Boys Basketball: Precise Shooting Potomac Falls Clinches Return Trip to State Tournament

By Jason S. Rufner
Special to VivaLoudoun.com via Loudoun Times-Mirror

Sterling (Feb. 25, 2011) - If the phrase "shooting the lights out" were literal, the gymnasium at Potomac Falls High School would have gone completely dark long before the end of the Panthers' 86-61 shootout win over Briar Woods on Thursday.

The home team riled up Potomac Falls' always rambunctious crowd with barrages of marksmanlike outside shooting that persisted all game long in the Region II Division 4 boys semifinal matchup.

The victory propels the Panthers (26-1) to an appearance in the region title game and the automatic spot in the Division 4 state tournament that comes with it. They also secure a chance to defend the Division 4 state championship won a year ago in the program's 14th season of existence, all under coach Jeff Hawes. First the Panthers will host Liberty Saturday at 7 p.m. in the regional title game.

"We shot 64 percent last night against Broad Run and I'd venture to say we were close to that again," said Hawes, referencing his squad's 86-56 win on the same floor Wednesday against the Spartans in a regional quarterfinal.


Playing before their raucous classmates in the "Panther Pit," Potomac Falls has not suffered a home loss this season.

"It definitely was a dream of mine 14 years ago when I got the program to build something that people in the community would come out for," the Panthers' veteran coach said. "We've really made this place a real tough place to win for more reasons than one."

Briar Woods (17-10) bows out of its campaign having nearly doubled the school record for wins, one of several first-time achievements under the Falcons' fourth-year coach Mike Benson.

"I couldn't be prouder of my boys," Benson said. "Seventeen wins? When I got here it was zero wins. [This season] We were up there in the [Dulles] district and made it to the region semifinals. We also got better as the season went on."

The game was a spree-for-all on Potomac Falls' pointsheet, with 11 different Panthers finding the bottom of the net.

Lukas Mihailovich came out of the locker room nailing 3-pointers, dropping two from long range within the game's first 20 seconds. The Dulles District's Division 4 Player of the Year finished with 19 points, nine coming from beyond the arc.

The 3-point shot would factor for both sides throughout. The Falcons' junior guard trio of Myles Tate, Yves Kounme and Corey Faciane provided quickness and effective perimeter shots to hang with the hot-shooting and bigger Panthers.

Those three tallied all of Briar Woods' eight 3-pointers, combining with Tate's lightning zigzags through congested lanes for layups to pull the visitors to within a single point late in the first half. But a factor Hawes says he likes to call "spurtability" came into play, and a narrow Potomac Falls advantage suddenly exploded.

"They were up one, next thing I turn around and they're up 13," Benson said. "We ran into a train tonight."

That train's conductor might agree.

"We're lucky that when we get rolling we can put up eight, nine points on you in a hurry," Hawes said. "Just our speed and so many different people can score, it's very valuable to us."

Late in the third quarter as the Panthers were mounting a lead as much as 29, their shortest man, senior Pete Simoneau, rose up for an extremely deep, closely contested 3-pointer -- and buried it. The throng of purple-clad Potomac Falls supporters erupted in hysterics.

The Falcons competed throughout as per Benson's stated mantra, but were unable to cut deeply into Potomac Falls' lead through the second half.

"That's the only thing I asked of them when I came to this program, was to play hard. You can see that they do that," Benson said of his players, singling out departing senior Curtis Calder, a four-year varsity performer whom Benson calls "a leader."

The Panthers reset their focus to host Liberty on Saturday at 7 p.m. A win would give Hawes' squad a second straight Region II crown.

"I think we're peaking at the right time. A lot of kids are shooting the ball well. We're probably playing our best defense of the year," Hawes said. "Everything's coming together at the right moments."


Potomac Falls 86, Briar Woods 61

BW: Tate 25, Faciane 12, Kouame 12, Rolin 6, Calder 4, Ryan 2

PF: Mihailovich 19, Curran 14, Chesson 10, Graves 10, Simoneau 9, Hoover 8, Wagenhoffer 6, Sweger 4, Hobby 2, Kress 2, Shanosky 2

Halftime: PF 41-30

3-pointers: BW 8 (Faciane 4, Kouame 2, Tate 2); PF 9 (Mihailovich 3, Simoneau 3, Curran 2, Chesson)