Leesburg, Va. — It took 65 years for the Loudoun County High School boys basketball team to win their first region title in 2020. Now, just a year later, the Captains will look to defend that title after rolling through Culpeper County High School, 68-22, in a VHSL Region 4C semifinal on February 9 in Leesburg.
“We’ve had some slow starts offensively, so one of our big goals was to get mentally better,” Loudoun County head coach Mark Alexander said. “Our defense has been there; we knew that going in. Offensively, we wanted to be more efficient and take better shots. We did that and that put them in a hole.”
Over the last two seasons, the Captains have allowed the fewest points per game out of any team in Loudoun County, and while they continue to hang their hat on their defense, they’ve also looked to improve their offense this season by balancing out their attack.
The Captains were able to do just that in the win over the Blue Devils as 12 of the 15 Captains scored. Led by senior forward Kiefer Cummings (14 points, 6 rebounds) and junior shooting guard Brendan Boyers (12 points), Loudoun County used at least a 7-0 run to open every quarter which put Culpeper County on their heels throughout the night.
“We’ve had some pretty slow starts this year, but tonight, we came out early and aggressive and really just executed,” Loudoun County senior guard Caleb Rexroad said.
While the Captains offense clicked from the get go, it was really their defense that kept the Blue Devils off balance, out of the paint, and off the glass. Loudoun County forced 17 turnovers while absolutely dominating the rebounding effort, 47-24.
“We knew they were really aggressive and liked to attack the basket, so we packed it in to help stop their drives and really focused on boxing out,” Rexroad said.
Cummings—along with fellow bigs senior Nate Brown and junior George Mwesigwa—combined to bring down 25 rebounds alone while Loudoun County junior starting point guard Jimmy Daughtrey added 6 more.
Daughtrey—who has developed into an elite distributor—was one of just three Captains not to score in the win, a testament to the fact that Loudoun County has fully bought into “we before me.”
“Our guys are unselfish. They love each other, and they just want to win,” Alexander said. “The special thing about this group is that they see the team success as more important than individual success. That’s just their character.”
Riding a red hot 15-game win streak, the No. 2 Captains (6-0, 15-2) will look to defend their VHSL Region 4C title when they travel to No. 1 John Handley High School on February 11 in Winchester.
“Our main focus all year has been to do everything defensively well, and the guys have bought into it,” Alexander said. “We certainly have to do that against Handley. They’re explosive offensively. They’re the team to beat.”
Caroline Layne captured 250+ photos at the game!
Loudoun County Stats
| Loudoun County | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Kiefer Cummings | 14 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2-for-2 |
| Brendan Boyers | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4-for-4 |
| Jack West | 8 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| George Mwesigwa | 6 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0-for-0 |
| Braxton Griffin | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2-for-2 |
| Caleb Rexroad | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1-for-1 |
| Joey Fitzpatrick | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Nate Brown | 4 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0-for-0 |
| Jason Green | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0-for-0 |
| Caiden Bonamassa | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0-for-0 |
| Tripp Elmore | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Nick Alexander | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0-for-0 |
| Jimmy Daughtrey | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Andrew Titus | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Marshall Colvin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 68 | 47 | 16 | 7 | 8 | 9-for-9 |
Culpeper County Stats
| Culpeper County | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Quentin Butler | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0-for-2 |
| Nathan Amos | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2-for-2 |
| Chase Smith | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Tyler Simmons | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2-for-6 |
| Joseph Crenshaw | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0-for-4 |
| Collin McClanahan | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Zachary Eckard | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 22 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4-for-14 |