Webster's 28 Sparks Landon Over Chantilly

Webster's 28 Sparks Landon Over Chantilly

By B.J. Koubaroulis

Special to The Washington Post

Wednesday, December 31, 2008; E03

Landon senior guard Christian Webster passed up his first three open looks at the basket in last night's 72-60 victory over No. 12 Chantilly in the championship game of the Pohanka Chantilly Classic tournament.

It was clear he was intent on getting his teammates involved. It was on this court last season when he learned a hard lesson in the value of sharing.

"I came out tonight and it didn't matter how many points I scored as long as we won," said Webster, a 6-foot-4 guard and a McDonald's all-American candidate, who finished with 28 points last night and 85 for the tournament en route to his second straight tournament most valuable player award. "It feels a heck of a lot better than last year."

In last season's 94-86 tournament final loss to the Chargers, Webster scored half of his team's points -- a 43-point coming-out party that gave him 83 for the three-day 2007 event.

"I asked him: 'How do you feel about that? Having a career-high and an amazing performance, but not getting the win," Bears Coach Andy Luther said. "He wants to have the recognition, but we have a pretty good understanding and he and I have talked a lot about how to make that happen, and that's by winning."

Webster, who was one of the area's leading scorers with 26.8 points per game in the Bears' 11-13 finish last season, has retained his scoring edge, producing 28.8 points per game, and last night he added 11 rebounds, six assists and strong defense. He held Chantilly's standout guard Justin May to seven points while displaying a command of the court that showed he's more than just a scorer.

"He's wanted to shoulder more in terms of being responsible in multiple ways of creating wins," Luther said.

Webster was passive for much of the first quarter, helping four other Landon players get in the scoring column. Sophomore center Darion Atkins finished with 11 points and helped defend Chantilly 6-11 center John Manning. Danny Rubin added 10 for the Bears (7-2).

Webster had 10 points at halftime to help Landon to a 34-32 lead, then 14 in the second half to hand Chantilly (9-1) its first loss.

Landon 72, Chantilly 60

Charging to the Final: Chantilly has appeared in 14 of the tournament's 16 title games, winning six.

Girls' Champion: In last night's girls' final, West Springfield's Sam Landers (15 points) shot 4 for 11 from the field, 6 for 6 from the free throw line, hit her only three-point attempt and added five rebounds and four assists to lift the Spartans (9-1) to a 60-47 victory over Mills Godwin.