MoCo High School Sports: Whitman gets hard-fought win against Churchill

Bethesda school overcomes tough defense, long possessions from Potomac squad in run up to holiday tournament

December 22, 2023 10:09 p.m.

The Walt Whitman varsity boys basketball team defeated Winston Churchill in a Thursday night thriller 59-56. The victory marked the Vikings’ first regional and sixth overall win of the season.

The scoring opened with Churchill senior Steve Ndingue’s lay-in off the glass, beginning what would become a 21-point night for the 6’4” forward. The Bulldog faithful, clad in holiday-themed clothes, showed out in droves on their last school night before the Montgomery County school system winter break.

The regional rivals battled throughout a first half marked with long possessions and defensive prowess. The Vikings, however, were able to pierce their opponent’s press defense and find open men under the basket during the opening frames.

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To open the second quarter, Whitman players flashed their skills from beyond the arc. Juniors Sean Curran and Hayden Walsh made three-pointers on consecutive possessions, giving the Vikings an 18-12 lead. Curran would go on to lead the team with 15points.

“I thought Sean… played tough for us,” said Whitman Coach Chris Lun. “Their number one, Steve [Ndingue], he’s a very good player and he gave us some fits, but Shawn did a good job and had some big baskets for us.”

The beginning of the second half saw scoring frenzies from both teams, with Churchill’s Nick Goldberg leading the way and giving the Bulldogs their first lead since the game’s opening points. Their defensive response to the Vikings’ talent in the paint was amplified by a leaping block by Ndingue, eliciting a roar from within the gym.

When the game began, Churchill fans were still filing in. One student remarked, “What’s going on? Why are we all sitting?” as Whitman took their first lead. By the end of the third quarter, however, the whole section was on its feet as the Bulldogs led by three points.

The fourth quarter brought more back-and-forth play as the tension in the building reached its peak. With the game tied and under two minutes left to play, both teams draw up their plans for the final stretch.

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A Churchill foul sent Whitman guard Titian DeRosa to the free throw line, where he put his team up by two. With under 20 seconds remaining, the Vikings stifled a Bulldog layup attempt under the basket and guard Thomas Farrell drew a foul. 

After two successful free throw attempts put the Vikings up by four, the away team section began rejoicing. With his 13th point, Farrell recorded his seventh straight game with more than 10 points and Whitman’s victory.

The red-hot 6-1 Vikings will play their second home game of the season next Tuesday against Baltimore’s Milford Mill Academy as part of the Governors Challenge Holiday Tournament while the Bulldogs, now 3-3, will play Bethesda Chevy-Chase at home on Jan. 6.

“Our guys, they listen, they play hard, they are disciplined, and they get after it,” said Lun. “So we’re just going to keep building on that and take it one game at a time.”

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