Edison Boys Basketball Advances to National District Finals

Wednesday night at Edison, the boys basketball team played in front of a packed crowd and manhandled Falls Church, 83-50, moving on to the National District championship game.

The Eagles began the game in a man-to-man defense and, Falls Church was able to keep it close. Midway through the first quarter, down by two points, Edison switched to a 2-3 zone, and captain Jerome Diggs turned up the offense. He knocked down two 3-pointers and led his team on a 17-1 run to stun the Jaguars.

Matt Murphy controlled the boards throughout the game, limiting Falls Church to single shot opportunities, and the Eagle transition offense was virtually unstoppable.

Edison started the second quarter exactly where it left off, and tensions between the teams started to heat up. Diggs threatened to dunk on the Jaguars twice in transition and drew an intentional foul on one occasion, which sparked cheers from the Eagles fans. He also led the Eagles offense with precision passing and seemed to find the open man with his eyes closed. At one point, it was as if Diggs was putting together a personal highlight reel.

Not only was the tension high between players on the court, but the Falls Church fans got emotional as well and started a battle chant to which the Eagles fans replied, "This is practice." By the end of the half Edison was ahead by 29 points.

The Eagles entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and the clear favorites to win the district title, a vast improvement over last year's 9-11 season. For first-year head coach Terry Henderson it was an easy turnaround.

"The first thing I wanted to do was come in and build some confidence in these guys," said Henderson. "They [the team] could play last year, so I just focused on changing the way they did things by holding them accountable. I was tough on them coming in, and they responded well to it. This group is not afraid to work hard."

Henderson was voted National District Coach of the Year, an honor of which he's very proud.

"It feels good to have the other coaches support me," he said.

In the second half, Falls Church was able to set up more plays offensively, but still got burned by the Eagles transition offense. The Jaguars switched to a full-court press late in the half and caused a few turnovers, but even with the Eagles starters on the bench the deficit was too much to overcome.

"The positives we are taking away from this is that we are healthy and we had a great second half to the 2011 season ," stated Jaguars coach T.C. Papageorge. "In 2010 everyone was injured. We're going to forget about this game and look forward to getting a regional win next week, which Falls Church hasn't had in over 30 years."

Diggs led the Eagles with 16 points, 10 assists and six steals. Tyrone Mackall had a double-double as well with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Murphy had eight points and 12 boards.

Nizar Alamin had 20 points for Falls Church.

Edison faces Mount Vernon in the National District championship game on Friday.