Sherwood Boys Basketball Enjoying Early Success

Sherwood boys basketball team has bounced back from a defeat to Our Lady of Good Counsel in the team's opening contest of the season to win three straight games. The Warriors have reeled off their trio of victories against Montgomery County opposition Damascus, Watkins Mill and Seneca Valley.

To head coach Tim Gilchrist, the team is a mix of blend and youth. The Warriors have five seniors on the roster, joined by six juniors and two sophomores. The two sophomores do start though, giving the team a balanced feel to it.

"This is my third season at Sherwood so we have a solid foundation in place, as well as with JV players moving up and an expectation that is now in place for several years," said Gilchrist. "The players all know what is expected of them and they are automatic when it comes to getting to spots on the floor."

Part of that expectation is to play a selfless brand of basketball which allows everyone to get involved. Sherwood has been doing that effectively so far and it's been paying dividends. The team has multiple scoring threats, and if one player gets hot, the team isn't afraid to keep feeding that player the ball.

A great example of this happened in Sherwood's win against Watkins Mill. Senior Tyrese Williams got into a rhythm and the Warriors kept finding him on the floor. Williams ended the game with 33 points. A similar situation happened against Seneca Valley when sophomore Kamari Williams got the hot hand and ended with a team high 16 points.

As the year goes on, Gilchrist expects different players to lead the team on a game by game basis.

"I expect to see a lot of different names in the box scores since our team is very selfless and does a good job of finding the hot hand, and making the extra pass," Gilchrist said. "The team is very close and gets excited when a peer is having success on the court. It's refreshing to see the team care about the whole versus the individual."

In addition to the two Williams, Gilchrist expects senior Chris West and sophomore Davis Long to be two key contributors as the season goes on. West is the team's point guard, and has done a brilliant job of controlling the game flow so far this season. Long, who Gilchrist thinks could end up being the team's leading scorer by the end of the season, is tied with Tyrese Williams at 12.5 points per game. That average leads the team.

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Gilchrist says his team is particularly excited to play games against their division opponents. Last year, the Warriors were division co-champs with Springbrook, the team which knocked Sherwood out of the MPSSAA playoffs, so that's one opponent the team is excited to play. Gilchrist also highlighted Blake and Paint Branch as two teams Sherwood enjoys playing, in addition to Magruder, which is the school's main rival.

Despite the numerous high profile match ups on the team's schedule this season, Sherwood is doing their best to just remain focused on themselves, and not get caught up focusing on other teams, or too many long term goals.

"We don't talk about record or how many wins we want," said Gilchrist. "We just focus on getting better every day and always being the best prepared team on the court each night."