Posts
Paul Rowley scored 24 points, including this first quarter buzzer beater in Loudoun Valley's 71-60 win over Potomac Falls in the Dulles District tournament title game Friday at Tuscarora.
By Dan Sousa
Viva Loudoun Editor
(Feb. 19, 2013) - After Loudoun Valley High School repeated its Dulles District boys basketball tournament title on Saturday with an impressive 71-60 win over district co-champion and top seed Potomac Falls, Viking coach Chad Dawson and Panther coach Jeff Hawes said the same thing to the media: "Glad we don't have to face them again."
With Loudoun Valley (22-3) in Division 3 this season, there is no chance of a repeat of the 2012 Division 4 finals when Potomac Falls (22-4) faced and beat the Vikings.
There is, however, a case of deja vu for both teams as the top-seeded Panthers open the D4 quarterfinals by hosting Dulles District foe Tuscarora tonight at 7 p.m. Potomac Falls beat the No. 8 seed Huskies (11-12) twice in the regular season, 77-35, on Jan. 2 and a much closer contest, 74-62, on Feb. 5.
For Valley, the assignment is even tougher as No. 3 Vikings must face one of only two teams to beat them this season, No. 6 seed Heritage (17-7). Valley won the first meeting between the two schools, 61-54 in December but the Pride stunned undefeated Valley on Feb. 1 with junior Zach Coffman scoring an area-best 32 points in Heritage's 77-70 win.
Within a week of the Heritage loss, Valley dropped a pair of contests to Potomac Falls to allow the Panthers to grab a share of the district regular-season title and the top seed heading into Regionals. The Vikings got their revenge on the Pride in the district tournament semifinals with a 57-36 defensive gem of a win on Feb. 13.
The big difference? In Heritage's win earlier in the month, Coffman and senior Mister Lewis combined for 46 points. Dawson and his coaching staff weren't about to let that happen and they employed a triangle-and-2 defense with Coffman and Lewis locked up tight in the semifinal win. Coffman, in early foul trouble, finished with three points and Lewis settled for seven.
The key to tonight's Valley vs. Heritage contest is how the Pride responds to the Vikings attempt to shut down Coffman and Lewis.
Pride head coach Greg Grimes and his staff had a front row seat Friday to watch the Vikings play some of their best basketball of the season as they they turned a 4-point halftime lead of 35-31 into a 50-37 lead with a near-perfect third quarter run.
While junior Paul Rowley fueled the Vikings in the first half with 20 of his game-high 24 points, it was seniors Josh Grimard (18 points), Jovon Miller (8 points), Cameron Kiani (8 points) and freshman Trey McDyre (13 points) doing the damage in the decisive third.
McDyre to things going by knocking down a 3-pointer and then scoring in the transition after a Kiani rebound. The Panthers answered back on baskets by Brandon Orbe and Wanya Allen (team-high 16 points, 10 rebounds), but Valley's control of the boards plus the Panthers going cold from the field resulted in Grimard scoring two quick transition baskets.
Now up 44-35, the lead was stretched with Miller scoring off a McDyre assist and then Miller sprinting ahead for an easy layin. While Potomac Falls had employed a tactic of using the Panthers center, 6-foot-6 Michael Tondi to guard Viking point guard, the 5-10 Kiani to good success in the wins in the prior week, Valley was able to exploit the defense in the third quarter.
The patience Vikings spread the floor and Kiani was able to draw Tondi out of the lane and after a number of passes, Kiani drove to the basket and scored one time on his own but also dished off to Grimard for an "and one" and found McDyre open for a basket. That final play to McDyre was a back-breaker as it came with two seconds left in the quarter and gave the Vikings a 54-43 advantage heading into the fourth.
The Panthers fought to within five points twice int he final quarter but the Vikings had an answer each time, once with Grimard making a tough shot off the press break and the other time with Rowley knocking down a huge 3-pointer. Rowley's clutch make made it 61-53 with 3:20 to go.
Unbelievably, the Vikings only missed two field goal attempts in the second half, going a hot 13 of 15 from the field and Valley went from 5:31 left in the third quarter until three minutes left in the contest without a miss -- a stretch of more than eight minutes.
Rowely's big first half include a buzzer beater to end the first quarter that was several feet beyond NBA range.
Tonight's other two regional boys basketball games feature Loudoun County hosting James Wood and Briar Woods at Liberty.
Loudoun Valley 71, Potomac Falls 60
PF 14 17 12 17 - 60
LV 21 14 19 17 - 71
Potomac Falls
Player FG (3 PT) FT = Pts
Allen 8-13 (0-2) 0-0 = 16
Thomas 5-11 (2-5) 3-4 = 15
Janowski 4-8 (1-3) 5-6 = 14
Shorts 3-13 (2-10) 0-0 = 8
Orbe 2-4 (1-2) 0-0 = 5
Mologne 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 = 2
Totals 23-54 (6-23) 8-10 = 60
Loudoun Valley
Rowley 8-10 (3-3) 5-9 = 24
Grimard 7-12 (1-3) 3-6 = 18
McDyre 5-5 (2-2) 1-1 = 13
Miller 4-10 (0-0) 0-3 = 8
Kiani 2-4 (0-2) 4-4 = 8
Totals 26-45 (6-12) 13-23 = 71
Rebounds
PF: 28 (Allen 10, Orbe 4, Janowski 4, Tondi 3, Fischetti 3, Thomas 1, TEAM 3)
LV 31 (Rowley 10, Miller 8, Grimard 6, McDyre 2, TEAM 2, Kiani 1, Smolens 1, Payne 1)
Turnovers
PF 2 5 2 2 - 11
LV 3 2 4 5 - 14
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment