Saturday night at McLean, the Centreville Wildcats buried 11 three-pointers, often at key moments, as they defeated the host Highlanders, 59-43. The game concluded two nights of action at the McLean Tip-Off Tournament.
Centreville (2-1), which fell the previous night to Langley in overtime, trailed 2-0 as McLean scored off the opening tip, but never again. Junior guard Jaxson Davis answered with a jumper just inside the arc, and the Centreville defense tightened up, only allowing McLean eight points the rest of the half. The Highlanders were ice-cold shooting the ball early, going over five minutes in the second quarter without a point. At half, the Wildcats led 23-10.
Predictably McLean (2-1) came out of the locker room with more intensity and better offensive ball movement. Everytime the Highlanders made a run Centreville seemed to answer with a three-ball, however. When McLean’s Isaac Bell electrified the crowd with a steal and dunk to cut the lead to 28-19, Centreville’s Jack Siwert answered 15 seconds later with a three as McLean’s pressure defense left him alone in the corner. Later in the quarter McLean cut the lead to 31-25, only to have Centreville’s Hiram Andrades immediately bury a three.
The same theme held in the fourth quarter. After a Bell score, Siwert, who finished with five three pointers on the evening, answered from beyond the arc. When Fuchs scored again, immediately the Wildcats found Siwert once more from long range. McLean’s offense was much better in the second half, but Siwert and his teammates would immediately counter-punch to seal the victory.
Fuchs had 16 points to lead the Highlanders, while Siwert finished with 17 points for Centreville and forward Gordon Person added 11 rebounds. Davis was the driving force behind the WIldcats’ attack, however, leading his team with 20 points and six assists. Although the Wildcats are not senior-laden, they showed what they can do on their best nights.
“I feel like we came out with more energy tonight,” said Davis, referencing his team’s loss the night before. “We played better defense and the offense just came with it. We weren’t really hitting many [threes] yesterday but today was way different.”
–Chris Jollay
all statistics are unofficial
| McLEAN | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| EATON | 2-3 | 1-2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | |
| MULLEN | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |
| FUCHS | 6-9 | 3-3 | 16 | 1 | 0 | |
| BOWSER | 1-5 | 2-2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Isaac BELL | 4-8 | 1-1 | 9 | 1 | 1 | |
| Kacerauskas | 0-5 | 1-2 | 1 | 6 | 2 | |
| Ludwikowski | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Jacob Bell | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| #14 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Higgins | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| McCollough | 1-3 | 1-3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | |
| Stoss | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Baldrate | 0-0 | 3-4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 14-38 | 13-21 | 43 | 16 | 6 | |
| Threes: Eaton 1-2, Fuchs 1-2, Bowser 0-1, Jacob Bell 0-1, McCollough 0-1, Stoss 0-1, Kacerauskas 0-2, Mullen 0-2 | ||||||
| CENTREVILLE | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| Jaxson DAVIS | 6-13 | 5-7 | 20 | 2 | 6 | |
| SIWERT | 6-9 | 0-0 | 17 | 3 | 1 | |
| Scharkowski | 2-4 | 0-0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | |
| ANDRADES | 2-4 | 0-0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | |
| PERSON | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 11 | 3 | |
| Kim | 1-4 | 1-2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | |
| Khraishi | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kyne | 2-3 | 0-0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Mack | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| Hardy | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Maddox Davis | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 20-42 | 8-13 | 59 | 23 | 15 | |
| Threes: Siwert 5-8, Jaxson Davis 3-8, Andrades 2-4, Kim 1-4, Scharkowski 0-1, Kyne 0-1, Maddox Davis 0-1, Khraishi 0-2 | ||||||