JB MDL basketball suffers loss after close game

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs
Story by Airman Sean Crowe

Date: 01.17.2013
Posted: 01.17.2013 15:05
News ID: 100668
JB MDL basketball suffers loss after close game

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. - The Fort Belvoir basketball team brought an upsetting victory to the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst team Jan. 12, 2013, at the McGuire Fitness Center on JB MDL, N.J, with a 91-87 ending score in overtime.

Top scorers for Fort Belvoir, Jayson Bradshaw, shooting guard, and Calvin Booth, point guard, put up 23 points in the first half of the game, putting Fort Belvoir in the lead with 33 points in the first half of the game. JB MDL’s Jack Smith, small forward, kept his team in the competition in the first half scoring 13 points. JB MDL fans retained confidence in their team as they taunted Fort Belvoir players from the stands.

The teams congregated in separate locker rooms during halftime break to discuss their first-half performance. Advising one another and developing a strategy, the teams took a few minutes to practice shooting and recuperate from the first half.

The game heated up in the second half leaving both teams tied at 79 points. JB MDL’s Joseph Harris put the team on his back with 13 points.

Bradshaw and Booth anchored their team by scoring 16 points and nine free throws combined, in overtime. The aggressive scorers also scored a combined 19 points with 2- and 3-pointers.

The JB MDL fans and players took a serious blow to their morale when Bradshaw, Clea and Calvin Booth, point guard, brought their team to victory, leaving JB MDL with a season record of 1-1 following their victory against Fort Myers.

Leviticus Robinson, JB MDL head coach, said the team is still a work in progress and went on to tell how the players can strengthen the team.

“The players have been relying on talent since the team came together recently,” he said. “The team needs more cohesiveness and some of our veterans are stepping up to the plate.”

The JB MDL team will be playing its next game, the 9th Annual Martin Luther King Men's and Women's Invitational Basketball Tournament, against Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Jan. 19, 2013, at NSA Bethesda, Md.