. And Peters, he’s young, but he makes plays. Between those guys, it’s been good.”