Ramos, Theis Lead South Lakes To Win Over Oakton In Key Concorde Matchup

By BRIAN McNICOLL

There was no talk of the youth movement that has come to South Lakes High’s boys’ basketball team on Tuesday night. It was Senior Night in Seahawk Land, and the program honored its most veteran players.

Then, in storybook fashion, two of those seniors pulled the Seahawks out of a deep early hole and set the stage for a 66-62 victory over Oakton that gets South Lakes somewhat back into the Concorde District race.

Senior Makhai Ramos had 23 points, thanks to 10-of-11 free throw shooting, senior Brady Theis added 17, including two key late free throws, and the Seahawks erased an early 20-6 deficit to improve to 9-10 overall, 3-3 in the Concorde. Oakton, which had hoped to go into its game with Westfield on Friday playing for a share of first place, instead fell to 16-4 overall, 6-2 in the district.

Ramos made 3-of-4 and Theis 2-of-4 from the line in the final 25 seconds. Down seven with 12 seconds left, Oakton’s Devan Charaipotra made a three to make it 63-59. The Cougars then fouled Ramos, who made one of two, then got another three from Bennett White to make it 64-62. But Ramos made two free throws with 4.5 seconds left to seal the victory.

“We had to lock in and do what he says,” said Ramos, nodding at Coach Mike Desmond after the game. “He told us no threes, just keep driving because they will foul you. And that’s what I did.”

It had been a struggle for the Seahawks much of the night. The Cougars raced off to a fast start, making five threes in their first seven attempts on Tuesday and frustrating the Seahawk offense with pesky hands that forced five turnovers in the first quarter. When it reached 20-6, Desmond called timeout.

Desmond said the Cougars present a defensive challenge because they have four competent 3-point shooters in the starting lineup and a good 3-point shooter in backup post Devan Charaipotra.

“At first we were just running around in circles trying to find these guys and cover them,” Desmond said. “I told them in the timeout to execute the plan, and we did to a good extent after that.”

After the timeout, the Seahawks began to stabilize. They held Oakton scoreless for almost six minutes, and Ramos had nine points, including the only three South Lakes hit all night, to get within 30-24 at the break.

In the second half, Oakton kept moving the goalposts. South Lakes scored seven straight to finally tie the game at 35; Oakton responded with a quick run and again led by four. South Lakes finally caught up again at 42-42; Oakton then scored seven straight to make it 49-42.

It was then the Seahawks’; most valuable non-senior of the night took over. Junior forward George Zarechnak tapped in his own miss, made a three, then scored on a nifty pick and roll, all in a 2-minute period to help the Seahawks match buckets. Then his basket and free throw with 37 seconds left gave the Seahawks a 61-56 lead they never relinquished.

The Cougars got 15 points each from Bennett White and James Burke and 10 from Charaipotra, but they were plagued by 4-of-16 free throw shooting, including a 1-of-10 performance by Deylen Jones, who scored just seven points.

“That helped us keep it close,” Desmond said.

The best part of what Desmond termed “a massive upset” was that his own sense of foreboding never materialized. “I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop … for them to make some play that we just couldn't come back from. But every time they made a play, we made one too. Our thing has been the same all year. If we stick to the plan, we can succeed.”