Herndon Boys Stay Perfect in District with Win at Robinson

Herndon’s last-second win over Chantilly three weeks ago sets up key rematch between those squads on the Hornets’ home court Friday. With Herndon’s  75-71 win Tuesday night at Robinson, the Hornets (18-2) are 9-0 in the Concorde District, while the Chargers’ three-point win over Westfield has them one game back at 8-1.

On paper, it looks like preview of the district championship game, especially since the teams have clinched a bye into the second round of the local league’s tournament.

Herndon coach Chris Whelan said his team’s goal is the district championship, not an undefeated regular season in the league, so while Friday’s game will have a playoff atmosphere, it’s really not that important. Or so he says. Of course the Chargers will be looking to force a tie for first place in the district, so they may be fired up.

“To be 9-0 in our conference is unbelievable. Every night …  it could be Oakton, Westfield, Centreville, Robinson, Chantilly. Any one of those teams could advance far in regionals,” Whelan said. “It’s by far the best (district).”

Reinforcing Whelan’s point was the way the Rams played Tuesday. Even though they’ve now lost four straight games, Robinson (11-10, 2-7) took the Hornets down to the wire. Robert Pillow nailed two of his six 3-pointers with less than four minutes to play to cut a five-point Herndon lead to 60-59. After the Hornets came back with Patrick McLaughlin inside, Tristan Crenshaw’s floater in the lane with 2:19 to go made it a one-point game again.

That set up what was likely the key sequence of the night. Robinson’s top scorer, Mike Rice, who was a force inside, made a move in the paint and banked in a shot. He looked like he was fouled, which would have set up a chance for a 3-point play. But the referees waved off the bucket, calling Rice for a travel. So instead of 64-63 game on the verge of being tied, it was 64-61 and Herndon’s ball. The Hornets worked almost a minute off the clock, and Austin Hamilton, who finished with 26 points, snaked his way along the right baseline to get an open shot. He laid it in, and it was a five-point game with a minute to go.

“It was big because it put the game out of reach,” said Hamilton, who hit a pair of 3-pointers and was 8-of-12 from the line. “We had to come back on D and make some stops. Luckily we did and (we) made our free throws.”

Hamilton, Jonathan Beltran, McLaughlin and DeAndre Thomas combined to go 8-for-9 in the final 46 seconds to secure the win.

“We were prepared,” Whelan said of the final minutes. “We went inside. Patrick did a nice job and Austin did a nice job attacking the rim and getting to the free-throw line, which is what you do as a mature basketball team. You learn how to close games out.”

With about 30 seconds to go, Hamilton and Rice met at midcourt during a free-throw. The two seniors chatted about college plans. If the Rams don’t advance in the district tournament, it will be the final time the two area standouts played against each other in high school.

“We’ve had a lot of battles. He’s a great scorer,” Hamilton said. “Every time I’ve played him, he usually puts up 20 points. He fights hard. He has that will to score, that’s what I like about him.”

Hamilton, who can hit the outside jumper and create his own shot off a dribble, made a Rice-like play late in the second quarter. After Beltran missed a 3-point shot, Hamilton, standing beyond the arc on the other side of the court, saw where the rebound was going to wind up. He sprinted to the spot, grabbed the ball above taller players, and dropped in a put-back. It’s the kind of early game play that people forget when pressure mounts in the final moments, but in a four-point game, two points in the second quarter can make a difference.

“Coach wants us to crash the boards hard,” Hamilton said. “He’s been getting on us about that all season.”

Looking ahead to Friday’s game,  Hamilton couldn’t help but smile at the thought of finishing out his Herndon career with a home win.

“(It will be) senior night,” he said. “I want to get my last win at home against a great Chantilly team, I’m looking forward to it. It should be fun.”