Boys Basketball: Depth Charge! Deep Potomac Falls Torpedoes Broad Run Once Again

Sterling (Feb. 23, 2011) - A little over a year ago the Potomac Falls High School boys basketball team fell to rival Broad Run , 48-46, and when Panther coach Jeff Hawes went to the videotape he saw a tired starting unit stagger down the stretch while his bench barely broke a sweat.

Hawes vowed to never let that happen again and since then the Panthers have used their bench and depth to become the best AA team in the state -- winning eight straight to close out last season, including wins over Broad Run in the district and regional tournaments, as Potomac Falls collected Loudoun's first ever boys basketball state title.

This year with the entire starting line-up back and most of the bench, the depth charges have continued as Potomac Falls has won 24 of 25 -- the only loss to AAA power Osbourn -- including three more wins over Broad Run, by 11 points in December and then by 22 points earlier this month and Wednesday night by a whopping 30 points, 86-56, in the Region II Division 4 quarterfinals.

Top-seeded Potomac Falls (25-1) will face another familiar foe Thursday in the semifinals as the Panthers host Dulles District foe Briar Woods (17-9), as the No. 5 seed Falcons went on the road Wednesday and beat No. 4 Fauquier, 83-67, with Myles Tate scoring 31 to go with 19 from Matt Rolin, 16 from Curtis Calder and 10 from Corey Faciane.


"It is huge to have the homecourt advantage," said Hawes. "We are very comfortable being right back here at home tomorrow night."

Broad Run (19-5) stuck with Potomac Falls most of the first half before a run in the final minute of the second quarter gave the Panthers a 37-32 edge at the break but in the second half, Potomac Falls was just too deep and too talented for the Spartans who over two years went 39-9 with six of the losses to Potomac Falls.

"They are an awesome team," said Broad Run coach John Costello. "They are deep. They have a lot of weapons. They are a hard team to stay with for 32 minutes."

Lukas Mihailovich keyed the run in the final minute of the first half Wednesday, breaking a 30-30 tie with a transition layin and resulting free throw for a three-point play. Mihailovich went on to score 20 of his game-high 27 in the second half.

The Panthers had two others in double digits but it wasn't 6-foot-7 Greg Graves, who had eight points and seven rebounds while fighting some foul troubles, or swingman Brendon Chesson, who had six points and five rebounds, but it was 5-foot-7 guard Pete Simoneau off the bench with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and 6-6 Mickey Wagenhoffer who had what Hawes called "the game of his life" with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.

"Our starters are amazing but we have a good group of guys that can come off the bench and play just as well as the starters," said Simoneau.

There were no big runs in the third quarter as Potomac Falls stretched a 5-point halftime lead into a 10-point advantage going into the final quarter but just steady, solid play by the Panthers as Potomac Falls gained a rebounding edge and switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone that prevented Spartan sophomore Nigel Johnson (team-high 24 points) from getting easily to the rim.

For most of the second half Broad Run had to work hard for its points and Potomac Falls seemed to just glide down the court and get easy transition baskets with Mihailovich just as comfortable as the finisher as he was as the distributor. Alex Kress came off the Panther bench to provide a spark, scoring five of his eight points.

Broad Run was within six, 47-41, with 3:14 left in the quarter but Mihailovich went inside for two points and then Simoneau dropped back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Panthers up by 14, 55-41, with 1:51 left in the quarter.

Nigel Johnson answered with a 3-pointer and swiped the ball and made a breakaway layin but Broad Run was starting to run out of gas and the Panthers came rolling out in the final quarter, scoring 12 straight points to blow the game wide open.

Mihailovich had four of the first five field goals during the run and assisted Chesson with a nice pass on the other. Wagenhoffer's final basket of the night made it 70-48 midway through the quarter.

Taylor Johnson finished with a double-double in his final game for Broad Run, scoring 15 points with 10 rebounds.

Potomac Falls 86, Broad Run 56
BR 18 14 16 8 - 56
PF 20 17 21 28 - 86

BR (19-5): Ellington 1 0-0 2, TJohnson 6 2-4 15, NJohnson 10 2-2 24, Rawson 2 2-3 6, Hiatt 4 0-0 9. Totals 23 6-9 56.
PF (25-1): Chesson 2 2-2 6, Hobby 1 0-0 2, Simoneau 5 0-0 13, Curran 2 0-0 4, Byrd 0 2-2 2, Kress 2 4-5 8, Sweger 1 2-2 4, Mihailovich 11 5-5 27, Wagenhoffer 6 0-0 12, Graves 3 2-2 8. Totals 33 17-18 86.

3-Pointers: BR 4 (NJohnson 2, TJohnson 1, Hiatt 1), PF 3 (Simoneau 3).
Rebounds: BR 28 (TJohnson 10, Jasper 3, Anderson 3, NJohnson 3, Rawson 2, Ellington 1, TEAM 5), PF 37 (Wagenhoffer 11, Graves 7, Mihailovich 7, Chesson 5, Simoneau 1, Curran 1, Byrd 1, Kress 1, Hoover 1, TEAM 2).