Howard, Washington catalysts for Carrick basketball

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, December 15, 2017 | 11:00 PM

The Carrick boys basketball team was determined to start the 2017-18 season in style.

The Raiders can check off that early-season box: They won the Brentwood High Athletic Boosters' tip-off tournament last week at Brentwood.

After four consecutive second-place finishes in the tournament, Carrick was motivated to claim this year's boys division title.

The Raiders defeated tourney nemesis Steel Valley, 70-56, in the championship game after racing past host Brentwood, 84-37, in the first round.

It is the fourth tournament title for Carrick and first since 2009-10, when the Raiders socked Vincentian Academy, 82-54, in the finals.

“I was very pleased with my team's performance at the tip-off tournament,” Carrick coach Walt Milinski said. “It has been seven years since we won the tournament. We have made it to the championship game the last five years and prior to that many other times.

“I feel we were very prepared for both our opponents this year. My players were extremely excited and mentally focused on winning this year's tournament. After having lost to Steel Valley in three of the past four championship games, we were up for this one. We had two excellent back-to-back defensive games. We are stressing defense this season, and it really showed in both games.

“We held Brentwood to 37 points in the first game and tightened up our defense in the fourth quarter against Steel Valley to win the championship game. Both teams are well coached and have talented offensive players.”

The Raiders were led in the two-day event by senior forward Ernie Howard and junior guard Vernon Washington, who connected for 30 points apiece.

Howard was named most valuable player of the boys tournament. Along with his point total, he grabbed 28 rebounds, dished out three assists and had three steals.

“I thought Ernie had an excellent tournament,” Milinski said. “He didn't have a good tournament performance last year and wanted to prove himself this year. I feel he did a great job rebounding both offensively and defensively. He was our team's leading scorer last season and scored in double figures both nights.

“Ernie has improved his defense from last season, and it showed in the championship game when he made some key stops. Ernie brings a lot of experience to our lineup. He will play a big part in how successful we will be this year.”

Howard, a 6-foot-4 frontcourt player and three-year varsity starter, led the team with 13 points per game last season. He also was named to the all-tournament team as a sophomore.

“I'm really proud of my teammates,” he said. “I'm happy we played together as a team. Lamar (Lewis) shot great to keep us in the game, and Vernon helped us to close out the game. Our coach has a lot of faith in us and puts his trust in us to make right decisions and plays, which also helped us get the (championship) win.”

Washington joined Howard on this year's all-tournament team. Along with his scoring total, he chipped in with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Washington sat out last season with a knee injury and played for Imani Christian Academy as a freshman.

“Vernon is a new member to the Carrick basketball team,” Milinski said. “I haven't had an athletic basketball player like Vernon for quite a while at Carrick. He has tremendous natural athletic ability, and he is a solid defensive player with scoring ability.

“If he can stay injury-free and continue to develop his basketball fundamentals, he could be one of Carrick's best basketball players.”

Rounding out the boys all-tournament team were Steel Valley's Chase Polak and Camden Polak, Brentwood's C.J. Ziegler and Northgate's Malcolm Randall.

Chase Polak, a senior guard, was the leading scorer in the tourney with a 45-point total to go along with five steals.

Camden Polak, a sophomore guard, finished with 27 points, 10 assists and five steals.

Ziegler, a sophomore guard, netted 28 points, six steals and four assists, and Randall, a junior forward, had 32 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks.

Two other key players for Carrick at the tip-off event included Lewis, a senior point guard, and Daysean Woodson, a senior guard/forward. Lewis netted a team-high 20 points against Steel Valley.

“Lamar was our leading scorer in the championship game and hit three 3-point shots at critical times in the second half,” Milinski said. “Daysean is our most improved player from last year. He does a little bit of everything for us — rebounding, defense, scoring and finding the open man. He is a total team player. We will rely heavily on his performance this season.”

Steel Valley rolled by Northgate, 71-39, in a first-round matchup. Brentwood defeated the Flames, 63-44, in the consolation round.

“I would like to comment on how well run the Brentwood tip-off tournament is,” Milinski said. “Athletic director Rick Huffman and the Brentwood Boosters do an excellent job of having quality teams participate in the tournament, and it is well-organized.

“We always play Brentwood in the opening game. It is referred to as the ‘Battle for Brownsville Road.' This game always draws a tremendous crowd and has a playoff-like atmosphere.”

‘Cautiously optimistic'

Carrick, which finished with a 7-15 overall record last year, is looking to make some noise in the City League this season.

The Raiders' first league game will take place Jan. 5 at Westinghouse.

Their schedule in December consists of home games against Montour (Dec. 12), Albert Gallatin (Dec. 18) and Brownsville (Dec. 20), road games at East Allegheny (Dec. 14) and Apollo-Ridge (Dec. 19); plus two games Dec. 27-28 in the Bishop Canevin holiday tournament.

Carrick has five players on this year's team who started at various times last season.

“Because of this, we are cautiously optimistic that we will have a winning season,” said Milinski, who has coached the Raiders for 24 years. “Many other factors will effect whether this will happen. Will the players buy into our team-first concept? Will they retain the information given to them? Will they play hard each and every day at practice and games? Will they improve their fundamental basketball skills?

“If we can stay healthy, come to practice and work hard every day, improve our fundamentals and stay focused on our motto of ‘Team First,' I believe we can have a very good season. We like to use the term ‘cautiously optimistic' when describing our expectations this year. I am very pleased with how we have started out, but we have (many) more games remaining against quality teams, especially in the City League. An indication of how good we are will be how we compete against Allderdice and the rest of the City league teams.”

Along with Howard, Washington, Lewis and Woodson, other integral team members at Carrick include senior forward Y'shua Bragg and senior guard Imuri Walker along with backcourt players Dayton Cohen, a junior, and Zachary Walsh, a senior.

Rounding out the squad are junior guards Aronde Camp and Skylar Giannetti, junior forward A.J. Perella and sophomore guard Logen Solomon.

“A lot of teams don't think Carrick is good enough to win the City League this year,” said Howard, who plans to continue his career in college. “We're looking to upset a lot of teams. I see us going very far (this season) if we continue to play as a team.”

Obama Academy (9-1) and Allderdice (8-2) finished one-two in the City League last season, followed by Westinghouse (6-4), Carrick (4-6), Perry (3-7) and Brashear (0-10).

Allderdice captured the league championship with a narrow 71-70 win against Obama Academy in the finals held at Petersen Events Center.

“Once again, Allderdice is the favorite to continue their reign as City League champion,” Milinski said. “They return key players, and coach Buddy Valinsky has established a winning culture at their school.

“Obama Academy should also be one of the top teams in the City League. They are very athletic and will be even better with some additional transfer players. Eugene Goodwine from Bishop Canevin will help them immediately. And Westinghouse has 6-foot-9 James Ellis returning, so they should be very competitive.”

Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.

Tags: Carrick