Langley Season Ends with Regional Loss to Annandale

Langley's stellar season  ended  Saturday afternoon and you could have heard a pin drop in the Saxons  locker room. Teams handle their season's coming to an end differently. Langley chose stoicism after falling to Annandale 53-47 in the semifinals of the Northern Region playoffs.

“It was silent. Everybody was pretty much sitting in there, head in hands,” said Saxons senior David Adams. “Knowing that we had a chance to win the game…”

 After a first half during which they scored 28 points and held a three point lead, the Saxons went cold, failing to convert either a field goal or free throw over two multi-minute stretches in the second half.

While neither team scored for almost four minutes at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth, Annandale began to find its range with about five minutes to play.

The Atoms took the lead for good when Karl Ziegler, who led Annandale with 15 points while hitting 5-of-6 free throws and grabbing 10 rebounds, completed a 3-point play to make it 40-37. Langley’s Daniel Dixon made a pair of free throws moments later to make it 40-39, but that’s as close as the game would get.

The Saxons had their share of open shots, from both inside and outside of the 3-point arc, and they picked a bad time to go cold.

Adams’ 3-pointer with three minutes to go was the last shot Langley would make until the game was out of reach at 50-42 with 25 seconds to play.

“We didn’t score the basketball enough. It’s pretty simple, that’s really all it is,” said Saxons’ coach Travis Hess. “We got good looks and they didn’t go in. That’s what happens. That’s the game of basketball.”

Langley’s spread offense worked well in the first half, as Adams, Dixon, Austin Vasiliadis and Brenden Dwyer slashed to the basket for lay-up tries. But once Annandale’s defense adjusted to the scheme in the second half, second chance shots were limited for the Saxons.

“We had a great game-plan. We knew what we were doing in there,” said Adams, who finished with 10 points. “They were just a little bigger and rebounding, we had a tough time. But we had a chance to win the game.”

With Annandale leading 44-42 and under three minutes to go, a basket at any time might have turned the tide for the Saxons, but shots from Jeff Cochran, Dixon, Adams and Austin Vasiliadis did everything but go in. A sprawling shot by Dixon that would have cut the Langley deficit to four with 70 seconds to go rolled around the rim and out.

“We held them to 53 points, and it wasn’t enough to win the game, but it should be,” Hess said of his team that won its fourth straight Liberty District title last week. “We just didn’t make enough plays.”

Adams said the loss was a heartbreaker.

“I’ve been playing with most of these guys most of my life,” he said. “It’s like losing a family. We’ll still be close friends.”

Key seniors who will graduate include Adams, Braden Anderson, Dwyer and Cochran, but the cupboard isn’t bare. There’s no reason to think the Saxons can’t continue their run of district titles. Plus, another year in the offensive system can only help Vasiliadis, Tristan Evans and Dixon, who all showed their skills as juniors this year.

“We’re just going to work even harder next year,” Vasiliadis said. “We’ll be even hungrier to get to the finals.”