Boys basketball: All together now

Cardinal Newman coach Kevin Rose was the epitome of calmness during the Cardinals’ important Region 3-1A showdown with Heathwood Hall on Friday night.

It turns out he had every reason to be. He took a calculated risk in an attempt to get his team to play more together. In the locker room beforehand he told the players that he was putting it in their hands. They would call all the plays and he would only call timeouts and sub players in and out.

It also helped that he had Austin Ajukwa on his side. The 6-foot-5 junior sensation scored a career-best 40 points as Cardinal Newman easily handled the Highlanders 70-56.

“We did absolutely no coaching tonight. We let them figure it out on their own,” Rose said. “The biggest thing we wanted to do tonight was come together as a team. For the first time all year we did that. I think them playing together ans wanting to look for each was the biggest thing. The biggest game of the year was on them. We had to figure out a way to make this team come together and believe in themselves.”

Ajukwa was caught off-guard by the tactic. But he did feel like it helped bring the players together. He said when Rose and the rest of the assistant coaches told them of the plan, they turned and walked out of the locker room and left it to the 13 players on the roster.

“I was pretty surprised but I thought it was a good idea,” Ajukwa said. “We needed to come together as a team, especially in a big game like this. Everyone was playing within the offense and feeding off of everybody else.”

Heathwood Hall coach Jeff Whalen coached Rose at Cardinal Newman back in the early 1990s and he was unaware of the strategy used by his former student. But he agreed it was effective.

“Maybe we should do that,” Whalen joked.

The Highlanders (10-5, 2-1) scored the first point of the game on a free throw after the Cardinals (16-5, 4-0) were called for a technical foul for dunking in pregame warm-ups.

That would be the only time they would hold the lead.

Ajukwa knocked two 3-pointers and Matt Erdman and Michael Collins also connected from long-range in the opening quarter to set the tone.

“We’ve been winning on skill alone the last five or six games,” Rose said. “Heathwood Hall matched us in that category and we came out and played well offensively and defensively.”

It was close throughout the first half as Heathwood Hall’s Joseph James was trying to keep pace with Ajukwa. He had 10 of his 26 points in the first half and Aujkwa had 15 to help Cardinal Newman build a six-point lead, 28-22, at the half.

But it was all Cardinals in the third quarter. Aujkwa scored six points in a 13-1 run to put the game basically out of reach. He made another 3-pointer during the run and was getting to the basket anytime he wanted. He finished the quarter with 13 points as Cardinal Newman used a 22-8 quarter to pull ahead by 20 points entering the final period.

“It’s the best game he’s played all year, by far,” Rose said of Aujkwa. “He played under control instead of forcing it. He relaxed and had a little fun finally.”

Whalen felt his team was not preparing properly during the week and they had no answer for what Aujkwa was doing.

“Austin is a great player and he showed why he is being so heavily recruited,” Whalen said.

The Cardinals have won nine in a row and have a grasp on first place in the region.

“It’s one step closer to getting to our role, which is to win the region and play towards a state championship,” Rose said.

  HH: Joseph James 26, Bradley Singleton 16, Bueno 6, Godbold 6, Whitaker 2, Ryan 2. CN: Austin Ajukwa 40, Collins 8, Erdman 8, Armstrong 8, August 4, Ragin 1, Wilczewski 1.