Relying on their signature defensive pressure, the Vikings’ boys basketball team beat the Annapolis Panthers 59-48 to continue the squad’s cinderella run through the playoffs, advancing to the state title game Saturday.
After a slow start and poor shooting in a first quarter marred by nerves at the Comcast Center, the Vikings rebounded. The team found themselves down by just one as they entered the half, going on to win the semifinal matchup in front of thousands of fans with the same formula they have used all season: defensive intensity and patience with the basketball.
“[Lun] told us that we were better than we showed [in the first half] and if we picked it up and stayed patient, we would be fine and get out of there with a win,” said sophomore Kyle Depollar, who led the team with 20 points.
Ramping up their defense and waiting for open shots, the Vikes ended the third quarter with the momentum in their favor as junior Riley Shaver banked in a three-pointer to beat the buzzer and take a 39-36 lead, sending the Vikes on a 9-0 run which gave them the lead for the rest of the game.
The team also capitalized at the free-throw line, scoring 12 of their 20 fourth quarter points there. Depollar made all nine of his free-throw attempts, and senior Max Steinhorn added eight more from the stripe, scoring a total of 13 points in the contest.
The Vikings used this momentum shift to hold Annapolis scoreless for the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. The Panthers tried feeding their leading scorer, Juan Brown, to try to creep back into the game, but the Vikes slowed down possessions and limited the shots he took.
Brown finished the game with a game-high 26 points, but he scored just five in the final period, doing all he could to keep Annapolis in the game until he fouled out with just 30 seconds left. The rest of the Panthers, however, failed to break double-digits and were held to a combined 22 points.
“We knew Brown could shoot threes and get to the free throw line,” Depollar said. “So we said to just play our gap defense and make somebody else beat us.”
After a Panther timeout early in the fourth, senior Josh Fried came up with a big block that lead to two Shaver free throws to give the Vikings a seven point lead. Depollar had a steal just a minute later that lead to a fast break basket that put the team up by nine, 45-36.
Everything seemed to be going right for the Vikes in the final period. With just two minutes left, Steinhorn fell to the floor, but was able to swat the ball to senior Adam Lowet who then found fellow-classmate Ben Castagnetti wide open under the basket for an easy layup.
The team was also able to build off the large Whitmaniac crowd that came to the game. The school sent two full buses along with hundreds of additional students and parents that gave the Vikes a needed spark during the heated game.
“The crowd was amazing,” Depollar said. “They gave us energy throughout the game and helped us get the win.”
The win sends the Vikings back to the state finals for the first time since 2006, where they’ll take on the Wise Pumas (24-2), who currently sit third in the Washington Post’s rankings. The Vikes, ranked eighteenth, will enter the game as the underdog, but after this improbable run, as well as their upset over Eleanor Roosevelt in 2006’s title game, the Vikings could very well just keep rolling.
The game will be held at the University of Maryland’s Comcast Center at 8 p.m., Sat. March 15.
