VA Northern Regional Boys Finals Set: T.C. Titans to Face Langley Saxons
March 1st, 2008 Posted in virginia high school basketball playoffs, Virignia High School Boys Basketball, High School SportsLocalReplay.com was once again at the Patriot Center in Fairfax VA to cover the boys Northern Regional Semis. Jurgen Tabaku from Ani Deni Films took video duty while Bruce Small from F-11 Images was all over the photography.
Their highlights will be posted shortly on the Virginia Basketball Playoffs Link.
Or just paste this link on your browser: http://LocalReplay.com/Virginiahighschoolbasketballplayoffs
7:00 Game: The Langley Saxons used a second half surge of stingy defense and timely offense to pull away from the Madison Warhawks. The Warhawks and their rowdy fans were thinking upset when a last second three pointer gave them a 19-16 halftime lead. Whatever the Saxon head coach said during the break must have been pure inspiration.
Langley shutdown the Warhwak attack and raced to a 32-21 lead with 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Madison finally drained a 3 to end a 5+ minute scoring drought, but it was now Langley with the momentum and the lead, 32-24 going into the decisive 4 quarter.
Madison would not go down without a fight as they shaved the Langley lead to 40-34 with 1:31 remaining, but were unable to capitalize on opportunities to get closer. The Saxons hit their free throws and paved their way to the final on Saturday night @ 9:00 pm.
9:00 Game: The T.C. Williams Titans athleticism proved to be too much for a scrappy Lake Braddock Bruins squad, and this time the score was of the normal nature, 50-37.
Last week, these two teams faced off in the Patriot District Semis, the score was 26-20. Let us just say that the highlights from tonight’s semi will a bit more fun to watch. However, the first quarter did give us some flashbacks. TC led 12-6, but fans were mostly treated to Lake Braddock’s “pass to setup the pass” offense. As critical as some of the fans were, the strategy was actually brilliant, because it kept the underdog Bruins in the game until the 4th quarter. The Bruins realized they did not want to get into a fast pace, up and down game with the super-athletic Titans and needed to keep the score within reach. For a minute, it almost felt like Lake Braddock would pull the upset.
TC stretched their lead to 20-11 at halftime and then 27-16 with 3:50 left in the 3rd. The Bruins refused to give up as they battled back to within 4 at 27-23 with 2:00 minutes left, and settled for 31-24 score at the start of the final quarter. Were we in for a big upset? The confident Titans were not going have it. In fact, they seemed to turn their switch to a new level in the 4th and Lake Braddock simply ran out of gas. The Titans led by as many as 17, 45-28 with 2:50 left and finished off a tough Bruins squad, 50-37.
TC will likely be the overwhelming favorite to win the Northern Regionals vs Langely on Saturday night. They would be foolish to take Langley lightly and LocalReplay feels like this game could go either way.
We shall see, and We shall write as we see! LocalReplay will be LIVE BLOGGING from the Patriot Center tomorrow night for both the Girls and the Boys finals…. so tune in to the VA BLOG..click here!
7:00 pm: Lee Lancers vs Woodson Cavaliers
9:00 pm: TC Williams vs Langley Saxons
LR Media Partners: Sean Broadus on Video, Tim Wallace on Photo…See you soon.
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