The Defense Comes First
The defining sentence of Bill Ellerbee's 20 years at Simon Gratz is the one he said casually to a reporter after his 1993 Bulldogs finished their 63-45 championship win over Franklin Learning Center to complete a 31-0 season: "And we did it without too much of a problem."
By then, 8,500 people at the Civic Center had seen everything the Gratz program stood for. Ellerbee's teams that season outscored their opponents 2,078-1,173 — an average score of 69.3 to 39.1 — won games by 61, 60, 58, and 52 points, and held opponents to 18, 27 (twice), 28, and 29 (twice). Their highest defensive yield all year was 50 points. The Daily News called them the third-best team in Philadelphia scholastic basketball history.
To me, when you shut your opponent down, that's domination. If you win by a lot but give up 60 or 70, that's not domination.
And we did it without too much of a problem.
Rasheed Wallace, the 6-11 center considered the top high school player in the country, finished that championship game with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks — his career total now 1,690. Sophomore point guard Terrell Stokes ran the show. Junior guard Shawn "Reds" Smith and forwards Lynard Stewart (14 points off 6-8) and Rondell Turner (6-7) completed a lineup that, by Ellerbee's own description, simply suffocated teams.
With us, defense always comes first. As long as we win, we don't care if the score's 2-0.
