Guard Xavier Johnson leads Episcopal in scoring this season. (Photo by Cory Royster / Courtesy Jim Fitzpatrick)

In this week’s notebook, we cover Episcopal, Colgan, Thurgood Marshall and Seneca Valley.

Episcopal is ‘hungry’ ahead of three games against Top 20 teams: With Episcopal returning just three players this season after the team graduated nine seniors and went 14-14 a year ago, Coach Jim Fitzpatrick wasn’t sure what to expect.

But 14 games later, Fitzpatrick’s uncertainty has become confidence that his group of “unselfish” players can contend for supremacy in the Interstate Athletic Conference.

The No. 9 Maroon will have a chance to prove it this week in one of the region’s toughest three-game stretches. Episcopal plays No. 7 Georgetown Prep at home on Tuesday before traveling to No. 19 Bullis on Friday and No. 15 O’Connell on Saturday.

“You could say, ‘Oh my gosh, what a week, this is going to be so challenging,’” Fitzpatrick said.” I choose the other way with our kids. I say, ‘What more could you ask for if you’re a competitor and you love the game?’”

Fitzpatrick doesn’t have a concrete explanation for his players’ quick chemistry this season. But it helps, he said, that they spend so much time together, as all Episcopal students live at the boarding school.

“Just like a family, so sometimes that’s good, and sometimes it’s not good,” Fitzpatrick said. “For this particular group, they’ve done it in a really positive way so far.”

The cohesion has helped Episcopal to a 13-2 start with a marquee, 20-point victory over Westtown (Pa.) in mid-December and three victories to start IAC play. Guard Xavier Johnson leads four players averaging double digit points with 13.9 per game.

Fitzpatrick hopes that leads to success in the Maroon’s upcoming stretch against three teams they went 1-4 against last year. The coach lauded Georgetown Prep’s depth, Bullis’ persistence and O’Connell’s discipline, but admitted Episcopal isn’t so different.

“Underdog is the wrong term,” Fitzpatrick said. “But if we’re a favorite, it definitely doesn’t feel like it, at least internally, because I think we’re hungry.”

—Callie Caplan

Colgan is on its first winning streak: Through its first one and a half seasons, Colgan strung together a few solid possessions here or even a complete quarter there, but struggled to stitch together a complete game. The Sharks had plenty of losing streaks to show for their inconsistency.

Recently, though, a more dependable Colgan is seeing results. On Friday, the Sharks won consecutive games for the first time in the program’s short history.

“We’ve had trouble playing four consecutive quarters of basketball throughout the year, but for the first time, our kids put together back-to-back games with four consistent quarters of us executing and competing,” Coach Jason John said. “It’s a maturity and growth thing. We’re definitely going in the right direction.

Before its first win streak, bad habits surfaced for Colgan in a four-game losing streak. On Dec. 29 against Osbourn, the Sharks led by 15 at halftime before scoring 12 points in the second half of a 63-47 loss.

After a 57-46 win over Gar-Field on Wednesday, Colgan turned in its best defensive performance of the season in a 47-38 win over Forest Park on Friday. 6-foot-3 senior Rodney Graves (15.1 points per game) and 6-foot-5 senior Kaeleb Carter (13.1), who will play at UVA-Wise, provide stability on a team with 11 underclassmen.

“Rodney has taken tremendous steps forward as a young man and a basketball player. He rebounds and scores and does everything we ask of him. . . . Kaeleb is a big ballhandler who is tough for some guards to match up with,” John said. “We’re learning how to finish and how to win. We’re starting to show up and play a full game and give ourselves a chance to win.”

—Dillon Mullan

Thurgood Marshall’s Savion Gallion is having a breakout season: After Thurgood Marshall graduated two of its top three scorers last season, it became increasingly apparent to Coach Lafayette Dublin over the summer that 6-foot-4 shooting guard Savion Gallion would pick up the slack.

“He was in the gym pretty much every day, all day,” Dublin said. “His mother said he was driving her crazy, bouncing the ball in the middle of the night, bouncing the ball in the morning. She’s asking him to stop, but he’s just constantly working on his game.”

All that work turned Gallion into the district’s second-leading scorer this season (22.4 points per game) and leader in three-pointers made (43). In just his third season on the team, Gallion has the 1,000-point mark in his sights.

“Last year there were a lot of up and down games, [Gallion] might have 19 one night and six the next night,” Dublin said. “The biggest difference this year is being consistent when everybody’s game plan has been pretty much to shut him down.”

While Gallion has been critical to the team’s success, the Warriors (11-6) are at their best when their frontcourt gets going, such as it did during Friday’s 71-44 victory over Cesar Chavez. Senior small forward Darius Richardson scored a season-high 23 points and grabbed eight boards, while Janoski McNeil Jr. toyed with a double-double.

“When [Richardson and McNeil] are making layups, dunking and running the floor, everything’s so much easier because it takes pressure off the guards,” Dublin said.

—Dan Roth

Seneca Valley doesn’t have time to waste: Seneca Valley has always liked to push the pace, but never like this. For a team without a starter taller than 5-foot-10, the Screamin’ Eagles don’t have much of a choice. They’re always running.

“We try to get the ball down the court as fast as humanly possible,” Coach Brian Humphrey said. “We try to create some space, and let our shooters shoot.”

Humphrey estimates Seneca Valley (9-2) takes about a quarter of its shots out of its “early offense,” during which the Screamin’ Eagles look for an open three-pointer or an open layup within seconds of crossing midcourt, using floor spacing and the pick and roll.

They’re most comfortable on the go, and even try to manufacture fast breaks when the other team scores.

Despite the graduation of guard Brandon Simpson, an All-Met 2016-17 honorable mention now playing at Emmanuel College (Division II), Seneca Valley is thriving. Humphrey describes Triston Price, Mazae Blake and Harold Dotson as archetypes of the “new age guard” who is expected to be both an adept passer and scorer.

Price, a senior, is averaging a team-high 22.3 points per game, and Blake, a sophomore, averages 20.9. Both have made more than 30 three-pointers, and Seneca Valley, winners of the Maryland 3A West region two seasons in a row, has so far navigated a daunting schedule.

Seneca Valley, which graduated six seniors from last season, had luck. Before tryouts, players and school security guards kept telling Humphrey about a transfer from South Carolina with a gifted shooting stroke. Then Humphrey saw Blake play.

“He was almost a gift from God,” Humphrey said.

—Joshua Needelman