Leesburg, Va. — Tied at 31-31 with less than 90 seconds to go in the third quarter, the Loudoun County High School boys basketball team called a timeout and drew up a play. After the inbound, senior point guard Jimmy Daughtrey made a bounce pass between two defenders on a backdoor cut to junior forward Nick Alexander who elevated for the dunk to give the Captains a 33-31 lead.
“It pumps them up and gets the crowd going,” Loudoun County head coach Mark Alexander said. “Nick’s been working hard to be an inside player for us, and he’s doing okay.”
On the defensive side, Alexander grabbed a rebound and trailed Daughtrey down the court, who turned and dished to Alexander who buried a deep three from the top of the key to extend the Captains’ lead to 36-31. On the next offensive possession, Loudoun County held for the last shot, as junior guard Braxton Griffin took his man to the basket, finishing at the buzzer giving the Captains a 38-31 lead after three quarters.
The momentum they built late in the third carried into the fourth as Loudoun County scored 14 unanswered points to build a big lead and never looked back in their 53-37 win over their rival Loudoun Valley Vikings on February 1 in Leesburg.
“Losing to them the first time we played them was like a punch in the face, because we came in thinking we were better than them,” Nick Alexander said. “Tonight, we were really prepared, especially on defense. Holding them to 37 points is ridiculous.”
[adrotate banner=”53″]Even with the defense locking down the Vikings’ playmakers, the Captains were slow to get going offensively. That was until Alexander hit a short jump shot midway through the second quarter and he started to feel in rhythm.
“I was struggling a little bit, but right when I hit that short jumper, I turned to Jimmy and said ‘let’s get rolling,’” Nick Alexander said. “I made two threes to end the half and that was a great confidence booster.”
Following his first bucket of the night, Alexander quickly hit a pair of threes to help Loudoun County tie things up heading into the half.
Throughout the second quarter and coming out of the half, Daughtrey turned up the heat defensively, holding Loudoun Valley sophomore shooting guard Jayden Johnson to just one field goal per quarter as the Vikings never got into a flow offensively.
“[Johnson]’s a pretty dynamic scorer, so anytime you can frustrate him a little bit and take him out of his rhythm is what you want to do,” Coach Alexander said. “Everybody’s been trying to do that, but he’s still been getting his.”
The Captains also limited the Vikings’ second chance opportunities, holding Loudoun Valley to just 7 offensive rebounds, compared to the 18 offensive rebounds they allowed in their first matchup of the season.
“Our guys bought into boxing out,” Coach Alexander said. “Last time we played at Valley, they had 18 offensive rebounds. We can’t give up 18 offensive rebounds and expect to win.”
With the Vikings on their heels, the Captains eventually drew up the play for Alexander as the tides started to turn.
“Both teams were playing really good defense, then we had a defensive breakdown, and then they got someone hot, and we just didn’t,” Loudoun Valley head coach Chad Dawson said. “They executed well, and we didn’t down the stretch and that was the big difference.”
On top of Alexander getting hot, junior shooting guard Jack West also got in on the action, finishing with 17 points, including 12 in the second half and 9 in the fourth quarter alone.
Despite the loss, the Vikings are optimistic about where they are right now, and while they know they have work to do, they have plans for a rematch with the Captains.
“We’re young, but we told the guys we’re not young now, because it’s February and it’s time to get ready for playoff basketball,” Dawson said. “Hopefully, we learned some things tonight, and we can apply those later on and set a goal to be back down here playing again.”
The Captains now control their own destiny: if they win out, they’ll claim the regular season Dulles District title. But it’s back to the basics and one step at a time for the reigning district champs as they look to close out the regular season on a strong note.
“We stumbled against Tuscarora, so we just went back to the basics—the stuff we’ve done here at County since I’ve been here,” Coach Alexander said. “We did that a little better tonight. I’m proud of my guys. They bought in and were able to grind it out.”
Sam Mesecar captured 200+ photos at the game!
Loudoun County Stats
| Loudoun County | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Nicholas Alexander | 18 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Jack West | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2-for-2 |
| Brendan Boyers | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2-for-5 |
| Joseph Fitzpatrick | 5 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1-for-1 |
| Jimmy Daughtrey | 2 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 0-for-0 |
| Braxton Griffin | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Caiden Bonamassa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-for-2 |
| Zachary Hensch | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 53 | 21 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 6-for-10 |
Loudoun Valley Stats
| Loudoun Valley | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Jayden Johnson | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1-for-1 |
| John Santmyer | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-2 |
| Brett Zimmet | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Nathan Boner | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Landen Conrad | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2-for-4 |
| Aaron Babu | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Ben Hall | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0-for-0 |
| Cole Kielhorn | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 37 | 23 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3-for-7 |