current location:HOME > Sports News > Basketball Hub > Text content

Malcolm Thomas Q&A: DeMatha’s season, ACIT Championship, recruiting

nqajqrqw7months ago (05-18)Basketball Hub138

In a battle of Maryland high school powerhouses this pastweekend, the DeMatha Stags dominated Bishop McNamara with an 89-58win in the 2023 Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournamentchampionship game.

With an array of three-pointers by their talented trio of seniorguards Jaden Winston, Mason So and Isaiah Arnold — and thunderousdunks by the sole junior in the starting lineup, Malcolm Thomas —the Stags ran away with the victory in front of a stunned crowd.Nobody had predicted this outcome by that large of amargin.

The win marks DeMatha’s fourth straight ACIT crown and its 27thoverall.

I caught up with Malcolm Thomas after the game to discuss theteam’s championship win, an up-and-down season, adjusting to a newcoach, his recruiting and much more.

(Photo Credit: Jonathan Spinks)

Etan Thomas: So your junior season has come toa close. It was your first season under new head coach Mike Jones.You all avenged regular-season losses against St. John’s and BishopMcNamara, and now, you won the ACIT championship. How does itfeel?

Malcolm Thomas: "It feels good. We’ve spent allseason trying to put everything together. We had a tough two-pointloss in the [Washington Catholic Athletic Conference] tournament to[St. Paul VI], but we had one more tournament to go. The final fourwas all WCAC teams, and it feels good to end the season on a goodnote."

Etan: Everyone was talking about your matchupwith Donnie Freeman in the semifinals. College coaches kept talkingabout it to me, fans were asking about it all weekend. This was thehead-to-head matchup everyone wanted to see. It was a greatovertime win — you had 18 points to his 15 — but talk to me aboutthat game and that matchup in particular.

Malcolm: "The DMV as a whole is verycompetitive, and me and Donnie will be matching up again over thesummer during AAU and will match up again next season. I think it’sgreat, and it’s fun to go back and forth with someone like that andfor people to be excited to see the matchup. We push each other andthat’s how it’s supposed to be."

Etan: There has been a lot of criticism of newcoach Mike Jones in his first year. It’s been an adjustment period.I mean, this is your third coach in three years, so I don’t see howanyone could expect there not to be an adjustment period. Buteverything came together at the end with a decisive 30-pointblowout of Bishop McNamara. The entire gymnasium was shocked,especially since they played so well against Gonzaga [DC] the gamebefore. But talk about that process of going through the ups anddowns of the season and the adjustment period and how you all grewas a team.

Malcolm: "One of the biggest things Coach Jonespreached all year is that no matter what happens, make sure we arealways growing and always learning and getting better, and that’swhat we did. We started off well at the beginning of the year, tooka few dips as the season went on and we ended well. So we were ableto withstand the adversity and not crumble when things weren’tgoing right, and that’s a credit to the leadership of ourcoaches."

Etan: You have a lot of talented guys comingback, some that people may not know about. What can DeMatha fanslook forward to seeing next season?

Malcolm: "We have a lot of talent like yousaid. And we had a lot of seniors on this team, so many of [ourplayers] had to take a back seat and wait and be patient, butyou’re going to see next year. Coach did this thing in practicetoward the end where he put underclassmen against upperclassmen,and we won our fair share of games against the seniors. But yes, wehave a lot of talent coming back and they’re going to make a bigimpact next year."

Share with friends:

“Malcolm Thomas Q&A: DeMatha’s season, ACIT Championship, recruiting” ofrelated articles

Naz Reid takes home 2023-2024 Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award

Minnesota Timberwolves’center/forward Naz Reid took home the 2023-2024 Kia NBA Sixth Manof the Year, the league announced Wednesday night.Reid, 24, wo...

Spencer Dinwiddie to join Los Angeles Lakers after clearing waivers

Spencer Dinwiddie will sign withthe Los Angeles Lakers after clearing waivers, according toThe Athletic's Shams Charania.Dinwiddie and his agent, Jaso...

Raptors acquire Kelly Olynyk, Ochai Agbaji from Jazz

The Utah Jazz are finalizing adeal to send Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji to the Toronto Raptorsin exchange for Kira Lewis, Otto Porter Jr. and a 2024...

Timberwolves beat Thunder to reclaim No. 1 seed in West

The Minnesota Timberwolvesearned a 107-101 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sundaynight in a battle amongst the best in the West.Anthony Edwar...

Easy Money: How Kevin Durant is dominating the business world

This article was originally published on BasketballNews onMay 9, 2021.The player-empowerment era in the NBA has allowed athletes to doso much more tha...

Aces' Alysha Clark named WNBA Sixth Player of the Year

Aces' Alysha Clark named WNBA Sixth Player of the Year

Las Vegas Aces forward Alysha Clarkhas been named the 2023 Kia WNBA Sixth Player of the Year, the WNBAannounced today. She has earned the honor as the...