Last night, the boys varsity basketball team faced off against George C. Marshall High School, moments after the girls varsity basketball team crushed Marshall 58-27, more than doubling the Statesmen’s points. With the victorious atmosphere still lingering on the court, the boys team hoped to defy their slim 49-46 loss to Marshall just over a month ago.
Things didn’t start well for McLean despite winning the tip-off. A stifling defense from Marshall held early drives to the basket locked up, and Marshall center Anderson Krisko, who stands at an imposing 6’6, 195 pounds, seemed to nab every rebound.
“They’re big on inside rebounding,” said Mike O’Brien, McLean’s head coach. “[Krisko’s] size and length were a problem for us. We were trying to be physical with him and trying to constantly not let him get the ball at all.”
Marshall’s strong defense and rebound game played a large role in the underwhelming first-half performance, but McLean’s failure to convert open shots didn’t help. Marshall, by contrast, took an early lead from several three-point shots through the first quarter.
As the first half wound down, McLean seemed to freeze the Statesmen’s offense, holding them at 19 points. Over the next several possessions, it seemed that McLean was closing the gap, landing a string of layups. Sensing this, Marshall head coach Jerry Lin called a time-out, enthusiastically reminding his players of “defensive focus.”
This pep talk seemed to work wonders from the start of the second half. Marshall threw off the defensive grip held by McLean, allowing the teams to trade points throughout the following quarter. Marshall then pulled ahead, closing the third quarter 37-27.
Things started to take off in the fourth quarter. Realizing their time constraints—and out of time outs to pause the clock—McLean played with a renewed vigor, sprinting down the court each possession. Unfortunately, despite their energy, they couldn’t convert their fast breaks with Krisko dominating the court, who was blocking shots and securing rebounds.
But McLean made their big break in the final minutes. Two three-pointers and a layup—all on consecutive possessions—made it clear that the Highlanders were gunning for a final-moment comeback. However, Marshall was unrelenting with their aggressive offense and edged out enough points to keep McLean at bay. With the clock winding down, McLean turned to fouling Marshall players to stop the time.
The Highlanders’ strategy banked on the Statesmen missing their free throw shots awarded by the fouls. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen, with Marshall guard Shreyas Vaida nailing two free throw shots to seal the game. Now desperate, in an attempt to pause the clock again, point guard Sawyer Barrett shoved a Statesman out of bounds, drawing intense fury from Marshall’s side of the court.
This act of desperation was futile, and the clock ultimately wound down with Marshall up 5 points, 50-45. Dejected, Highlanders shuffled into the locker room after their hard-fought battle.
Looking forward, they’re looking to solidify their defense.
“I think we can keep working on defensive pressure because if we can get more aggressive on defense, we can force more total turnovers and get more fast breaks,” team captain senior Rece Bowser said.
Similarly, the Highlanders hope to put a large emphasis on rebounding in the coming days. If the Highlanders grabbed a few more defensive rebounds, the game would have been in their hands.
“We will look to improve on rebounding,” O’Brien said. “We missed some shots today, but hopefully, we’ll have another game where we’re hitting those shots, and it doesn’t put us behind early where we’re playing catch up the whole time.”