On Jan. 22, McLean’s boys basketball team took on Langley on the road in a rivalry bout. McLean was coming off of a loss to Yorktown, but still boasted a strong 5-1 record in the district. The Highlanders looked to bounce back in a highly anticipated matchup.
McLean started the game strong, senior forward Roman Ludwikowski won the opening tip-off and followed this up with a layup on the other end. Both teams would come up empty on the next two possessions, before the Saxons embarked on a massive scoring run, scoring nine straight points to take the lead 9-2 with four minutes left.
After sloppy offense led to a travel by Ludwikowski, it looked like the rails were coming off early for McLean. Luckily, they were able to stop Langley on their next possession, and capitalized on it with a floater from Jake Bell, stopping the Highlanders scoring drought.
The Saxons would follow this with scores on back-to-back possessions to go up 13-6. McLean would respond strongly though, when senior guard Nick Karageorgos hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to four. They would then force a turnover on the other end, leading to another layup from Ludwikowski to make the score 13-11.
After two’s from both teams, Langley had the ball with 30 seconds left in the quarter, up 15-13. Karageorgos would force a turnover, giving McLean a chance to score one more time before the quarter ended. The ball ended up in the hands of senior guard JW Riggins, who hoisted a three that missed. Luckily, Karageorgos was there for the rebound, he put the shot up, and was fouled with less than a second left. He went one for two from the line, and the quarter ended 15-14 to Langley.
“We knew we had to start strong,” Riggins said. “We were happy with how we were playing after the first quarter, even after the slow start.”
The second quarter was similar to the first, with both teams trading baskets. Eventually, with four minutes left in the half, the Highlanders led 23-22. What followed was an extremely sloppy display of offense from both sides. Turnovers and travels plagued the teams and it wasn’t until Ludwikowski finished an and-1 layup with two minutes left that the scoring drought was broken. Eventually, the half ended 26-25 in favor of the Highlanders.
The third quarter began as a back and forth affair. Once again, each team traded buckets for the entire period. McLean still looked a bit out of sync on offense, committing several turnovers in the stretch. Eventually, Langley had the ball with around 10 seconds left in the quarter, they managed to get a shot up which missed. Luckily for them however, the ball bounced right into the hands of a Langley player under the basket, who was able to convert the layup, putting McLean down 36-33 going into the fourth quarter.
“We were down but not out,” senior guard Logan Baldrate said. “We knew if we wanted to come out with the win, it had to be our best quarter yet.”
Unfortunately, this did not come to fruition for the Highlanders. They went scoreless in the first four-and-a-half minutes of the quarter, allowing the Saxons to take a steep, 43-33 lead. Langley’s lead would hover around this number for the rest of the game, which ended 50-40, marking McLean’s second loss in a row.
“The loss was obviously disappointing,” Riggins said. “But we still have a good district record, and a long season ahead of us.”
The Highlanders are now focused on their next game at Herndon on Jan. 27, where they look to get back to winning ways.
“We know we can play better than we did today,” Riggins said. “It’s just a matter of staying consistent in practice, and the results will follow.”
