Sterling, Va. — With the top spot in the Potomac District up for grabs, the Stone Bridge High School boys basketball travelled down Algonkian Parkway to battle the storied Potomac Falls Panthers in their first encounter of the season. To add to the anticipation, last season’s matchups provided two nailbiters, each decided by 4 points or less.
While the Panthers closed the gap to just 3 points in the third quarter, the Bulldogs led from start to finish to take control of the top spot in the Potomac District with a 65-56 win on January 8 in Sterling.
“We’ll take what we can get on the road against Potomac Falls in their house,” Stone Bridge head coach Kent Kling said. “We knew we just needed to play harder than them, because we know they play hard; if you’re coming to Potomac Falls, you’re trained at birth to play hard.”
Stone Bridge didn’t have the start they were hoping for as junior guard Kevin Reyes (27 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) picked up an offensive foul on his first drive of the game.
A few possessions later, the Bulldogs opened the scoring when junior shooting guard Carter Burnes (4 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists) finished at the rim to put Stone Bridge up 2-0.
On the other end, Potomac Falls junior point guard Josh Orbida (21 points, 3 rebounds) got to the line, knocking down the second of two free throws.
Reyes responded by driving to the basket, drawing a foul, and scoring on both of his attempts from the charity stripe before dishing a dime to sophomore forward Kaden Golston (10 points, 10 rebounds) to put the Bulldogs up 6-1.
Stone Bridge faced their first real challenge of the game when Reyes picked up his second foul in the first four minutes and had to head to the bench for the remainder of the first quarter.
Despite their court general being sidelined with early foul trouble, Stone Bridge continued to share the basketball as four different Bulldogs scored to wrap up the first quarter leading 16-9.
Early turnovers plagued the Bulldogs to start the second quarter, but Golston—who finished with a team-high 10 rebounds—and senior forward Joey Johnson—who chipped in 8 rebounds—started cleaning up the boards leading to transition buckets while limiting the Panthers’ second chance opportunities.
“We have some big boys cleaning glass, and they don’t care if that’s all they do,” Kling said. “[Kaden’s] athletic, he goes straight up, and he’s a tough matchup. Joey owns his cylinder, and he makes people change their shots.”
Late in the first half, Johnson made a move and scored in the post to put the Bulldogs up 24-19. On the ensuing Potomac Falls trip, Johnson (2 points, 8 rebounds) grabbed the rebound and made an outlet pass to junior guard Mark Lawrence (14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), who scored to increase the lead to 26-19. On the very next trip, Johnson once again grabbed a defensive rebound before making an outlet pass to Burnes, who also found Lawrence in transition to increase the lead to 28-19, forcing a Potomac Falls timeout.
After regrouping, the Panthers used a short jumper and a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 28-23 late in the second quarter; however, the Bulldogs had an answer as Reyes and senior forward Nathan Hughes (6 points, 6 rebounds) both converted to send Stone Bridge into the locker room with a 32-23 lead.
“We knew it was a rivalry game, so it wasn’t about the skill, but it was about the energy we brought,” Reyes said. “We knew they were going to bring the energy, but we had to bring even more.”
Out of the half, Reyes started to find some rhythm offensively, helping the Bulldogs increase their lead to 11. While Reyes kept the Stone Bridge offense moving, Orbida and junior guard EJ Herring (13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) kept chipping away at the lead, connecting on back-to-back three pointers to cut the lead to 38-35 midway through the third.
“We just needed to find the right matchups, play good help defense, and communicate with each other,” Reyes said. “We all needed to get back on the same page.”
Knowing they wanted to create some separation before the final frame, the Bulldogs once again turned to Reyes, who answered Orbida’s triple with a tough and-one. After missed opportunities on both ends, Reyes found Lawrence cutting underneath for two then knocked down a three of his own to re-extend the lead to 46-37.
A pair of Orbida free throws cut the lead to 7, but Reyes scored in the waning seconds of the third frame to give Stone Bridge a 48-39 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Golston got to the line early in the fourth to give the Bulldogs a 10-point cushion, before Burnes and junior guard Braylan Stocks both found Golston underneath to increase the Stone Bridge lead to 12—their largest of the night.
Down the stretch, every Potomac Falls score was answered by Reyes—who added 9 to his game-high 27 points in the fourth quarter alone—as the Bulldogs held off the Panthers, 65-56.
“[Kevin] has the confidence. He wants the ball in his hands at all times,” Kling said. “We’re going to work on moving the ball a lot more, because at the end of last season, teams started doubling him and trapping him a lot more.”
For the time, Stone Bridge (4-0, 11-3) has taken sole possession of first place in the Potomac District and will look to hold onto that position when they host Lightridge on January 13 in Ashburn. Potomac Falls (4-1, 8-5) looks to bounce back when they travel to Riverside on the same night.
“The good thing is we’ll be at home during the back half of the season; we’ve had one home game out of 14,” Kling said. “So let’s see how it goes in the Dog Pound.”
Bill Bride and Kiko Dudley captured 250+ photos at the game!
Stone Bridge Stats
| Player Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Kevin Reyes Jr. | 27 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 11-for-13 |
| Mark Lawrence | 14 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2-for-2 |
| Kaden Golston | 10 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2-for-7 |
| Nathan Hughes | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-2 |
| Carter Burnes | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Joey Johnson | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Jimmy Alexander | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Braylan Stocks | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0-for-0 |
| Total | 65 | 39 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 15-for-24 |
Potomac Falls Stats
| Player Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Joshua Orbida | 21 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6-for-8 |
| Evinn Herring | 13 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1-for-1 |
| Nolan Call | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Adit Apte | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Sebastian Ritikong | 3 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1-for-3 |
| Colton Call | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2-for-2 |
| Mikey Keller | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-2 |
| David Correa Cabrera | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-for-2 |
| AJ Pawlowski | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Julian Hasbrouck | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Total | 56 | 33 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 11-for-18 |