Act One goes to…The Patriot Pioneers!
Will there be an Act Two? Very possibly. Billed as a potential Class 6 State Tournament preview, Tuesday night’s South Lakes-Patriot tilt was technically limited in importance–a non-district game in December. Still, after their 83-72 home win, the Pioneers came away feeling like they were closer to a state championship than the Seahawks.
While Patriot is a team known for its defense, South Lakes simply wasn’t making shots early, especially from outside. The Seahawks were 0-8 from three-point range in the first half, while Patriot was 6-8 from beyond the arc. That was essentially the difference between the teams at halftime, with Patriot up 40-25.
That theme continued in the second half, though South Lakes played better overall. In the third quarter, after the Seahawks had closed to within 12, Patriot senior Dezmond Hopkins hit one of his four three-pointers on the night. Shortly thereafter, Patriot forward Isaiah Vick found Tey Barbour open for a three. Pioneers sophomore guard Carson Cook, getting his first action of the game, then drilled a three off another feed from Vick. South Lakes’ third quarter run was done.
In the fourth, the Seahawks made another run. South Lakes star guard Jordan Scott started to assert himself, and the Seahawks shooters started to make some shots from outside. The visitors closed the lead to seven points twice, the last time when Brian Kennedy found Tyler Andre open for a triple to make it 71-64.
Vick, as he had done earlier in the quarter with a thunderous dunk that electrified the Patriot crowd, answered the rally with a bucket off the dribble on Scott. The Seahawks never seriously threatened again.
The box score tells the tale. Patriot (5-2) made the same amount of free throws as South Lakes on five less attempts. The teams took the same amount of three-pointers, but Patriot made nine more. In short at home, the Pioneers shot the ball far better than the Seahawks.
There were lots of impressive individual performances for Patriot. Barbour led the way with 23 points and nine rebounds. The Harvard signee was composed and effective. Hopkins added 17 points and helped run offense effectively. As did Vick, who led the team in assists and seemed to come up with key buckets as needed. Sophomore Kai Wilcox hit three treys without a miss, and Mekhi Dillard was his typical solid self on defense. In addition, the Pioneers bench outscored the Seahawks’, which was key.
Scott led South Lakes (7-1) with 28 points in a game that didn’t feel evenly matched until the fourth quarter. There’s still lots of reasons to think a rematch might go differently, especially on a different floor.
Don’t tell Patriot that, or that this game wasn’t important, however. Make no mistake, the Pioneers served notice with the win that they’re the Class 6 team to beat from Northern Virginia.
–Chris Jollay
all statistics are unofficial
| SOUTH LAKES | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| VITA | 4-11 | 1-2 | 9 | 5 | 1 | |
| KENNEDY | 4-9 | 5-6 | 13 | 3 | 8 | |
| SCOTT | 10-17 | 6-11 | 28 | 8 | 2 | |
| ROCHESTER | 2-7 | 2-3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | |
| BILLINGS | 2-6 | 0-0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Andre | 2-6 | 1-2 | 6 | 4 | 0 | |
| Zschunke | 3-5 | 0-0 | 6 | 7 | 1 | |
| Rillstone | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 27-61 | 15-24 | 72 | 29 | 12 | |
| Threes: Scott 2-6, Andre 1-5, Billings 0-1, Vita 0-3, Rochester 0-4 | ||||||
| PATRIOT | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| WILCOX | 3-3 | 0-0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | |
| HOPKINS | 6-12 | 1-1 | 17 | 4 | 4 | |
| DILLARD | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| BARBOUR | 6-13 | 8-10 | 23 | 9 | 3 | |
| VICK | 7-11 | 3-4 | 17 | 4 | 6 | |
| Halim | 3-6 | 1-1 | 8 | 1 | 2 | |
| Keenan | 1-2 | 2-3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Crumity | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Pennix III | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cook | 1-1 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 28-50 | 15-19 | 83 | 23 | 16 | |
| Threes: Hopkins 4-6, Wilcox 3-3, Barbour 3-6, Cook 1-1, Halim 1-2, Vick 0-1 | ||||||