Washington-Liberty coach Bobby Dobson was unsure of his optimum player rotation before a road game with Falls Church Tuesday night. So, he shook up the starting lineup.
After the game, a 70-42 rout of Falls Church, he’s still unsure of his eventual rotation. But after 16 Generals played and 14 scored, he’s got a lot more options to consider now.
“We’re still searching, it’s early in the year, we’re just trying to find out guys who can play,” Dobson said. “This is a whole new group for me.”
Early on his new starting five seemed to fall flat as the Jaguars took a 17-9 lead out of the gate. Dobson subbed out that starting five with another, and then another, and things started to click. The Generals went on a 17-0 run to take a 26-17 lead and never looked back.
One big part of that run was Jyot Sahni, one of Dobson’s four seniors on his roster of 16. Sahni started earlier this season but came out with the third unit on this night. He delivered, hitting four first half three-pointers to propel the visitors to the lead.
“He can really shoot the ball,” said Dobson of Sahni. “This was the first four threes he’s hit all year. He’s been coming in at six in the morning and shooting…and tonight that showed.”
Others delivered as well, with juniors Carmichael Williams and Mitchell Tuvshin contributing five first half points each off the bench. In fact, the bench scored 29 of Washington-Liberty’s 37 points by halftime, at which point the Generals led by ten.
Then, Dobson sent out the same players who started the game to start the second half. Those five (Gabriel Smith, Emmett Engelhardt, Jonathan Malatesta, plus freshmen bigs Jack Cameron and Luke Jones) played much better as Dobson’s team extended its lead to 18 by the start of the third quarter.
“We needed this win,” he said. “We needed to get some confidence for our guys. I thought we shared the ball, and we finally knocked some threes down.”
It was the first win of the year for Washington-Liberty (1-4). The Generals will be back in action Friday night as they host Oakton before playing Woodgrove Saturday in the Braylon Meade Tournament. Braylon Meade was a W-L basketball player killed in 2022 from a drunk driver, and the day of basketball will help raise money for scholarships to be presented in his name.
Falls Church fell to 2-2 on the year with the loss. The Jaguars got a great performance from senior guard Gewa Noah, who hit four three-pointers and finished with 19 points.
–Chris Jollay
all statistics are unofficial
| WASH-LIBERTY | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| G. SMITH | 3-8 | 1-2 | 8 | 1 | 4 | |
| ENGELHARDT | 2-6 | 0-0 | 6 | 4 | 1 | |
| MALATESTA | 2-5 | 1-4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| CAMERON | 1-5 | 0-1 | 2 | 7 | 1 | |
| JONES | 2-5 | 1-4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | |
| Dodini | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tuvshin | 2-5 | 0-0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
| Williams | 3-4 | 1-1 | 7 | 5 | 1 | |
| R.Smith | 3-7 | 2-2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | |
| Allen | 2-3 | 0-0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | |
| Haron | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sahni | 4-6 | 0-0 | 12 | 1 | 1 | |
| Greer | 1-6 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | |
| Abdullah-Leatherwood | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Wheeler | 1-8 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Fantaye | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 27-73 | 7-16 | 70 | 32 | 15 | |
| Threes: Sahni 4-5, Engelhardt 2-4, Jones 1-2, G.Smith 1-3, Tuvshin 1-3, Malatesta 0-1, Cameron 0-1, Haron 0-1, R.Smith 0-3, Wheeler 0-4, Greer 0-4 | ||||||
| FALLS CHURCH | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| NOAH | 7-14 | 1-4 | 19 | 3 | 1 | |
| E.LEWIS | 2-7 | 0-1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |
| TYREKE EUELL | 2-4 | 1-4 | 5 | 10 | 0 | |
| SHUKRAN | 2-2 | 0-0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | |
| SCHNEIDER | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| K.Lewis | 2-3 | 0-0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | |
| Blair | 0-5 | 2-2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Assi-Revis | 1-3 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| Rettig | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| D’Ambrosio | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Tyrese Euell | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Yimer Wolle | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 16-44 | 4-13 | 43 | 36 | 7 | |
| Threes: Noah 4-8, Shukran 2-2, Assi-Revis 1-1, Rettig 0-2, E.Lewis 0-2, Blair 0-4 | ||||||