Re: High School Boys Basketball (2013-2014 Season)
Posted by:
Ben Trittipoe
()
Date: February 01, 2014 10:46AM
POTOMAC FALLS PULLS AWAY FROM BROAD RUN
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When the Potomac Falls and Broad Run boys basketball teams met at Potomac Falls on Jan. 11, the Panthers held a seven-point lead late in the game before the Spartans rallied for a one-point victory.
Potomac Falls head coach Jeff Hawes did not want to see that happen again Friday when the teams met in Ashburn, and he got his wish. The Panthers held off a few Broad Run rallies in the second half and pulled away in the fourth quarter to hand the Spartans their first Potomac District defeat, 65-52.
Junior A.J. Robinson and sophomore Danny Cox led Potomac Falls (14-4, 3-3 Potomac District) with 13 points each, while senior Matt Tierney and junior Wanya Allen each added 12 points. Allen led the Panthers with 13 rebounds – 11 in the second half – and junior Andrew Corum added nine points and 12 rebounds.
“For the team to win, they need me to battle on the boards,” Allen said. “So I’m bringing that to my game now and trying to get as many boards as I can.”
Senior Khiorie Stewart led Broad Run (14-2, 5-1) with 13 points each, while senior Matt Tierney and junior Wanya Allen each added 12 points. Allen led the Panthers with 13 rebounds – 11 in the second half – and junior Andrew Corum added nine points and 12 rebounds.
“For the team to win, they need me to battle on the boards,” Allen said. “So I’m bringing that to my game now and trying to get as many boards as I can.”
Senior Khiorie Stewart led Broad Run (14-2, 5-1) with 13 points. Senior Travis Fulgham, who entered the game averaging more than 20 points per contest, was limited to just nine points and added seven rebounds. Senior Justin Hart also scored nine points, while senior Tyler Ellington had a team-high 10 rebounds as the Spartans had their 14-game win streak snapped.
“That’s the first time we’ve had it put to us,” Broad Run head coach John Costello said. “We didn’t convert shots, we didn’t make foul shots. They just flat out beat us.”
Following Tuesday’s 64-63 loss to Stone Bridge – the third one-point loss of the season for Potomac Falls – Hawes said the Panthers had a “toughness practice” Wednesday and it appeared to pay off.
“It’s not the ‘W’ so much that mattered tonight,” Hawes said. “Tuesday’s loss to Stone Bridge was perhaps the softest game physically we’ve played in 10 years. The kids said Wednesday’s practice was the hardest sports practice of their life. It wasn’t punishment, but we did one drill after another, toughness drills. We sat down and talked about it being all about the fight, all about being a man.”
Potomac Falls’ toughness showed early Friday, particularly on defense. Utilizing a triangle-and-two set, the Panthers were able to limit Fulgham to one shot in the first quarter as Potomac Falls took a 16-13 lead. The Panthers pushed the advantage to 22-13 early in the second before Fulgham got untracked a bit and scored six points – including all three of his field goals in the game – in a 9-0 Broad Run spurt that tied the game at 22-22 with 2 minutes, 36 seconds left in the first half.
But that was as close as the Spartans would get the rest of the night. Potomac Falls scored the last seven points of the half, including a three-pointer by senior Matt Malogne with 32 seconds left, to take a 29-22 lead into intermission.
“Matt Malogne has had a tough year for a senior, but he did some real important things for us tonight,” Hawes said. “He stuck a three there. That was a really important run after they tied it. To go 7-0 there to end the half was huge.”
Broad Run kept up the pressure early in the second half as Hart hit a three-pointer from the left wing to pull the Spartans within 33-30 with 5:03 left in the third quarter. But a 9-2 run – with Tierney scoring five points – gave Potomac Falls a 42-32 advantage and the Panthers never led by fewer than six points the rest of the game.
“They’re very talented and have great athletes,” Hawes said of the Spartans. “But every time they threw a big punch at us, we answered it. We knew it was coming. It seemed funny that we were up seven at half. I told the kids ‘let’s see who is ready to be a man, play some Panther basketball and get this done.’
“This was an overall gut-check,” Hawes added. “I was real proud of our kids. We had a plan and it ended up working. It’s just one game, but we really needed that tonight.”
While Costello was disappointed with the loss, he realizes the season is far from over.
“The triangle-and-two takes away your two best players and says the other three guys have to beat us,” Costello said of Potomac Falls’ strategy. “It just seemed like there was a cover on the basket. When you play up-tempo like we do, it’s so important to go down and convert. We didn’t do that tonight. Against a team with a really good game plan, it didn’t work tonight.
“The good thing is it’s our first bump in the road,” Costello added. “It’s nice to go out 5-0 in the district so when you have a game like that, you just have to bounce back. What we do next week and how we finish is going to be important for us. We just have to consider it a bad night and come back ready to play Tuesday against Tuscarora.”
POTOMAC FALLS 65, BROAD RUN 52
POTOMAC FALLS (14-4, 3-3)
Tierney 3 4-4 12, J. Malogne 0 0-0 0, Robinson 2 8-10 13, Allen 6 0-3 12, Cox 5 3-7 13, Tillman 0 0-0 0, Corum 4 1-2 9, Miller 0 0-0 0, J. Sweeney 0 0-0 0, M. Mologne 1 0-0 3, Daczkowski 0 1-2 1, Curl 0 0-0 0, B. Sweeney 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 17-30 65.
BROAD RUN (14-2, 5-1)
Humphrey 3 0-2 6, Stewart 5 2-2 13, Hilberath 1 1-2 3, Fulgham 3 3-6 9, Hart 4 0-0 9, King 0 2-2 2, Robinson 2 1-4 6, Ellington 1 2-2 4. Totals 19 11-20 52.
Halftime – Potomac Falls, 29-22. 3-point goals – Potomac Falls 4 (Tierney 2, Robinson, M. Malogne), Broad Run 3 (Stewart, Hart, Robinson). Fouled out – Humphrey.