By most indications, the torch was passed Friday night at the Concorde District boys basketball final as a superior Westfield team took down defending state champion South Lakes, 56-46, in Reston.
The Bulldogs’ patience, poise, and tenacity were too much for the Seahawks to overcome. South Lakes (21-4) suffered a rare home loss, falling to Westfield (19-6) for the second time in less than a week.
Both teams advance to the 6D region tournament, which begins Tuesday. The Seahawks will host Marshall, and the Bulldogs welcome Wakefield.
On Friday, No. 12 Westfield solved a variety of ever-changing defensive schemes, overcoming a slow start which had it down 9-2 in the opening minutes. The Bulldogs led by as much as 11 in the second quarter and did not trail after the first period.
Sixth-ranked South Lakes was down 26-21 at halftime and used its typical stifling defense to pull even at 28 with 5:25 left in the third quarter. But Isaiah Brown, Jr. (10 points) converted a three-point play under the basket 30 seconds later, and Westfield never looked back.
The game became interesting with 3:22 left to go after senior and district player of the year Jordan Scott (11 points) converted a three-point play to make it 48-45, but junior William Robinson (team-high 14 points) scored four points down the stretch as part of an 8-1 run to close the game.
The Bulldogs’ top seven players are underclassmen, making them a top threat not only this postseason but next season, according to Seahawks coach Mike Desmond.
“This was kind of like the passing of the torch,” Desmond said. “It was bound to happen. Things can’t stay this way forever…still, we’re not done yet.”
An overflow crowd showed that these bordering schools now represent the top rivalry in this part of the county.
Jemon Price scored 21 points in his team’s win last Saturday against the Seahawks and had nine while also providing key, on-court leadership in the district final.
“We’re going to line up and be ready to play whoever’s in front of us,” he said. “We know we have to give the same effort, no matter who we’re playing.
“We knew South Lakes would throw a lot at us – a 2-3 and 3-2 zone, man-to-man defenses. We practiced against all of those. We stayed poised. We played with maturity.”
Westfield coach Kevin Harris said Price is more than just a team captain. “Our guys believe in him he’s a great voice on the court, and the players follow him,” Harris said.
Harris called Friday’s win the team’s top accomplishment.
“When I got to Westfield, I could tell the work ethic was there, the culture was there, the will to play hard was there,” Harris said.
“We had to work our way up from the bottom in the past few years. Our players realize that, and they put the work in. They knew playing in the summer in the fall wouldn’t be fun, but it was good for them, and they saw [Friday what can come of it].
“Beating South Lakes last Saturday was great for our program – especially psychologically – because it showed us we could do it.
“South Lakes has a great program. We want to turn them into our rival because if we end up playing South Lakes four or five times a year [that’s a good season because it means a deep run in the playoffs.]”
Champe transfer junior Colin Stemberger orchestrated the offense. The ball was in his hands for an overabundance of the Bulldogs’ possessions.
“My teammates have a lot of trust in me when I have the ball in my hands,” he said. “I just had to keep attacking. We have a lot of great scorers out there, and I was able to find them.”
On defense, Westfield conceded shots from most Seahawks players other than Scott.
“We told ourselves we could live by letting others do the shooting,” Price said.
Other than senior Alec Saunders (team-high 13 points, primarily by creating attempts with penetration), South Lakes mostly struggled from the floor. George Zarechnak hit a deep three at the end of the first half, but the Seahawks made just one three-pointer in the second half. South Lakes finished (unofficially) 3-for-24 from long-range in the game.
“If you look back and see that we took more than 15 to 18 three-pointers, we usually don’t win,” Desmond said afterward.
Desmond said he gave his team until 8:30 Saturday morning to think about the loss before returning to practice to prepare to defend their region and state titles.
“Some of our guys were being selfish on defense,” Desmond said. “They weren’t rotating, they weren’t taking charges. They were saving their fouls. They weren’t giving the extra effort needed. We got killed on the glass.”
Offensively, Desmond said. “If you run your set offense and don’t take a great shot, it’s the same thing as a turnover.”
“We finally played a team that played man defense against us. Westfield decided that they would take away Jordan and let someone else shoot.”
–Paul Bergeron
@PaulBergeron3
I guess the only thing I am confused about is the transfer and recruiting rules. like 6 he top 8 players on Westfield are transfers and all from schools across northern VA (some not even FCPS) Is this allowed now?
Out of curiosity, do you have the stat line for Merrick rillstone?