Patriots Fight Valiantly, but Can't Topple Titans

Last Wednesday night’s matchup between the Yorktown Patriots and the Titans of T.C. Williams presented a clash of discipline and teamwork versus size and athleticism.

On paper it looked as if the 22-5 Titans had the clear edge, but the contrasting style of the Patriots gave T.C. more of a test than many would have expected. Although the Titans won 56-43, they only led by four with just under four minutes remaining.Unfortunately for the Patriots, T.C. capitalized on a few mistakes down the stretch and knocked down their free throws to pull out the win.

“In a close game like that, you have to make every possession count,” head coach Rich Avila said.  “We made a few careless mistakes, and you can’t do that against a team as good as T.C.”

The Titans looked to establish themselves at the aggressor from the opening tip.  A steal and layup out of the full court press started the scoring and two baskets down low got T.C. a quick 6-0 lead.  The Titans extended the early lead to double digits using their size advantage in a high-low game to exploit the soft spots in the Yorktown zone.

“I was worried about their size at the four (power forward),” Avila said.  “I knew Nick could handle their center, but they have so many other guys they can throw at you.”

The titanic size advantaged proved to be most important on the glass.  Not only was T.C. able to gather offensive rebounds that led to easy putbacks, but they also secured almost every defensive board.  For a team like Yorktown that is so active on the offensive glass, it appeared that being forced into one-and-dones really threw their offense out of sync.  But as they have all year long, the Patriots found a way to hang around.  They chipped the lead away to four right before the end of the half, but a friendly bounce dropped in a Titan three-pointer at the halftime buzzer.

The Titans scored the first four points of the third and it looked as if they may run away with the game, but the Patriots were not going to let them go so easily.  They tightened up defensively and double-teamed the high post, as to force the Titans to test their range.

“We made the adjustment of using the off guard to defend the post,” Avila said.  “We took that pass away and it really worked to our advantage.”

The refined defensive strategy helped the Patriots hold the Titan offense to nine points in the third quarter, which allowed them to slowly sneak back into the game.  With four minutes left in the fourth, the Patriots had cut another double-digit lead to four points, but again this was as close as they would get. 

The Titans stalled away a huge chunk of time before getting an easy layup, then knocked down four free throws to push the lead back to double digits.  Jack Earley and Nicko Esherick both hit threes in the closing moments, but it was too big of a lead and there was too little time left to trade three for two each time down.  In desperation mode the Patriots turned the ball over a couple more times and easy baskets at the other end allowed the Titans to pull out the 13-point victory.  However, Avila was extremely happy with his team’s effort.

“I’m really proud of the kids,” Avila reflected.  “They worked hard everyday and I feel like we never underachieved.  We played great almost every game and got farther than a lot of people expected us to.”

The Patriots will have a lot to figure out in the offseason before preparing to make a run at the regional title next year, as the team graduates three senior starters, as well as their three primary players off the bench.

“Were returning two seasoned veterans and have some good young guys,” Avila said.   “It will be the first time in eight years I won’t be returning five guys with a lot of game experience, so it will be interesting, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Editor's Note: The article from the T.C. perspective was posted last week, here is the article from the Yorktown perspective. I apologize for the mix-up, this was an editor's mistake, not the writers.