It Shapes Up Nicely for Titans

Last spring, then-T.C. Williams Coach Ivan Thomas sat near a table where four players from the Titans' 29-3 state championship team were signing their letters-of-intent to play college basketball.

He held out his hands in the shape of a diamond and explained despite the fact he was moving to Williamsburg and resigning his position as coach, the diamond would live on.

"It stands for dynasty," Thomas said.

With first-year coach Julian King watching from the sideline after a 59-52 victory over Hayfield in the Virginia AAA Northern Region final last night at Robinson, a revamped Titans team that welcomed seven new players through junior varsity call-ups and transfers hoisted the program's third consecutive regional trophy. Many players posed with the familiar diamond-shaped badge of honor as they huddled for team pictures in front of a crowd of 1,500.

"People thought, 'Well, they can't do it again, they lost everybody,' " said T.C. Williams senior guard Edward Jenkins (18 points), one of the few holdovers from last year. "It was a daunting task, but that gave me more energy to come out here and do it again."

Last night, fourth-ranked T.C. Williams (27-2) won not just its third straight regional title but its ninth overall, continuing a four-year run in which the Alexandria school has beaten 71 conference challengers and gone 90-3 against the Northern Region.

"These Titans, they fight, blood, sweat and tears," said Billy Rowland, a 6-foot-6 junior transfer from Bishop Ireton who dunked home his 17th point and the Titans' final basket in last night's victory. "They put that [pressure] on you as soon as you come in here. They don't like to lose games here."

Rowland and Jenkins combined for 12 fourth-quarter points behind 5-10 senior guard Gavin Peterson, who scored nine of his 14 during a heated and scrappy 26-16 game-clinching push that brought the Titans back from a three-point halftime deficit.

"I've been through this," said Peterson, who hit a three-pointer and a field goal and went 4 for 4 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. "I know what this atmosphere is like."

Last night was the third time this season that T.C. Williams defeated Hayfield (21-7). The Hawks, who are 0-10 against T.C. Williams since 2005, led the Titans at halftime in two of their three losses to them this season.

"What happened in the first half doesn't matter, as you saw tonight," said Hayfield senior T.J. Wilson, who scored 13 points last night -- one of four Hawks who scored in double figures. "A lead can change like that. A halftime lead means nothing."

Staff writer Preston Williams contributed to this report.

No. 4 T.C. Williams 59 Hayfield 52 Up Next: Hayfield will travel to Virginia Commonwealth's Siegel Center for a Friday night meeting with the winner of tonight's Central Region final between Petersburg (28-0) and John Marshall (25-3). T.C. Williams will face the Central Region runner-up Saturday at Robinson. Sizing Up the Competition: Petersburg is led by Cadarian Raines, a 6-8 Virginia Tech-bound senior center who was held to nine points in a state semifinal loss to T.C. Williams last year. John Marshall has Colonial District player of the year Travis McKie, a 6-6 junior who is averaging 21.1 points per game.