By Angela Watts
Senior Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
(Look below the story to find two separate video players — one with highlights and interviews from each Concorde District tournament semifinal.)
While students of all ages across the Northern Region are sure to be sleeping with their pajamas inside out and backwards Thursday night — the not-so-traditional way of hoping they’ll wake up to news of a snow day — there are at least two groups of student-athletes and coaches who will not be participating in the trend.
That’s because the area’s biggest rivals — Chantilly and Westfield — are scheduled to meet in the Concorde District championship game at 8 p.m. Friday at Robinson. And having to wait to play the game, they said, would be sheer torture.
“Maybe a two-hour delay,” Chargers’ senior forward Austin Decker said. “I wanna play the game. But a two-hour delay would be nice to sleep in.”
Top-seed and second-ranked Westfield advanced to the finale with a comfortable, 63-43 victory over two-time defending champion Herndon on Thursday. Second-seeded and fourth-ranked Chantilly moved on with a similarly sizable, 59-44 victory over host Robinson.
The Bulldogs and Chargers split their two regular-season meetings, with Chantilly winning 65-52 at home on Jan. 18 and Westfield returning the favor on their home floor, 57-49, on Feb. 12.
If the game is postponed to Saturday, the boys’ game will be moved up to 7 p.m. The girls’ championship game between No. 5 Oakton and Herndon would likewise be pushed from its scheduled time of 6 p.m. Friday to 5 p.m. Saturday.
“I think it’s fair to say we all want to play again,” Chantilly Coach Jim Smith said. “And the sooner the better.”
Truth is, another reason neither the Bulldogs nor the Chargers are anxious for a postponement is that their starters got plenty of rest during Thursday’s semifinal round.
Westfield (20-2) had built a 12-point lead by half time of its game against Herndon and had extended that margin to 48-28 by the end of the third quarter. Nine different Bulldog players scored in the game — eight of them in the first quarter — led by senior forward Maurice Hubbard and junior guard Jay Jackson with 12 points a piece. Senior guard Jamie Richardson added 11.
“We’ve been trying to do that all year,” Westfield Coach Doug Ewell said of the Bulldogs’ balanced offensive attack. “So it was really good tonight, and hopefully we can keep some fresh legs and go at it really hard tomorrow night — or Saturday night — whenever we play.”
Herndon senior sharp-shooting guard Tucker Lucas did lead everyone with a game-high 14 points, but he was the only Hornet player reach double-figures scoring. Westfield limited Herndon to just 13 points over the second and third periods — less than the Bulldogs managed in any single quarter.
“It was a good win,” Ewell said. “We played really good defense in the second half, which was huge. Lucas had eight in the first quarter and I was like, ‘Oh my Lord.’ But [Brian Kennedy] and Jay Jackson really stepped up in the second half and did a good job of containing him.”
Chantilly (21-2) was even more stifling defensively in its victory over Robinson, holding the Rams to a mere four, second-quarter points to turn what had been a two-point deficit at the end of one quarter into a 26-20 lead at the break. The Chargers extended that margin to as much as 59-39 with 1 minute, 41 seconds to play before resting all of its starters.
Decker led Chantilly with a game-high 12 points, while junior guard Justin May and senior point guard Jake Nolan added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Robinson junior guard Jimmy Brewer paced the Rams with 10.
“I know this game just ended, but I already can’t wait to get back out there on the floor against Westfield,” said May, the Concorde Player of the Year. “We’re 1-and-1 [against each other], so we have to get back out there and settle the score.”
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
GAME 1
Herndon 15 7 6 15 — 43
No. 2 Westfield 18 16 14 15 — 63
Herndon — Anane 1 1-3 3; Berry 2 0-0 4; Hamilton 1 0-0 2; Johnson 1 0-0 2; Lucas 4 4-4 14; Drahozal 3 0-0 8; Marentette 1 0-0 3; Hearns 3 1-2 7. Team totals: 16 6-9 43. Westfield — Richardson 5 0-0 11; Kennedy 2 0-1 4; Jackson 3 5-8 12; Free 0 1-2 1; Scanlon 2 0-0 5; Keaney 2 1-2 5; Hubbard 4 4-6 12; Gaston 3 1-2 7; Snow 3 0-2 6. Team totals: 24 12-23 63. Three-pointers — Herndon 5 (Drahozal 2, Lucas 2, Marentette); Westfield 3 (Jackson, Richardson, Scanlon).
GAME 2
Robinson 16 4 11 13 — 44
No. 4 Chantilly 14 12 16 17 — 59
Robinson — Crumplar 0 0-2 0; Williams 1 0-0 3; B. Peek 2 0-0 6; Boettke 1 0-0 2; Brewer 4 2-3 10; Lund 2 1-1 5; Kuter 4 0-0 8; Gardner 1 2-2 4; Aunon 3 0-2 6. Team totals: 18 5-10 44. Chantilly — Nolan 4 0-0 10; May 4 2-2 11; Athearn 3 1-1 8; Decker 6 0-0 12; Fridy 3 0-0 6; Ballam 1 0-0 2; Ricks 0 0-2 0; Tureaud 1 0-0 2; Manning 3 2-2 8. Team totals: 25 5-7 59. Three-pointers — Robinson 3 (B. Peek 2, Williams); Chantilly — 4 (Nolan 2, Athearn, May).
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