Leesburg, Va. — You don’t see many 6-foot-3, 180-pound guards in Loudoun County. In fact, most teams in Loudoun would kill to have a big man at that size. That’s what the Heritage High School boys basketball team has in their chief playmaker, junior Max Jannes. And Jannes put his full scoring arsenal on display as the Pride defeated the Broad Run Spartans, 57-49, in a Dulles District matchup on February 6.
“He’s been a floor general and a leader, and he steps up in big games,” Heritage head coach William Hatchett said. “He keeps the guys focused, and when he plays hard, when he does things well, we do things well as a team. He’s not just a leader, because of the basketball part of it but on and off the court as well.”
An early defensive intensity gave Heritage a 10-3 lead midway through the first quarter, before Broad Run closed the gap to 17-15 after the first eight minutes. While the Pride’s defense continued to shine in the second quarter, Heritage struggled to score the basketball as Jannes scored all 8 of the Pride’s second-quarter points, heading into the locker room, trailing 26-25.
“We have a really young team, so that creates more shots for me because I have to step up. But when I’m hitting shots everyone else hits shots,” Jannes said. “The season hasn’t gone as planned, but tonight was a really big win to help get us out of our slump.”
Despite the 1-point deficit at the half, Heritage felt they had Broad Run on the ropes defensively, and the Pride turned that defensive intensity up in the third quarter. Led up top by senior forward Chris Hohenschutz, Heritage forced seven Broad Run turnovers in the third quarter alone, allowing the Pride to take the lead and widen the gap between them and the Spartans to 41-33.
“We want to play really fast. We want to get those steals and press up, but sometimes it doesn’t always work so we have to press back,” Jannes said. “Tonight, we installed a new defense, and it looked really good out there. We just gotta keep switching things up once the opposing team gets it.”
After a slow third quarter, Broad Run started to find some rhythm offensively, thanks in part to Heritage having to back off a little bit defensively because of team foul trouble. However, for every Spartan bucket, the Pride had an answer as Broad Run never pulled within two scores in the final eight minutes.
He’s been a floor general and a leader, and he steps up in big games.
—Heritage head coach William Hatchett
Jannes finished with a game-high 19 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and nabbed 4 steals. Heritage junior forward Alex Tiiokeng finished with 12 points and 7 boards, while freshman point guard Blake Rorrer added 12 points and 3 assists.
Broad Run was led by junior point guard Mason Sergi, who finished with a near double-double of 12 points and 9 rebounds.
Heritage (3-7, 8-12) and Broad Run (3-8, 5-15) will both travel for their Dulles District quarterfinal games, but getting hot at the right time, late in the regular season, could provide both teams with a spark in the postseason.
“Win or lose, the only thing that I’m really concerned about is effort,” Hatchett said. “If we give effort, enthusiasm, and energy, I can’t complain, but when we lose when three of those things are missing, then I have a problem. So, at the end of the day if we continue to play hard, it will be a successful season.”
Heritage Stats
| Heritage | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | Free Throws |
| Max Jannes | 19 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1-for-2 |
| Alex Tiiokeng | 12 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Blake Rorrer | 12 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3-for-4 |
| Christopher Hohenschutz | 7 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1-for-4 |
| Loic Ndjomgoue Chezeu | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1-for-3 |
| Luke Triplett | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Braden Smith | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Jeffrey Johnson | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Brayden Gardner | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Arjun Wadehra | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Kyle Alt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Jay Ghuman | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 57 | 24 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 6-for-13 |
Broad Run Stats
| Broad Run | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | Free Throws |
| Mason Sergi | 12 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3-for-6 |
| Dylan Traxler | 9 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5-for-6 |
| Jayden Thornhill | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2-for-2 |
| Joshua Wigenton | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-for-1 |
| Luke Schwartzbeck | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2-for-4 |
| Colby Buzzelli | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-for-3 |
| Matin Perdue | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Lance Lacny | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 49 | 31 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 14-for-22 |