On Jan. 13, McLean’s Varsity Basketball team took on Washington-Liberty Generals at home. The team was coming off an exciting victory versus Marshall and held an undefeated record on a last second buzzer beater looking to repeat their success.
The first quarter was neck and neck, with each team trading blows. Senior guards Logan Baldrate and Jake Bell led the way for McLean, including an extremely deep 3-pointer from Baldrate to put the Highlanders up two with just seconds left in the quarter. The Generals were able to respond however, and the first quarter ended at 13-13.
McLean jumped out to an early 20-18 lead in the second quarter off of a layup from Bell. But just when things were trending in the right direction, the Generals responded with a 7-0 run enabled by sloppy McLean defense. The second quarter ended with more dominant play from WnL and the Highlanders went into the half down 30-22.
“We’ve talked about how we’ve been in close games all year,” head coach Mike O’Brien said. “We were not on the right side of these games, and in the past few, we’ve been learning how to play in these games and it’s a skill to be able to handle that.”
McLean started to claw back to start the third; Baldrate cut the lad to just two points with a pair of free-throws. However, just as they had the Generals in reach, the Highlanders put themselves back into a hole, going down eight points with just a couple minutes left in the quarter.
But with a fadeaway two from Bell and a 3-pointer from senior guard Nick Karageorgos, McLean went into the fourth quarter down only 40-38.
The fourth quarter mirrored the theme of the first. Each squad was trading buckets and neither team could extend their lead. Karageorgos hit a three off of a Generals turnover to go up 47-44, but the Generals immediately responded with a three of their own.
After the Generals went up by two, senior center Roman Ludwikowski hit a layup and drew the foul, giving McLean a two point lead and himself a trip to the charity stripe. He would miss the free throw which W-L immediately capitalized on, going up 51-49 with under two minutes left.
As things started to look bleak, the Highlanders caught a break. Bell was fouled on a 3-point attempt and knocked down all three shots from the line to put McLean back up one with under a minute to go. This lead would be short-lived, as the Generals would be fouled again on the other end, as W-L would go up 1 with seven seconds left.
The Highlanders would call a timeout, determined to put the game away in dramatic fashion. Baldrate inbounded it to Karageorgos, he took a few dribbles, then threw an acrobatic swing pass across the court to sophomore forward Nahome Kidane. Kidane jabbed to his left, and attacked the left sideline, put up a floater as he was fading behind the backboard, and sank it as time expired.
“I was regretting not shooting that three at first because I was open,” Kidane said. “Thankfully I ended up making it. It was the best shot of my life.”
The Highlanders move to 4-0 in district play, their best start in years. Their focus now shifts to Wakefield on Friday night, where they look to continue their run of district dominance.
“The key for us is not getting complacent,” Bell said. “We need to keep pushing, take the season one game at a time and we’ll be really good.”
