Steward Nelson Lead DC Suburbs
James Steward, a 6-5 swingman from Hayfield (VA) High School and Steve Nelson, a 6-2 combo guard from Friendly High School in Fort Washington, MD, led the Suburban All-Stars to a 113-110 victory over the DC All-Stars in the 2002 Metro Classic, the opening event of the Jordan Brand Capital Classic. The Capital Classic will be held on Thursday, April 11, 2002 at Washington, DC's MCI Center.
Steward poured in 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the floor. He hit all but one of his five three-point field goal attempts and grabbed five rebounds. Nelson added 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting, including 3-for-5 from behind the arc. The Friendly HS's future alum pulled down three rebounds, dished out three assists, grabbed two steals and blocked a game-high four shots.
Advertisement
Both squads battled relatively evenly through most of the first half. The Suburban guys did pull out to an eight point lead (57-49) with 2:10 left before the break. The DC stars scored the next eight points, knotting the game at 57-57 on a Gabe Dymond pass to Robert Collier for a layup. But the Suburbs defense forced a turnover which led to Nelson's soft dunk and a 59-57 halftime lead.
The Suburban squad, coached by Steward's high school coach, Charlie Thompson, raised the lead to 20 points in the second half. But the DC stars, coached by St John's College H.S.'s head coach Paul DeStafano (and his entire staff), chipped away at the lead. With the score at 105-91, DC used a 13-6 run to bring the margin down to 111-104 with 1:09 left in the game.
Charles Cook picked off a Suburban pass which led to a Antoine Mayhand three-pointer to bring the score to 111-107. Chris Hines answered with a layup to raise the score to 113-107.
DC needed three fouls to get into the penalty and force the Suburbans to the free throw line with 21.6 seconds left. DC rebounded the missed free throw with Cook hitting a three to half the lead at 113-110. A foul forced the Suburbs to the line with 7.4 seconds left. Another missed free throw led to a long three-point attempt by DC's swingman Ulrich Kossepka who apparently was fouled on the shot as the ball hit the shot clock above the basket. No foul was called though three free throws to Kossepka would have proved interesting as he previously was 3-for-6 from the charity stripe.
Steward and Maynand were named the Metro Classic MVP's. Steward noted, "We boxed out and played hard through most of the game but let DC back in at the end. It's great that we won."
The Suburban squad placed three others in double digits as Hines added 13, Calvin Cage 12 and Will Hicks 10 points in the win. Tyrice Watkins pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
Seven of the DC stars hit double digits led by Mayhand's 19 points while Kossepka added 13 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Cook, Collier and Makail Malik each contributed 12 points. Carl Stanley and Sean Napper added 11 points each. Stanley also led his DC team with eight rebounds.
Coach DeStafono said after the game that, "Stanley was a pleasure to work with. He practiced and played hard and played within himself."