The Eleanor Roosevelt Raiders picked up their second boys’ 4A State Championship win in the last four years on Saturday March 12th, after beating the Meade Mustangs 72-39.

The win is another indicator of the school’s basketball program success, with four total state championships in as many years between the girls’ and boys’ teams.

The mood was set from the get go that this Roosevelt High team was on a mission to avenge previous years’ playoff losses and win the championship this year. In a previous meeting with Meade this year, the Raiders came away with a close victory. This game, on the other hand, was never close.

The Raiders came out with an intensity the Mustangs could not match on either end of the court. Pushing the offensive tempo early was sophomore point guard Jaden Faulkner, who finished with 16 total points.

Faulkner said that the team was “not going to be denied” against Meade and that the team had “seen a lot of teams come back from big leads but [they] were not going to let that happen to [them].”

One of the big differences between the two teams in this matchup was that the Raiders scored 60 points in the paint in comparison to the Mustangs’ 8. The difference in size, finishing close range shots, and second chance points proved to be the difference in the end.

Junior guard Jaquan Brown said that “it feels good to complete our season with a victory. I think we worked hard and we deserved it because we worked hard all summer to get to this point and it payed off.”

Senior guard Delascio Dancy, now a 2-time state champion with the Raiders, reflected on the team’s season. The most memorable moments of the season for him were “winning a lot of games and a state championship with my brothers,” said Dancy.

The close bond between the players was very apparent and translated on to the court throughout their journey to becoming champions. The Raiders finished the season ranked 5th in the All-Met rankings with a 24-3 record.