By Phil Murphy
Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
**Re-live the entire game in 14 minutes with the videos and interviews below the story.**
In a game featuring two teams whose previous two meetings had been decided by a total of just seven points — the latter of which came just four days ago in the regular-season finale that even required an extra period to be decided — what happened Tuesday night between McLean and South Lakes in a key Liberty District first-round match-up should not have come as a surprise.
The Liberty, after all, is the tightest, deepest district in the Northern Region as evidenced by the fact that the host Seahawks, the fourth seed in the tournament, finished with the same regular-season district record as the league’s second- and third-seeded teams.
Fittingly, then, every quarter of Tuesday’s first-round game in Reston featured a basket made in the last two seconds of play — the most critical of which proved the game-winning shot — and three ties in the final minute of regulation.
But that was before Highlander sophomore guard Sean Fitzgerald tipped home an errant, would-be game winner from senior guard Peter Kanellias with :01.6 seconds remaining.
Fitzgerald’s timely putback proved to be the difference as McLean stunned a promising No. 6 South Lakes team, 55-53, to advance to the Liberty District semifinals on Thursday.
“I saw Peter coming from the corner and I flashed in,” Fitzgerald said. “I thought maybe I could get a dump-in. Every one went out and I just ran to the backboard and tipped it in. It feels good.”
The result also guarantees the Highlanders (13-10) a berth in the upcoming Northern Region tournament, while it prematurely ends the Seahawks’ season.
“We’ve been a second half team for a while,” said South Lakes Coach Darryl Branch, in his first year replacing Wendell Byrd – for whom the Seahawks’ gym is named. “We’re playing at home; we should find some momentum to win this game. We have seven seniors – four who start – they didn’t want this to be their last game.”
McLean held a 20-10 lead after the opening quarter, but South Lakes held the Highlanders to just four second-quarter points to close the gap to 24-21 at half time. The Seahawks had doubled their offense total by the end of the third quarter to take a narrow, 42-41 lead into the final period.
The lead never grew to more than three points for either team in the fourth quarter, and an inside basket by Kanellias (game-high 20 points) assisted by senior Tarek Ammoury (16) tied the game at 49 with 1:44 remaining.
Forty-five seconds later Kanellias struck again, this time on a back-door cut courtesy of a Peter Brosnan assist. Brosnan finished with seven points, including a buzzer-beating jumper to close the first half.
Then, off a miss by South Lakes senior Thomas Mayo, fellow senior Jay Bowman (six points) emphatically slammed the rebound through the net to again knot the score at 51 apiece and send the Seahawk supporters into frenzy.
A foul awarded Kanellias a one-and-one opportunity with :31.7 seconds left and gave the Highlanders a chance to reclaim the lead. As the sharpshooter sauntered to the line with the extension of his senior season hanging in the balance, he did nothing short of capitalize.
“When I went to the free-throw line, instead of pausing and thinking about it, I just went up there and shot it,” Kanellias said. “I’ve never shot my free throws that fast.
“The crowd was loud … I felt the need to step up.”
Kanellias’ clutch pair was followed immediately by a response from Seahawk junior Travis Williams, who led South Lakes with a team-high 18 points. Williams took his defender off the dribble and deposited a floater to tie the game — again — at 53. McLean signaled for a time out with just under :10 seconds remaining.
Fitzgerald scored what ultimately proved to be the game-winner on McLean’s ensuing possession, but there was still more than a second-and-a-half showing on the clock. Mayo inbounded to Curtis Keys (11 points) who turned, took two dribbles and released a half-court prayer that appeared to be released after the final buzzer.
“The shot went up, and I saw the officials watching the ball,” said a voiceless McLean coach Kevin Roller, whose face bore a wide-eyed look of nostalgic horror. “None of them were waving it off. And I thought, ‘Oh my God, if that goes in they’ll count it and I’ll flip out. I’ll be going to prison tonight.'”
Roller’s facetious rant never came to fruition. When the dust settled, Keys’ shot was off-target and it was McLean who advanced deeper into the playoffs.
A dejected South Lakes (17-6), the only Liberty-District team to defeat top-seeded and No. 3 W.T. Woodson, will go no further. That reality left fans and players alike staggering through campus – for much longer than ordinary – in a state of disbelief.
Nearly an hour after Fitzgerald’s heroics, a vacuum drone hummed through vacant hallways. The tables partitioning the hall from the home lockers were scraped away. The disappointment at the abrupt end of such a promising season was palpable.
And a first-year coach, the last to leave the locker room, climbed the faded-gray stairs to the court where his dreams of a playoff run had unexpectedly dissolved.
“I felt like if we’d gotten out of this district … we may have had a chance to do something,” Branch said solemnly. “I really wanted to get them to the regional tournament. McLean is a great team, no knock on them. They beat us fair and square.
“But I just think we could have done better.”
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
McLean 20 4 17 14 — 55
No. 6 South Lakes 10 11 21 11 — 53
McLean — Kanellias 8 2-2 20; Ammoury 7 2-6 16; Russomanno 3 0-0 7; Fitzgerald 3 0-0 6; Brosnan 3 0-0 6; Team Totals: 24 4-8 55. South Lakes — Williams 7 2-3 18; Price 5 4-4 14; Keys 5 1-2 11; Bowman 2 2-2 6; Clark 2 0-0 4; Team Totals: 21 9-11 53. Three-pointers — McLean 3 (Kanellias 2, Russomanno); South Lakes 2 (Williams 2).
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