Eleanor Roosevelt Continues Run

Eleanor Roosevelt High School was coming off a sledgehammer win over the Washington Post's number one team, Oxon Hill H.S. (55-45) to gain a spot in the Maryland State 4A semifinals Thursday night at Cole Field House on the University of Maryland's campus. And the Raiders weren't going to let their year end on that note as they topped Baltimore's Mergenthaler Vocational High School, or Mervo as it's commonly known, 74-41. The win puts Eleanor Roosevelt in the finals against the Post's current number one team, Thomas Johnson from Frederick Maryland. The Mustangs jumped into the Post's ratings this week at number 16.

This was not the same Mervo squad that had been on the court recently and was holding seventh place in the Baltimore Sun's poll. That squad had won six straight right after taking takingn Baltimore Douglass to the wire before losing 68-65. No roster change here though, just a talented team with a huge off night. Unfortuanately for the Mustangs, there's no next game to get the truck back on the road.

It all started well for Mervo. They had a 6-0 lead before ER senior Eddie Young hit one of two free throws at the 5:39 mark of the first. Young followed that with a three-pointer and Marshall Jackson (Army) dashed through the defense on a fast break to tie the score at 6-6 with 4:32 left. The Raiders 10-4 run gave them a 16-10 lead after eight minutes. Eleanor Roosevelt continued that perforance as they took a 30-17 lead to the locker room.

Something was up after the halftime meeting. When the Mustangs emerged from the tunnel, the players walked slowly to the other end of the floor to take a few shots. It was all business as the Mustangs outscored Mervo 28-5 in the third stanza when the buzzer mercifully ended the period with the score 58-23.

At 6:07 of the fourth, Head Coach Glenn Farello sat down his ER starters. Both team's subs battled and scrapped but the result couldn't be changed.

The Mustangs were led by Jackson with 17 points; senior forward Edward Young added 11 points. Mervo's junior swingman Paul Frazier led all players with 18 points.