Sterling, Va. — On January 16, the Potomac Falls High School boys basketball team faced their biggest challenge of the season when they hosted Potomac District favorite Riverside in Sterling, falling 75-73. After that game, many teams would have changed their preparation, but Potomac Falls felt otherwise.
“Honestly, we didn’t change anything in practice,” Potomac Falls sophomore guard Josh Orbida said. “That’s what we do every practice. We always work hard in practice, always 100%, and yeah, nothing different.”
That standard preparation allowed the Panthers to bounce back from the loss with a 62-47 win at Briar Woods on January 21. Three days later, Potomac Falls picked up another Potomac District win after a 51-47 second-half comeback against Stone Bridge on January 24 in front of rowdy home fans in The Panther Pit.
“We felt like we needed to protect our home turf,” Potomac Falls head coach Jeff Hawes said. “The first half, we pride ourselves on defense, and the kids kept fighting, but we weren’t smooth at all. We had 13 turnovers. So we cut our turnovers in the second half, and we rebounded the ball a little better. Stepped up our intensity on defense, and we settled down and put ourselves in a good position.”
Orbida (21 points, 2 assists) scored a game-high 21 points for the Panthers. Potomac Falls senior forward Troy Hooper (13 points, 7 rebounds) added 13 points. Sophomore guard Adit Apte (7 points, 3 rebounds) scored 7 points and knocked down a huge buzzer-beater three to end the third quarter.
“Josh [Orbida] had a good game,” Hawes said. “He’s tough, it’s good to have the ball in his hands. He had the big free throws at the end of the game, I’m very confident with having him at the line.”
After long possessions from both teams to open up the game, Orbida started the scoring by making a three-pointer from the wing off of a rebound.
Then, the Bulldogs went on a 11-0 scoring run to cheer up the away fans. Stone Bridge sophomore guard Carter Burnes (9 points, 2 rebounds) knocked down a deep three to give the Bulldogs the lead. All the Stone Bridge starters chipped in during the run.
Potomac Falls fought back with 6 points from Hooper, but Stone Bridge finished the first quarter leading 17-9 after freshman forward Kaden Golston (12 points, 13 rebounds) made a layup before the buzzer sounded. The Bulldogs started hot on their field goal attempts after making 67%—14 points in the paint—while limiting the Panthers to only 31% from the field.
After a slow start from both teams to open up the second quarter, Stone Bridge senior guard Charlie Stanek made a floater to extend the Bulldogs lead to 19-9. Later in the quarter, Burnes knocked down a three on the fast-break for a 25-13 Stone Bridge lead. However, Orbida responded with one of his own on the next possession.
Potomac Falls junior guard Colton Call grabbed an offensive rebound and put up a layup before the buzzer sounded, cutting the Stone Bridge lead to 27-20 at halftime. Both teams played physical defense and forced turnovers, but the Panthers only shot 26% from the field in the first half.
“We’re inexperienced and we haven’t been in a ton of tight games,” Hawes said. “We didn’t panic at halftime, we just settled down and talked about what we thought we needed to do better, and I thought we played a really good third quarter.”
In the first minute of the third quarter, Apte made a three-pointer to reduce the Potomac Falls deficit to 29-24. Then, senior guard Brennan Hytten (4 points, 4 rebounds) made two consecutive layups to make it a one-point game, 29-28. However, Stone Bridge sophomore guard Kevin Reyes (15 points, 1 assist) made a quick pull-up three on the next possession.
Both teams had a back-and-forth affair for the rest of the third quarter. A Hooper layup tied the game, but Burnes made another three-pointer to keep the lead with Stone Bridge. However, Apte made a three from the corner on the last possession of the quarter to give Potomac Falls a 38-37 lead heading into the fourth frame.
“We could definitely feel the difference in energy, it helps us a lot,” Orbida said. “We couldn’t be here without our [fans]. We were helping each other out, and the way we bounced back in the second half is what we do. We do that at practice, and it translates to games.”
A couple minutes into the fourth quarter, Stone Bridge tied the game at 42-42 after a Reyes three, but Orbida responded to put Potomac Falls back on top, 45-42. Stone Bridge junior guard Sam Rubino (3 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists) and Reyes both made shots to cut the lead to 49-47 with just over a minute left in the game, however, Potomac Falls made their free throws and played physical defense down the stretch to hold on 51-47.
“You only have ten district games as it is, you don’t want to give up one at home,” Hawes said. “We already felt like we let one slip at home this year, so it was good for our young group to close one like that.”
Potomac Falls (3-1, 14-2) travels to Potomac District foe Lightridge on January 27. Stone Bridge (2-2, 7-4) returns back home on January 28 against Riverside.
“We call it ‘Pantheruary,’ we don’t call it February,” Hawes said. “We always pride ourselves on being ready for ‘Pantheruary.’ We’re just trying to tighten everything up and get ready. It’s a long way to go, but it feels good tonight to be second place [in the Potomac District], because one and two get byes in our [district]tournament.”