Ashburn, Va. — Coming off a tough loss to district foe Loudoun Valley less than a week before, the Heritage High School boys basketball team was looking to get back in the win column when they traveled to Rock Ridge on January 22.
“District road wins are hard. We had a tough week last week: an emotional win against Tuscarora, a good win against Dominion, then a little bit of a let down on Friday night [against Loudoun Valley]. I’m just proud of our guys for just grinding it out tonight,” Heritage head coach Ben Farquhar said. “That’s part of us being a younger team too, learning how to approach a game knowing we can’t sleepwalk through anybody in this district, especially on the road.”
After jumping out to an early 8-0 lead, the Pride eventually had to battle through the second half to fend off a surging Phoenix squad to earn the 48-36 Dulles District win.
“It’s always good to get a win,” Farquhar said. “It’s a win-win for us, because we know there’s still a lot of things we can clean up and we’re still walking out of here with a double-digit win.”
Led by a half dozen sophomores, the Pride’s youthful energy showed early as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the game. Despite a pair of Rock Ridge threes midway through the first quarter, the Pride continued to execute in transition as a pair of steals by sophomore forward Alex Cox (7 points, 2 assists, 4 steals) and another by sophomore guard Masyn Miller (12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks) led to transition points for sophomore forwards Liam Roane (6 points, 7 rebounds) and Tyler Burns (6 points, 3 rebounds).
“I’m really confident with how we guard: our length, our pride on that end of the floor is something that’s really special to me,” Farquhar said. “We rotate enough guys that if we make teams guard us for extended periods of time, we can wear them down and finish games out.”
Late in the first quarter, Heritage sophomore point guard Dylan Williams (5 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals) grabbed a rebound before going coast-to-coast to extend the Heritage lead to 18-6.
Another three by Rock Ridge senior guard Akash Kulkarni (7 points, 2 assists) cut the Heritage lead to 18-9 after the first frame.
A pair of free throws by Miller followed by a Williams dime to sophomore guard Jordan Garland (10 points, 4 rebounds) gave Heritage a 13-point lead to open the second quarter, their biggest lead of the night.
Trailing by 10 to open the second half, the Phoenix continued to fire off threes as senior guard Lorenz Penn (9 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) and junior forward Siddharth Donthireddy (3 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals) buried a triple each to cut the lead to 28-24 midway through the third.
Following the Donthireddy three, Miller drove to the basket and scored on a tough and-one, scoring three the old fashioned way to extend the Heritage lead to 31-24.
Penn, however, had another answer as he buried a three to cut the Pride lead back to four. Again, Miller answered with a tough drive and finish, missing his and-one free throw before Rock Ridge senior guard Will Beck (13 points, 2 assists) hit his third three of the night, cutting the Heritage lead to three for the first time since the opening minutes of the first quarter.
Despite trailing by as many as 13 late in the first half, Rock Ridge had whittled the Heritage lead away before Penn drilled a three from the wing to open the fourth quarter, cutting the Pride lead to just 35-33.
“We just talked to each other to make sure we stayed focused,” Williams said. “We wanted to run the clock down and execute on what our coach told us.”
After empty trips for both teams, Cox answered with the Pride’s only three of the night, re-extending the Heritage lead to 38-33. A few possessions later, Cox added to that lead with a drive and score.
Rock Ridge cut the deficit to 5 once more before Heritage took care of business at the free throw line to fend off the Phoenix, 48-36.
“We’ve been really good defensively all season. We knew if we could be patient offensively, we could start to wear them down a little bit,” Farquhar said. “We’ve been in close games throughout this year, so we’re learning how to close games out and win.”
Heritage (3-1, 11-3) will look to ride their momentum into a Region 4C matchup with Broad Run on January 23. Rock Ridge (1-2, 5-8) will look to bounce back when they travel to Loudoun County on the same night.
“We just have to keep working hard,” Williams said. “We don’t need to worry about who we’re playing or what their record is—we just have to keep working hard and playing our game.”
Owen Gotimer captured 50+ photos at the game!
Heritage Stats
| Player Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Masyn Miller | 12 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4-for-6 |
| Jordan Garland | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-2 |
| Alex Cox | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Liam Roane | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0-for-0 |
| Tyler Burns | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Dylan Williams | 5 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3-for-4 |
| Aaron Brown | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Ryan Conley | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Beckham Hetzel | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Sean Martin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Ethan Stuntz | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Luke Antonelli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 48 | 35 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 7-for-12 |
Rock Ridge Stats
| Player Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Will Beck | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Lorenz Penn | 9 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0-for-2 |
| Akash Kulkarni | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1-for-4 |
| Sid Donthireddy | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Mihir Peta | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Dylan Chemoiwa | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Josh Veneros | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Alex Canfield | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Filippo Gomes | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Dawson Boupha | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 36 | 17 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 1-for-6 |