Photo by Alex McVeigh Owen Oliver of the Quantico Bulldogs shoots over Fort Lee's Derrick White during the Washington Area Military Athletic Conference championship game March 14 at the Fort Myer Fitness Center. Quantico swept their way through the tournament, beating Fort Lee 66-59 to win the 2010 WAMAC championship.

Quantico, which also finished at the top of the standings for the regular season, swept through Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall’s Operation Santa tournament in December, as well as Fort Lee’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. tournament in January, cast quite a shadow across the WAMAC this season.

‘‘One of our goals coming into the season was to sweep every tournament, and we’ve done that so far,” said Nathan Sales, a player for the Bulldogs.

They have one more tournament to get through, JBM-HH’s annual Capital Classic, which has been rescheduled to April 23-24.

JBM-HH was the site of last weekend’s tournament, as the JBM-HH Generals claimed the 2009 WAMAC title and won the right to host this year’. The Generals’ title defense was admirable this year, as they worked in a lot of new players, and managed to defeat Fort Lee in the first round as well as Walter Reed Army Medical Center, before falling to Fort Lee in the quarterfinals.

After losing the first game of the tourney to JBM-HH, the Fort Lee Travelers stormed through the loser’s bracket to set up the championship round against Quantico, a meeting of the top two finishers from the regular season.

Quantico’s journey to the final was a little easier, as they notched a string of double-digit victories and their smallest margin of victory was seven points against Fort Meade in the semifinals.

In the championship round, Fort Lee came out swinging from the early going while Quantico’s offense struggled to execute.

‘‘We were too excited to start the game, but eventually we calmed down and got back into our regular mode,” said Willie Nathan of Quantico.

It was five minutes before any team hit any shot further than 10 feet from the basket, but once Fort Lee’s shooters Bobby Ingram and Jacob Culver came alive, they were able to open up a 10-point lead over the Bulldogs.

Quantico was able to pull within five points midway through the first half, but a quick five-point explosion from Culver pushed the Traveler lead back up to 10.

Quantico’s Owen Oliver helped the Bulldogs get back in the game with stellar play on both ends of the floor, notching three blocks in the closing minutes of the half, as well as scoring on a variety of low-post moves against a bruising Fort Lee front line.

The Bulldogs took their first lead with 1:45 left in the first half on a thunderous dunk from Quintrell McReary. Quantico looked poised to take a three-point lead into the locker room before Culver hit a three pointer in the closing seconds to tie it up at 32.

‘‘We calmed down by the end of the half, started trusting our teammates more,” Nathan said. ‘‘We knew we would play much better in the second half.”

Quantico came out strong to start the second half, building a five-point lead before both teams went on a cold streak. Only two points were scored over a three-minute stretch, but when it was over, the Bulldogs led by five.

The leads vanished quickly on two consecutive Lee three-pointers, but Cedric Jordan responded right back with a three-pointer of his own, Quantico’s first of the game.

The teams exchanged buckets for the next few minutes, and they headed past the four-minute mark tied at 53 apiece.

The Bulldogs responded with an 8-2 run, capped off by Quantico guard Ryan McLellan facing up his man at the top of the key, before exploding past the Traveler on his, knocking down a lay-up and drawing the foul. After McLellan knocked down his free throw, the Bulldogs were up by six with 1:54 to go, and it became a game of keep away.

Quantico iced the championship by sinking five of six free throws in the final minute, and Fort Lee just couldn’t make up the difference, as Quantico won 66-59.

‘‘It’s a beautiful thing, and a long time coming for Quantico basketball,” said Sales after the game. ‘‘We showed a lot of dedication, and we had players who wanted to win, along with a great coach.”

Nathan was named tournament MVP for Quantico, and the Bulldogs also took home a big trophy along with individual trophies, and players received sweatshirts as well.

For Nathan and the rest of the Bulldogs, the championship was a reward for a season where they never lost focus, and it showed throughout the season, the tournaments and after the final buzzer sounded.

‘‘It’s a long competitive season, but I think we played well all year,” Nathan said. ‘‘It’s nice to end up with a championship to show after all our hard work.”