Boys Basketball: Dulles District Showdown! Potomac Falls and Broad Run Meet Tonight in Ashburn

(Jan. 29, 2010) - The top two Dulles District boys basketball teams and two of the top teams in the state in AA, Potomac Falls and Broad Run, meet tonight in a showdown of one-loss teams in Ashburn.

Potomac Falls (8-0, 15-1) is ranked No. 2 by the Associated Press in the state and Broad Run (6-1, 16-1) is ranked No. 3. The Spartans only loss was a buzzer beater loss at Potomac Falls in December as PF junior Zack Curran fired off a 3-pointer from the corner with less than a second left. The Panthers only loss came to Loudoun Valley the day after a draining triple overtime, 111-108, win over Stone Bridge.

What You Need to Know About Tonight:

Potomac Falls (8-0 in Dulles District, 15-1) at Broad Run (6-1. 16-1), 7:30 p.m.
AP Rankings in AA for the state: PF No. 2, BR No. 3

Can't Make the Game: Verizon FiOS will televise the game next week on delay, Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. and Thursday at 2 p.m. and then the game will be in the On Demand section of your local Verizon FiOS service.

Potomac Falls in Sterling opened in 1997 drawing part of its student body from Broad Run (which opened in 1969) in Ashburn. There has been a healthy rivalry ever since.

Potomac Falls coach: Jeff Hawes ... 13th year, only coach PF has ever had! Panthers were very young last year and started the year 9-2 but struggled at the end, dropping four straight to finish with four straight losses, including quarterfinal losses in the district and regions to end the year, 14-10. Panthers always contend for district titles!

Broad Run: Second-year coach John Costello, who was previously the freshman boys coach and a decade earlier was a varsity assistant, has been on a roll. The Spartans started 11-1 last season and finished 20-6 including a title in the Dulles District tournament but fell in regional semifinals. Costello took over a program that went 7-15 the previous season.

Last Meetings
Dec. 18, 2009 - Potomac Falls 66, Broad Run 63 - Zack Curran's buzzer beater was the difference as Panthers created turnovers in closing minutes for comeback win
Top players for each team played like it: JR Lukas Mihailovich for PF had 23 and SR Kevin McGaughey for BR had 20. They are thought of as the top two players in the Dulles District

Feb. 10, 2009 - Broad Run 70, Potomac Falls 60
Jan. 12, 2009 - Broad Run 64, Potomac Falls 56

Feb. 14, 2008 - Potomac Falls 64, Broad Run 59
Jan. 14, 2008 - Potomac Falls 64, Broad Run 42

Feb. 17, 2007 - Broad Run 66, Potomac Falls 56 (district semifinals)
Jan. 13, 2007 - Potomac Falls 51, Broad Run 42
Dec. 8, 2006 - Broad Run 63, Potomac Falls 57

Feb. 17, 2006 - Broad Run 54, Potomac Falls 52 (district semifinals)*** every game in the series this season went down to the buzzer!
Feb. 6, 2006 - Broad Run 68, Potomac Falls 65
Jan. 3, 2006 - Broad Run 50, Potomac Falls 49

Players to Watch on Each Team

Potomac Falls
Lukas Mihailovich JR (21.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.2 apg)
Gregory Graves SO (7 rpg, 3 blocks per game, averaging close to 15.0 ppg over the last five contests)
Zack Curran (8.5 ppg, 5.5 apg)

Broad Run
#25 Kevin McGaughey SR 6-5 (21.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg, connected for 21 3-pointers on season)
# 22 Taylor Johnson JR 6-3 (12.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg ... since Jan. 11 ... five straight double-doubles, averaging 17.2 ppg and 13.6 rpg)
#33 Ahmad Zafar SR 6-1 (13.2 ppg)

Keys for Broad Run
No. 1 Control the tempo (PF is excellent in transition ... BR wants to slow them down)
No. 2 Rebound (The 6-4 Ali Janjua in the starting line-up is to try and match the height of Graves)
No. 3 Turnovers (they turned the ball over three times in the last 90 seconds of loss in December)

Keys for Potomac Falls
1. Who controls the other teams "Stud" (Mihailovich vs. McGaughey!)

2. Who scores more in transition (PF wants to score in transition)

3. Who keeps the other off the offensive glass

PF Starters (****They start no seniors!)
No. 14 G Zack Curran JR 6-2

No. 35 G Brendon Chesson JR 6-2

No. 33 F Lukas Mihailovich JR 6-0

No. 50 F Greg Graves SO 6-5

No. 45 C Mickey Wagenhoffer JR 6-5



BR Starters

No. 31 G Eric Hiatt JR 5-9

No. 25 G Kevin McGaughey SR 6-5

No. 33 F Ahmad Zafar SR 6-1

No. 22 F Taylor Johnson JR 6-3

No. 23 C Ali Janjua SR 6-4

More from Costello: "I cannot remember a time when both teams were this highly ranked in the State (No. 2 and No. 3). I could not be any happier for the kids, it is what high school basketball is all about. I am also very proud of my kids in that since our defeat to Potomac Falls 10 games ago at the buzzer, which was very disappointing, they did exactly what you are supposed to do after such a tough loss: Get back in the gym and work harder and get better and better everyday to avoid it from happening again."