Prep Boys Basketball: ‘Cats show their claws

BY NATHAN WARTERS

THE FREE LANCE-STAR

The Mountain View boys basketball team wanted Tuesday night to be the only time it played in North Stafford’s home gym this season.

After their 48–41 win over the Wolverines, the Wildcats just might get their way.

Mountain View, making its first trip to North Stafford since losing the Commonwealth District tournament championship game there last season, won in a defensive struggle to take control of the district standings.

The first-place Wildcats (13–2, 9–0) now have a three-game lead over the second-place Wolverines (10–4, 7–3).

“I think this [win] was real important because last year we had to play on the road [here] in the district championship, and this year we want the No. 1 seed to make it that much easier,” said senior Tyrell Mason, who scored a game-high 13 points for the Wildcats.

Mountain View’s formidable 1–3–1 zone defense was effective in stopping North Stafford’s scorers, but the Wolverines’ biggest problem, coach Brad Lear said, was missing easy shots in the paint.

“Our offense worked the way we designed it to work and we were getting the shots in the area where we wanted to get them, and they just weren’t going down,” Lear said.

North Stafford senior guard Brandon Ravenel, who had a team-high 11 points, said the Wolverines played with intensity, but they weren’t as focused as they needed to be in a game of such magnitude.

“We didn’t execute that well. We had the intensity, but we’re just falling apart up here,” Ravenel said as he pointed to his head.

“We need to get it back together. We’re a better team than that. We’re a better team than anybody’s seen.”

Ravenel said his team is confident it can fight its way back into the district race, but time is running out for the Wolverines to get it together.

“We’ll peak soon,” Ravenel said. “We’ll get there.”

Defense was on full display by both teams, which was fitting with Bud Foster, the defensive coordinator for Virginia Tech’s football team in attendance.

Foster was there to see Hokies football commitment Anthony Shegog, a senior forward for the Wolverines.

Shegog and his teammates threw a bunch of different defensive looks at the Wildcats, and it worked for the most part. But Mountain View made enough shots to pull out the win.

The Wildcats led 24–20 at the break after a back-and-forth first half that saw five lead changes.

North Stafford opened the second half with a Jordan Thompson 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 24–23, but Mountain View answered with a 10–0 run.

“We play pretty good when we get ahead, so that was big for us,” said Kevin Brown, Mountain View’s coach.

The Wildcats led the rest of the way, though North Stafford cut the deficit to 42–39 with 2:40 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Mountain View closed the game on a 6–2 run to stay undefeated in district play.

M. View 11 13 12 12 — 48

N. Stafford 12 8 9 12 — 41

Scoring

Mountain View (13-2, 9-0): Lucas Brown 4, Elijah Burruss 2, Xavier Fisher 7, Ben Keller 10, Dustin Maghan 0, Tyrus Mason 2, Tyrell Mason 13, Joe Wilson 10. Totals: 19 6-10 48.

North Stafford (10-4, 7-3): Usie Miller 6, Brandon Ravenel 11, Jalen Sarratt 0, Anthony Shegog 4, Even Skjellaug 5, Jordan Thompson 3, Justin Tuckson 5, Lyndon White 7. Totals: 16 6-12 41.

Three-point goals: Mountain View 4 (T. Mason 2, J. Wilson 2). North Stafford 3 (B. Ravenel, J. Thompson, J. Tuckson).

Nathan Warters: 540/374-5442

nwarters@freelancestar.com

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