High School Basketball : Madison’s Teamwork Pays Off : Four Starters Score in Double Figures to Clinch League Title

SAN DIEGO —  Madison High School won the City Eastern League basketball championship Tuesday as four of its five starters scored in double figures in a 63-45 victory over Patrick Henry.

Not bad for a team whose players, according to forward Robby Robinson, had ego problems earlier this season.

Not bad, either, for a team that Coach Jim Thompson once thought would need four basketballs on the court to have four players reach double figures in the same game.

“At the beginning of the season, nobody on this team was too interested in passing the ball,” Robinson said. “But, as each game has passed, we’ve learned to overcome that.”

And now Madison (20-2 overall, 8-0 in league) is ranked No. 3 in the county and leads the City East by three games with two to play. Patrick Henry is 13-8, 5-3.

“We’ve really come together better than I ever thought we would,” Thompson said. “We had four players in double figures again?”

Jeff Alexander, the Warhawks’ center, led with 18 points and point guard Jeff Harper added 17. Forward Andre Mitchell scored 10.

But the key to the victory was Robinson, who was shut out in the first half but scored 12 points and had 7 rebounds in the second half as Madison extended a 28-26 halftime lead.

“Earlier this season, not scoring (in the first half) probably would have bothered me,” Robinson said. “But now I don’t care what happens as long as we win. Plus, I know I’ll get my chances to score as long as I keep working hard.”

Madison trailed by 17-9 after one quarter and by 20-11 early in the second quarter, when Alexander scored 10 points to lead a 17-6 run in the final 6:32 before halftime.

Robinson scored twice in the third quarter on driving layups, and sophomore James Coles made two steals that led to layups as Madison widened the margin to 43-30 with 3:25 left. Patrick Henry never got closer than seven the rest of the way.

“The thing I like about this team is that it’s somebody new who helps us each game,” Thompson said. “And a lot of times, it’s different people during each game.”