On Fire Roosevelt Raiders Clinch State Championship

On Saturday, March 16, Jahmal Cochran pushed the ball in transition, pressured by a Broadneck defender, and released a pass to teammate Cameron Brown. What happened next was astonishing. Conventional wisdom or logic would discourage a dunk attempt over an outstretched 6-foot-9 opponent. But Brown ignored any and all of this, jumping to a thunderous dunk while drawing a foul, eliciting an even more thunderous reaction from a raucous student section clothed in white. Fans clasped their faces, mouths agape, trying to process Brown’s move: the beginning of another Raider romp. At the end of the first quarter, Roosevelt trailed 21-18 to the hot-shooting Bruins of Anne Arundel County but Brown’s slam catalyzed a 27-8 second quarter run that resulted in a 16-point Raider lead and finally, when it was all said and done, the Raiders had earned their fourth Maryland state championship title. The Semi-finals But none of this excitement seemed possible, trailing by six with 55 seconds remaining in the Thursday, March 14 semi-final game versus the Dulaney Lions.
In a game where the Raiders expanded their lead to 15 points, their state championship aspirations had all but vanished as the Lions shot 51 percent in the second half, led by junior Che Evans, while the Raiders went cold. Not until senior Jaamir Butler scored successive baskets, after recovering his own rebound on a free throw attempt, did the Raiders start to claw their way back. After another defensive stop, the Raiders held Dulaney without a field goal for the final 1:41 minutes, guard Isaiah Gross released a corner 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining. A Dulaney defender sent Gross to the floor, earning the senior a trip to the line, trailing by 1. With the season on the line, Gross remained poised, making all three foul shots. But the drama wasn’t done yet. Dulaney player Cameron Byers recovered a loose ball, stepped behind the three-point line, and thought he had clinched the game as time expired. The shot hit the back of the rim, allowing coach Brendan O’Connell’s squad to exhale. Surely this semi-final scare – the Raiders’ first single digit victory since January – motivated the Raiders for their championship masterpiece Saturday night. The Finals While Gross was the hero Thursday, Brown stole the show against Broadneck in the final. His unfathomable dunk was complemented by a second-half alley-oop. Brown gathered a seemingly impossible pass from point guard Kyle Rose and slammed down another 2 points on the way to a 25-point, 14-rebound performance, further frenzying an ecstatic student body. While the Raider faithful have grown accustomed to the leadership of Brown and Gross, Rose’s defensive and unselfish play against the Bruins cannot be overlooked. He tallied six steals and offered 10 assists to pace the Raiders as their lead ballooned to 33 points early in the fourth quarter. Butler and Gross joined Brown in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively, as did junior Jahari Simon, with 12, thanks to a hotshooting three-point performance. The Raiders were able to coast through the fourth quarter as O’Connell emptied his bench, allowing his starting five seniors to continue their celebration on the bench, highlighted by Gross’s giddy dance moves. Such celebrations seem to be a pattern for these Raiders, who have now won three state championships – 2013, 2016 and 2019 – under O’Connell. After receiving their state championship medals, the Raiders had one matter of business remaining. They organized themselves in their pre-game warm-up formation and dove on the floor for imaginary loose balls. But there was nothing left to chase but the celebration for the 2019 Maryland state champions: the Eleanor Roosevelt Raiders.