Coming off of a 5-0 record in the Liberty District, McLean had their sights on their final challenger: the Yorktown Patriots. Yorktown had been dominating the district for the past two years, but the Highlanders were determined to change that.
“We have been practicing for this game and want to come out hard and fast to catch them on their toes,” senior JW Riggins said.
The game started off stagnant, with both teams trading baskets. Yorktown took an 11-9 lead towards the end of the first quarter. McLean had a shot to end the quarter but it fell out, leaving the quarter at the same score.
In the second quarter, the theme was the same. Both teams went basket for basket with neither team pulling far ahead. Senior forward Roman Ludwikowski was taking over in the paint, punishing any Yorktown defender that matched up with him.
With seconds on the clock, McLean pushed down the field and sunk a three to boost momentum in the gym for the Highlanders. The half ended with McLean down a small 18-17 margin. At the half the focus was all on scoring points, which they lacked heavily in the first half.
“We didn’t start the way we wanted too; we got complacent,” Riggins said. “We weren’t scoring where we needed too and had got sloppy.”
However, McLean was unable to produce any sort of offense at the start of the third quarter. Yorktown went on a strong 12-0 run on the backs of multiple unforced errors from the Highlanders.
After a timeout from head coach Mike O’Brien, the entire lineup swapped from an all-senior lineup to an all-sophomore lineup. This was seen by the crowd as insanity, but the senior lineup was struggling and the sophomores came in hot. Pulling the game back within reach, the sophomores took a break and the starters came back on to prove that they could still compete, and the third quarter ended with Yorktown only up 34-29.
In the final quarter, The theme of the first half was replicated, with both teams going tit for tat with baskets. Towards the end, Yorktown started to pull ahead, but back to back threes from Ludwikowski and senior guard Nick Karageorgos brought it to a 39-35 game.
McLean was halted however, only scoring one more point after a deep Yorktown three forced them to start fouling. When the clock hit triple zeros, Yorktown had pulled ahead with a final score of 45-36.
“We came into this game without the readiness that we needed,” sophomore guard Max Liu said. “We weren’t ready for the physicality that Yorktown brought to the game.”
The Highlanders are sitting at 5-1 in the Liberty District and 7-10 overall. Right now they are in a good position, but they have to close out and replicate their early district success come playoffs.
“We’re looking ahead to being able to handle pressure better,” Liu said. “We have to make sure we are safer with the ball and taking better care of it.”
