South Lakes' coach Andrew Duggan wanted nothing more than to return home as the Grinch.
Duggan played basketball for Marshall High School in the 1980s, and so returning to Marshall on Tuesday - this time as coach of the opposing team - brought memories for the first-year coach.
Duggan's Seahawks (3-3) created their own magic, staving off a late charge to beat Marshall (1-6), 76-62 behind a balanced scoring attack in which five players finished with at least 10 points.
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"For me to come back to this gym, and win two years in a row, coaching Chantilly last year, and now tonight, it's just a great win for us," said Duggan, who played at Frostburg State before embarking on his coaching career.
"It's a special place for me, and a great school. I did not take these guys lightly. Playing on their home floor, right before Christmas, we knew we were going to see a strong fight out of them, and we did."
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The Seahawks built a 16-point lead behind strong inside play from junior forward D.J. Christian, who finished with a team-high 22 points, and senior forward Darius Smith, who scored 10.
Smith and Christian both had electrifying dunks early in the fourth quarter.
But then Marshall junior guard Aaron Aggen started to unleash his outside shot. Aggen canned five three pointers in the second half, and finished with 26 points, 21 of them in the second half. With just three minutes to play, what once had been a 16-point lead had whittled away to just four, 61-57.
The Seahawks buckled down and took it to the Statesmen, outscoring them 15-5 in the game's final minutes.
Junior guard J.D. Wallace (14 points) was particularly strong for South Lakes, scoring six of the team's final 10 points, while hitting all four of his free throw attempts.
"We got a lot of contributions from a lot of kids- big game from DJ, and I thought Darius played really well, JD hit his free throws at the end and that was crucial. It's great to get the win."
