To say things looked bad for the Potomac Panthers early on the road against Potomac Falls would be an understatement.
Potomac fell behind 20-5 early in the 5A North regional semi-final, unable to penetrate Potomac Falls’ zone and out of sorts in a packed, hostile gym. Then, as soon as the Panthers clawed their way back to 20-10, star center Nana Opoku picked up his second foul with over five minutes left in the second quarter. Potomac has fallen behind early in several games this year only to come back to win, but at that point it seemed like a comeback win here would be a very tall order.
Nah. Potomac has what coach Keith Honore calls the “heart of a champion.” That, and a bunch of missed free throws by Potomac Falls, enabled Potomac to rally and come away with the win, 50-43. The Panthers advance to host Albemarle, which defeated Wakefield, in the 5A North Championship Game Saturday.
“Tonight we just had to display championship behavior,” Coach Honore said after the game. “They came out and punched us in the face early.”
Potomac Falls certainly did that. The home team’s 2-3 zone gave Potomac a ton of trouble early. Potomac Falls big men Ian Anderson and Grant Misch constantly bodied and bothered Opoku, keeping the 6’8″ senior’s impact on the game to a minimum. Potomac missed a lot of three-pointers, really the whole game, and on the other end of the floor Potomac Falls guard David Walls and his teammates made shot after shot.
“They did a very good job of taking him [Opoku] away,” Honore said. “We went in at halftime, we were able to settle down a little bit, able to regroup, make a few adjustments. Then we came out in the second half, kept our composure and went right back at them.”
Down ten to start the second half Potomac slowly started to come back. Jaylen Williams converted a lay-up off a nice pass from senior guard Elyjah Camp to make it 30-23. A few minutes later Opoku rebounded a miss by a teammate for a three-point play to make it 32-28. Finally, Potomac went ahead 36-34 on a tip by Jamal Washington off another miss. The Panthers were crashing the offensive boards and Opoku and Washington, their two leading scorers, were getting it done.
But Potomac Falls didn’t quit and started to attack the rim with a renewed intensity. The home team got to the line a ton in the final quarter–it just couldn’t convert. No one seemed able to hit free throws late. Potomac Falls hit 7 of 19 free throws overall, a stat that will no doubt stick in the memory of head coach Jeff Hawes for a while.
Even with that Hawes’ team had its chances. But Opoku stepped up patrolling the lane on defense, blocking shots, and Potomac Falls couldn’t connect. There was a sequence late with Potomac Falls trailing by four where Walls missed two shots and Brian Sweeney two three-pointers. Potomac Falls kept getting offensive rebounds, second chances and the ball in their stars’ hands. It just wasn’t to be on this night.
Potomac Falls (19-7) isn’t done, although its 13-game winning streak is. Hawes’ squad will play Wakefield in the third place game Saturday and has already qualified for states. There’s plenty of time to erase the bad memories of Thursday night, in which the home team shot an uncharacteristic 0-15 from three-point range. Walls was still very good, leading the team with 16 points. Anderson was also very good, contributing a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Opoku led Potomac (22-2) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Washington added 12, and Honore’s squad got a nice lift by senior forward Edward White off the bench. White had six points and was a beast on the boards with 16 rebounds. A key drive by him late fouled out Misch, one of Potomac Falls’ bigs that did such a good job defensively on the night.
“It was up to us to make adjustments,” Honore said. “And we did that. Our kids did that. Kudos to our kids.”
–Chris Jollay
all stats are unofficial
| POTOMAC | FG | FT | TP | RB | AST | |
| SCRIBER | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | |
| MCDONALD | 2-9 | 0-0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
| CAMP | 3-16 | 3-5 | 9 | 4 | 3 | |
| WASHINGTON | 4-11 | 3-4 | 12 | 2 | 2 | |
| OPOKU | 6-10 | 4-4 | 16 | 10 | 0 | |
| Williams | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| White | 2-6 | 1-4 | 6 | 16 | 2 | |
| TOTALS | 18-57 | 11-17 | 50 | 39 | 8 | |
| Threes: White 1-2, Washington 1-3, McDonald 1-7, Opoku 0-1, Williams 0-2, Camp 0-4 | ||||||
| POTOMAC FALLS | FG | FT | TP | RB | AST | |
| SWEENEY | 3-13 | 0-0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | |
| SWEAZIE | 3-17 | 2-2 | 8 | 2 | 0 | |
| WALLS | 7-15 | 2-6 | 16 | 6 | 0 | |
| NEMER | 0-2 | 1-2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | |
| ANDERSON | 4-5 | 2-5 | 10 | 14 | 0 | |
| Misch | 1-1 | 0-4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |
| Anthony | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 18-53 | 7-19 | 43 | 34 | 2 | |
| Threes: Nemer 0-1, Walls 0-2, Sweazie 0-3, Sweeney 0-9 | ||||||