Potomac Falls avoids 0-3 district start by erasing 14-point deficit

Sterling (Jan. 5, 2008) – Potoamc Falls High School’s “Panther Pit”
is suppossed to be the gym that oppossing teams fear to play in, but
midway through Friday night’s Dulles District contest against Route 7
rival Park View the home court advantage was simply the pits for the
Panthers.

Potomac Falls limped into halftime with a 14-point
deficit, trailing 33-19, and the very real prospects of an
unprecedented third straight loss at home and an 0-3 district start.

“Lose
tonight … and it’s over with, really,” said a candidate Potomac Falls
coach Jeff Hawes after his team rallied in the second half, behind Alex
Hogue’s 18-point performance, to defeat Park View, 64-60.

Potomac
Falls improved to 1-2 in district and 4-5 overall while Park View
slipped into a five-way tie for first in the Dulles with a 2-1 district
mark and 6-3 overall record.

Fans that checked out of the game at
halftime will have trouble believing how the Patriots lost this one
after they looked so dominant in the first half with a half dozen
players on pace to score double digits, led by Thomas Mulabah and Danny
Foley, who each finished with 13.

“We let them dictate what the
game was going to be,” said Park View coach Jeff Schneider. “We stopped
playing as a team and we started playing like five individuals out
there.”

Potoamc Falls, which looked lost at times in the first
half before a student fan base that was unusually silent, roared out of
the lockerrom a different team. You can say the Panther coaching staff
took two approaches … a sort of good cop, bad cop approach.

Hogue
said an assistant told the players that they looked like they weren’t
having any fun out on the court. Have fun … the very essence of why
players play.

Hawes had perhaps a more stern message for his troops: “This is not Panther basketball. It’s unacceptable.”

A
17-3 run put Potomac Falls back in the game and it was trademark
Panther Pit stuff with the fans coming to life and the PF defense
forcing turnover after turnover and then Hogue, scoreless at the half,
sprang to life with three straight 3-pointers in the third quarter.

“We let him get hot by not picking him up quickly enough,” said Scheider.

Once
Hogue caught fire, he couldn’t miss and he hit fiv 3-pointers in the
second half and for good measure, his steal and layin with 4:33 left in
the game tied things at 48-48. Hogue then put PF ahead for good with a
sick turnaround, fadeaway 3-pointer.

“Once you get going, you fell like you can’t miss, you feel like the hoop is five-feet wide,” said Hogue.

The
basket, on the other hand, looked like a thimble to the Patriots as
they were limited to three field goals in the final quarter.

The
Panther coaching staff had been preaching to their players that if they
could catch PV, they would win. Hawes, however, also remembered they
had said the same thing in December in games against Heritage and
Loudoun County and in both of those contests, the Panthers mounted
comebacks only to fall 62-55 to the Pride and 75-71 to the Raiders.

This
time PF maintained its comeback with the help of sophomore Tarrell
Owens, who had a coming out game for his varsity career, as he was a
force in the fourth quarter and he hit a tough shot off the glass after
PV had cut the lead to 51-50 on two Foley free throws. Owens finished
with seven of his nine points in the final quarter. Kevin Barwick
scored 12 for PF.

Kenny Smith got a point back for PV, making it
53-51 with 2:16 left but when Owens missed his next shot, but Aaron
Carter was all alone on the back side to stick it back in for a 55-51
PF lead.

C. J. Leizear hit the second of two free throws to put
PV back within a possession at 55-52 but with 1:35 left, Owens hit a
3-pointer. With the Panthers now leading 58-52, Bartnick came up with a
steal and Foley was charged with a flagrant foul when he tried to stop
him on a layin attempt.

Bartnick then made one of two free throws
and PF got the ball back. Bartnick was fouled and he missed the front
end of a 1-and-1 but Owens got the rebound and was fouled. His free
throw with 55 seconds left gave PF a 60-52 cushion.

Notes: Guards
Marcus Freeman and Josh Jones combined for 10 points in the first half
for PV but the duo was shut out in the second half.