Raiders Face Tough Challenge

If the are going to advance to the Class 4A state title game, they will first have to get past one of Maryland’s – if not the nation’s – most electrifying players.

Roosevelt’s opponent in Thursday’s 7 p.m. state semifinal game at the Comcast Center is Baltimore City champion Patterson High, which comes in riding a 14-game winning streak.

The Clippers (24-1) are led by 5-foot-6, 150-pound sophomore point guard Aquille Carr. Despite his small stature, the cat-quick Carr is a force on offense, and currently averages 30 points per game.

Carr has already scored over 1,000 points in his varsity career – he averaged 25.5 points per game as a freshman – and dropped 57 in a victory in December. Carr has been given a four-star prospect ranking (of out five) by ESPN.com’s Scouts Inc.

Patterson won its first-ever region title with a lopsided 93-55 victory over Urbana in the 4A North championship game last week. Its lone loss came by one point to Cardozo (N.Y.) in January.

While Patterson has cruised past the competition this year, Roosevelt (17-8) struggled through an inconsistent regular season but seems to have hit its stride in the playoffs.

Senior forward scored a game-high 26 points to lead Roosevelt in a in the 4A South title game at Wise High School last Saturday.

The Raiders have hung their hats on defense all season, and held Flowers to just four points in both the first and fourth quarters of Saturday’s win. In postseason victories over Parkdale, and Flowers, the Raiders have allowed just 40.3 points per game while scoring 54.

Thursday’s winner advances to face either North Point or Magruder in the state title game on Saturday at 8 p.m.

For the Raiders to earn a spot, they’ll have to do what every other team on Patterson’s schedule thus far has failed to do: stop Carr.