Basketball sponsored by cheers sports
By: George Khalsa
Leesburg (Jan. 25, 2008) – After Park View High School junior guard Marcus Freeman missed his first three shots Thursday he thought: “I might be cold tonight.” Wrong!
Freeman proceeded to make his next 11 field goal attempts, including seven 3-pointers, to lead his Patriots past Loudoun County, 73-67, in a match-up of two of the four teams that formed the logjam called first place in the AA Dulles District.
Park View needed every one of Freeman’s shots to overcome the Raider’s hot shooting back court duo of Brett Tagg and Joe Bushrod who scored 18 and 21 points, respectively, in this entertaining battle in Leesburg.
Park View is big … and quick, a tough match-up for a Loudoun County team that usually had just two players over 6-feet tall on the court at any given time.
The Patriots controlled the boards in the first quarter overcoming six turnovers to take a 13-7 lead.
In the second quarter however, Loudoun County Coach Brian Blubaugh came up with a way to neutralize the Patriots’ height advantage. His strategy: they can’t rebound a field goal, so just make every shot you take. With a couple minutes to go in the half the Raiders had scored on nine of 11 possessions, only failing to score when they turned the ball over twice before getting a shot in the air.
The half ended with County pulling to within three.
Their hot shooting continued into the third quarter and after a spectacular give-and-go in which Timmy McLister scored on a lay-up from a Donne Lucas feed, the Raiders took a 37-32 lead after three minutes of the stanza. But Freeman’s uncanny bombardment helped Park View retake a 50-47 lead going into the fourth, despite a Raider buzzer-beating half court three from Bushrod.
Park View’s size reasserted itself in the fourth quarter as the 6-2, 275-pound Thomas Mulabah would score 10 points on two nifty post moves, two fast break lay-ups and 2 of 2 from the foul line. Not only does the big center take up a lot of space in the post where he plays more like a 6-5 center, he also runs the floor like a guard, dishing three pretty assists in the last quarter as Park View cemented the victory.
“Thomas knows he’s going to be double-teamed very night,” said Park View Coach Jeff Schneider. “He’s working hard on seeing the entire court and finding the open man.”
Park View will now host Heritage on Tuesday night with first place at stake as the Pride defeated Potomac Falls on Thursday. Both Park View and Heritage are 6-2 in district with LC, PF and Broad Run just a game back at 5-3. Park View defeated Heritage 55-54 with a last-second comeback on Dec. 21.
Park View atLoudoun County
January 24, 20087
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Park View | 13 | 29 | 50 | 74 |
Loudoun Co | 7 | 26 | 47 | 67 |
Park View Patriots
# | Name | 2 point FG | 3 point FG | Foul Shots | Points |
10 | C.J Lazier | 2 | 2 | 3-5 | 13 |
20 | Marcus Freeman | 4 | 7 | 0-2 | 29 |
24 | Jordan Owens | 1 | 0 | 0-2 | 2 |
34 | Danny Foley | 4 | 0 | 5-10 | 13 |
50 | Brock Pennington | 0 | 0 | 1-2 | 1 |
54 | Thomas Mulabah | 6 | 0 | 3-4 | 15 |
| Total | 17 | 9 | 12-25 | 73 |
Loudoun County
# | Name | 2 point FG | 3 point FG | Foul Shots | Points |
3 | Brett Tagg | 4 | 2 | 4-6 | 18 |
4 | Joe Bushrod | 3 | 5 | 0-1 | 21 |
5 | Timmy McLister | 2 | 1 | 2-2 | 9 |
22 | Donne Lucas | 5 | 0 | 4-6 | 14 |
23 | DJ Lane | 1 | 0 | 1-2 | 3 |
50 | Rick Cottom | 1 | 0 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Total | 16 | 8 | 11-17 | 67 |
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