Facing a team coming off a 96-point effort the night before, Oakton’s defense took on a daunting challenge Saturday night against Stone Bridge in the championship game of the Glory Days Grill Tournament of Champions boys basketball game at Lake Braddock.
The Cougars, however, made their “secret weapon” defense work and stifled the Bulldogs throughout to earn a surprising 64-50 victory.
Senior guard Max Wilson scored 22 points and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Teammate and all-tournament selection senior point guard Chris Neary added 15 points, including two three-pointers early in the fourth quarter, and rising senior center Winston Aja-Omu tallied 14 for Oakton (6-4).
Cole DeVido led Stone Bridge (4-2) with 11 and Michael Healy chipped in 10. Bulldogs senior guard Michael Jerome, who poured in 31 points in Friday’s 96-93 win over Lake Braddock, was limited to nine.
Wilson said Oakton entered the game focused on slowing Jerome, who had just four field-goal attempts and two first-half points.
“We used our combo defense, which has become our secret weapon,” Wilson said. “We play a 2-3 zone after made baskets and man-to-man if we don’t score. We knew Jerome was a great all-around player. He’s a good ball-handler and can score by driving to the basket.” Jerome hit just three of 15 field-goal attempts with several of his layup attempts rolling off the rim.
“We came into the game optimistic we could win, but realistically, we knew it would really be a challenge,” Wilson said. “[Senior center Aja-Omu] continued his transformation into becoming a [standout] player and Neary and Eren [Ertan] really stepped up.”
Aja-Omu scored midway through the first quarter to give the Cougars a commanding 17-4 lead. The Bulldogs cut it to 21-15 after a long three-pointer at the first-period buzzer. Oakton scored the first seven points of the second quarter and maintained a comfortable edge until Healy’s basket with 1:34 left in the third quarter pulled Stone Bridge to within 46-40.
In the fourth quarter, the Cougars’ defense was again up to the challenge, as it held Stone Bridge scoreless until Isaiah Rhodes scored to make it 55-42 with 3:40 left in regulation.
Also named to the all-tournament team were Jerome, Rhodes, Jiaan Sehhat (Langley) and David Solomon (Lake Braddock).
In the third-place game, Solomon (10 points) and freshman guard Jamie Kaiser (22 points) combined for 14 of the Bruins’ 23 points in the fourth quarter to help Lake Braddock pull away from Langley and win 80-67.
The Saxons led for much of the first half before the Bruins grabbed a 26-22 edge at intermission. Langley twice cut its deficit to four in the fourth quarter before Lake Braddock ended the game on a 21-12 run.
Jonathan Reiss led the Saxons with 16 points and Thomas Balistrere had 14. Sehhat, who scored a team-high 20 points in Friday’s semifinal, sat for portions of the first half after getting into foul trouble and finished with eight points.
In the consolation bracket final, Stonewall Jackson got 16 points from guard Brandon Pritchett and 15 from Jaden McKenzie to help the Raiders top Briar Woods, 59-53. Stonewall Jackson scored the last six points of the game. Junior forward Dominic Meyers led Briar Woods with 15.
–Paul Bergeron
@PaulBergeron3