Generals Pull Out Big Win Against Falls Church

The Washington-Lee Generals bounced back from a disappointing performance against the Edison Eagles Tuesday night with a very important 58-56 win over Falls Church.  Jack Beckman led the way with 18 points, and Ian Cole added 13.

Both teams were in a three-way tie with Wakefield for fourth place, a position the Generals now share with their Arlington rival to be settled, at least for now, Tuesday night.  With Wakefield's win over Edison and Hayfield’s shocking defeat of Mount Vernon, the Generals, at 3-3 in the district now find themselves only one game out of second place.

Both teams entered Friday night’s game with the same goal in mind: pressure the opposing ball handlers and score in transition offense.  When their presses were successfully broken, both teams dropped back into  half-court-zones, Fall Church electing to use the traditional 2-3, while Washington Lee went with the 1-2-2. 

After falling behind 4-0, the Generals came alive, going on an 11-0 run to regain control of the game.  Beckman led the way with eight points in the quarter. He would hit two more in the second quarter, and the Generals went into the break up 32-22.

“I was coming off a cold streak,” Beckman said in regards to his shooting slump in the loss to Edison on Tuesday.  “But tonight I was feeling it, I wanted the ball, and I just kept shooting.”

The Jaguars came roaring back in the third quarter, but it was the terrific individual effort of Cole, who returned following a one-game suspension.  Cole used his athleticism to get to the basket and scored eight in the period to keep Falls Church at bay.

“I kept telling Ian ‘go by them, your faster than them,’” Beckman said.  “He really attacked the basket well.” 

However, the Jags weren’t going out without a fight.  They manage to cut the lead to two several times in the fourth and had the the home crowd nervous.  With Beckman heavily guarded, Washington-Lee was struggling on offense, until freshman Jonah Sens made his precesnse felt.  Sens, who had just two points in the first three quarters, scored six in the fourth, including clutch free throws on what turned out to be the play of the game. 

Following a missed free throw with less than two minutes remaining, Sens was able to bully away the offensive rebound and got fouled going back up with it.  Not only did his two ensuing free throws make it a two-possession game, but it fouled out Falls Church’s star Nizar Alamin. 

Even without Alamin, Falls Church had a shot to win it in the final seconds, but Beckman was able to wrestle away the rebound and call a heads-up timeout on the floor.

“I went down hard, I thought I was fouled,” Beckman reflected.  “But they didn’t call it, and they didn’t call traveling, so I called the quick timeout.”

Falls Church would have one more shot at it with less than a second remaining, and even made the game tying shot, but the referees determined it was released after the buzzer. 

“It was a huge win," Beckman said. "And we needed it.”