By: Dan Sousa
Leesburg (Jan. 17, 2007) – Fear the chameleon! That is the message that the Heritage High School boys basketball team is sending these days.
Granted, “fear the chameleon”, doesn’t exactly invoke terror into the hearts of opponents, but it is certainly as scary as “fear the turtle” and you can’t argue with the Pride’s success since they changed offensive strategy – or changed colors as Heritage coach Mark Mallisham puts it — and went on an 8-game winning streak to take control of the AA Dulles District race.
“If we are going to lose, let’s lose our way,” is how Mallisham describes the coaching staff’s feelings after the team lost at Park View in December and dropped to 3-5 overall. “We change our colors like a chameleon. We don’t care who you are. We are going to get out after you.”
The latest victim to fall to the charm of the chameleon was preseason favorite Broad Run, which fell 62-48 Tuesday night. The Pride (7-1 in district, 11-5 overall) have now swept the season series against the Spartans (6-4, 11-6).
Evidence of the Heritage’s ever-changing game is the fact that D.J. Summers, who dropped 29 on Broad Run in the Pride’s 72-62 win on Dec. 12, was held to just three on Tuesday. Doing the damage for Heritage was junior Preston Findley, who has worked his way into the starting line-up since the season began, and he scored a career-high 18 including four 3-pointers.
“We have a lot of people that can shoot the basketball,” said Mallisham. “We have more weapons than we ever had.”
Case in point, despite Findley’s fine night and the usual steady-hand-on-the-till play of point guard Chris Broderick, the Pride didn’t get much from them in the final quarter as Broderick fouled out with 4:04 still remaining and Findley, on the bench with his fourth foul picked up 24 seconds into the quarter, didn’t score in the fourth.
That didn’t matter as the Pride still had the play of Summers who opened the fourth with a three-pointer to give Heritage a 36-30 lead and McGowan, who scored half of his 14 in the final quarter. Heritage also had the versatile Bobby Edmonds who calmly made all eight of his free throw attempts in the final quarter and hit a 3-pointer.
Broad Run got 16 points from Mark McGlone and 12 from Adrian Mines but Heritage kept Travis Clarke from hitting any 3-pointers until the final quarter and he finished with nine.
“We knew the importance of this game,” said Broad Run coach Larry Boomer who saw his team let a lead slip away Saturday at Potomac Falls. “Our defense has been good enough this season to hold the fort while we have spun the wheels offensively.”
The game, with a surprisingly small attendance, started sluggishly – during one stretch neither team gained a point for more than three minutes. Findley’s 3-pointer with two seconds left in the first quarter made it 14-8 Heritage.
The second looked much like the first with neither team scoring for the first two minutes. A Findley 3-pointer followed by Curtis Rustin’s basket and then Edmonds layin gave Heritage a 21-10 advantage with 3:45 to go until the half.
McGlone drove to the basket to stop the run and then hit a trey to give the Spartans life. His baseline move in the final minute of the first half cut the Pride’s lead to 23-19.
Broad Run was able to tie the game in the third but the Spartans could never take the lead. With it tied at 25, McGowan made two free throws and Findley hit a 3-pointer. Broad Run came right back with Robbie Snow scoring in the transition and then making a put-back to cut the heritage lead to 30-29. Broad Run would not get any closer.
Findley was again the man, calmly stroking another 3-pointer and Potomac Falls led 33-30 after a McGlone free throw.
After Summers’ trey to open the fourth, Rustin made one of two free throw attempts and McGowan hit a 3-pointer for a 40-31 advantage with 6:38 to go. While the Spartans went five minutes in the fourth against Potomac Falls without a field goal, they went over three minutes Tuesday against Heritage and the cold spell cost them a chance to get back into the contest.
By the time Edmonds hit a 3-pointer to make it 45-34, the Spartans starting fouling and the Pride, led by Edmonds, were all but perfect – making 14 of 16 attempts including 12 of 14 in the fourth – to keep in the lead.
“Obviously our focus is now trying to play at home in the first round of the playoffs,” said Boomer.
Broad Run (48)
Snow 2 0-0 4, Snyder 1 0-0 2, Clark 2 4-6 9, McGlone 6 1-3 16, Mines 4 4-9 12, Jasper 0 1-2 1, Johnson 0 2-2 2, Terry 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 12-22 48
Heritage (62)
Summers 1 0-0 3, McGowan 4 4-4 14, Findley 7 0-0 18, Rustin 2 1-2 5, Edmonds 2 9-10 13, Massey 1 0-0 2, Brown 1 0-0 2, Alcala 2 1-2 5. Totals 20 14-16 62
3-pointers: Broad Run 4 (McGlone 3, Clark 1), Heritage 8 (Findley 4, McGowan 2, Summers 1, Edmonds 1).
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