By Phil Murphy
DigitalSports.com
(Look below the story for video highlights full highlights and post-game interviews from Friday’s game.)
During the third quarter of Langley’s 60-49 win at McLean Friday night, the opposing student-sections, who were packed so full students were left sitting on each others’ laps, rattled the Highlander gymnasium with various chants..
The one that rang loudest — and most true — was the resounding “M-V-P” after each respective basket by Saxon senior Ryan Davenport and Highlander senior Tarek Ammoury.
A 28-26 Langley lead at the half quickly evolved into a third-period shootout between arguably the two best players in the Liberty District.
Ammoury’s nine points in the quarter were slightly bested by Davenport’s 12, and allowed the Saxons (14-2 overall, 6-2 Liberty District) to stretch the lead to 48-40 by quarter’s end.
“I was feeling pretty good with my shot in the first half,” said Davenport, who needs 63 more points to break the all-time Langley career scoring record of 1,204 points. “I made a couple threes, so I felt pretty good from outside. Second half, I was looking for my shot a little bit more than the first half.
“There were some opportunities to shoot the ball, I let it go and, fortunately, they all went in. It was fun.”
Davenport scored 21 of his game-high 24 points in the second and third quarters collectively, but it was Langley Coach Travis Hess who may have proved most valuable after all. Hess made a late-game, defensive adjustment that helped hold McLean scoreless in the fourth quarter until just 3 minutes, 23 seconds remained.
“During the fourth quarter, we switched into a diamond-and-one, like a box-and-one,” Davenport said. “That’s how we shut down Tarek last year. Tarek didn’t really hurt us in the first game this year — he had about 10 or 12 points. But this was Tarek in vintage form, he played really well throughout the game.
“When we switched to the triangle-and-one … Tarek just couldn’t get the ball. Barrett Hunter, who was the one on Tarek, does a great job guarding him and I think he deserves a lot of credit for the fourth quarter.”
Ammoury, whose team-high 22 points would have likely been higher had it not been for first-half foul trouble, agreed that the change in strategy hurt him.
“Man, they ran that box-and-one,” Ammoury said. “They did that my sophomore and junior year and we lost all four times.”
Still, this rematch of the Dec. 21 game, which was decided McLean guard Peter Brosnan’s three-pointer with :4.1 seconds to play, lived up to its billing.
“I’ve played in Langley-McLean game now for three years, and the one thing you always know: the gym is going to be packed,” Davenport said. “There are going to be so many people, and you’re going to be really excited to play the game before the game. And you have to calm yourself down and say ‘It’s just a basketball game.’
“This year there was more on the line because both teams have really good district records … We showed in the second half that we have a lot of poise. We stuck with it and got a nice win.”
McLean, which has lost four of its last six games, needs to string some Liberty District wins together quickly in order to avoid a difficult district tournament draw next month.
“We’re going to try and have an enjoyable practice [tomorrow],” said Highlander Coach Kevin Roller, who is 9-7 in his first season at the helm. “Basketball, every possession, tests people’s composure. And all I know how to do is tell them, ‘Let’s get back to work, let’s keep getting better, let’s keep having fun.’ And we’ll get ready to play Tuesday night.”
Tuesday night is a district game against Thomas Jefferson, which McLean defeated, 62-57, on Jan. 4.
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
Langley 12 16 20 12 — 60
McLean 13 13 14 9 — 49
Langley — Davenport 8 4-5 24; Malik 5 2-4 12; Baker 3 3-4 10; Hunter 1 4-4 6; Kody 2 1-2 5; Sekel 1 0-0 3. McLean — Ammoury 6 9-9 22; Russomanno 5 0-0 10; Brosnan 2 1-1 6; Kanellias 2 0-0 5; Bouchard 2 0-0 4; Dahl 1 0-1 2. Three-pointers — Langley 6 (Davenport 4, Baker, Sekel); McLean 5 (Russomanno 2, Ammoury, Brosnan, Kanellias).
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