John Carroll vs Greenbelt (Eleanor Roosevelt)

Recap

by Jonathan Totten

With both teams being undefeated for the day (June 10), the highly anticipated matchup between John Carroll and Greenbelt (Eleanor Roosevelt) ended in a final score of 68-57.

Greenbelt (Eleanor Roosevelt) and John Carroll were on an even keel the first half with both teams being equal in talent. Greenbelt’s big men knew where to be on the floor and contributed 16 points in the paint. Greenbelt had tenacious energy on defense from the start with the coach telling his players to keep their hands up and out. This strategy resulted in 12 points off of John Carroll’s 6 turnovers, which means Greenbelt scored off of every John Caroll turnover. Greenbelt had key rebounds from ‘25 forward Michael Osuji who had 4 offensive rebounds and contributed 10 points with 6 of those points going towards Greenbelt’s 10 2nd chance points. 

John Caroll wasn’t completely shut down. ‘26 forward Aidan Able scored 8 points in the first half and so did ‘26 guard Paris Lee. ‘25 big man Zach Smith was also a key factor in John Carroll’s 9 2nd chance points, scoring 4 points and collecting 8 rebounds in the first half. Greenbelt was the better shooting team in the first half, shooting 41% from the field and 56% from the free throw line while John Carroll shot 31% from the field and 50% from the free throw line.The largest lead of the half was John Carroll up by 4 until the last 11 seconds when Greenbelt claimed the largest lead which was 8. The score at the half was 36-28, Greenbelt up.

In the second half, John Carroll stayed in the game with unselfish play and 2nd chance points. Aidan Able continued to score the ball along with fellow guard Nick Smith. Despite this backcourt they developed, ‘25 guard Gio Sanford came alive in the 2nd half, scoring 17 of Greenbelt’s 32 second half points. He contributed 30 points in total in the competition and sparked Greenbelt’s takeover. John Carroll’s field goal shooting and three point shooting waned while Greenbelt’s field goal shooting improved but three point shooting waned. However, Greenbelt’s three point shooting performance didn’t affect them as they continued to feed forward Michael Osuji, who had 8 points and 5 rebounds in the second half. He majorly contributed to Greenbelt’s 20 in-paint points in the second half. Greenbelt totally took control and had the largest lead of the game by 20 and led for 25 minutes. The final score was 68-57, Greenbelt’s victory. 

Greenbelt will look to stay strong and get their fourth win against the Trojans (Gaithersburg) on Monday evening at Dematha while John Carroll will look forward to the 2023 Capitol hoops summer league playoffs.