On Tuesday night, McLean’s boys basketball team took on the Chantilly Chargers in the first home game of the season. The Highlanders had started the season strong, being undefeated through three games and were looking to continue their strong start. Chantilly was coming off a close loss on the road at Garfield and was looking to bounce back.
The game started off strong for the Highlanders. Early scores put them up 8-5, before junior forward Jake Bell hit a three-pointer to put the Highlanders up 11-5 at the end of the first quarter.
The Chargers matched the Highlanders’ intensity, scoring nine unanswered points to start the second quarter. The rest of the quarter remained close with a few more lead changes. McLean drew a foul with 10 seconds left in the first half, leading to junior guard Nick Karageorgos knocking down both free throws, bringing the Highlanders within two. However, Chantilly executed their final play of the half perfectly, hitting a three-pointer to beat the buzzer, putting the Chargers up 31-26.
Both teams had a sloppy start to the second half, with no scores on either side in the first three minutes. A McLean turnover led to an open layup for the Chargers, ending the scoring drought. With just a minute and a half left, and the score being 33-28, McLean called a timeout to try to end their scoring troubles. Coming out of the timeout, the scoring ramped up, both teams traded three-pointers to close out the quarter, with Chantilly exiting with a 38-33 lead.
The final quarter of play had no shortage of scoring. Chantilly extended their lead to 11 early on in the half with some prolific shooting, along with some careless turnovers from McLean. Chantilly’s lead hovered around 10 for most of the quarter, until McLean brought it back within six with two minutes left in the game.
Late fouls by the Highlanders kept putting the Chargers at the line, who consistently converted on their free throws. As the time left dwindled, three-pointer after three-pointer missed for the Highlanders, as a feeling of defeat set in throughout the crowd. Mclean ended up losing the game 53-44, falling to 3-1 on the season.
“Obviously we were disappointed with the result of the game,” junior guard JW Riggins said. “I think we could’ve played better as a team and followed the game plan a bit more to win.”
McLean is looking to move past the loss with their next game against Fairfax, where they hope to bounce back and return to the win column.
“It was a tough loss, but I’m just looking forward to the rest of the season,” Riggins said. “This team is really special, and we can do some big things this year.”
