BSH basketball team falls in VCC semifinals

ROBBY FLETCHER

Sports Editor

It’s playoff season for the Blessed Sacrament Huguenot boys basketball team, who has worked hard over the course of the season to get its head above water with a winning record.

Having lost four of their five starters from last season, the Knights answered questions about how they’d respond in 2022-23 with a 10-9 record, emerging go-to contributors stepping into larger roles and a handful of big wins across the regular season.

They entered the VCC playoffs with a chance to prove those doubters wrong on an even bigger stage, with head coach Chris Hamner and his team making it to the semifinals before falling to the conference giant that is the Banner Christian Bearcats, who later won the tournament with a win over Kenston Forest.

Their first matchup against the Southampton Academy Raiders was a big test for the Knights, who split their two matchups against the Raiders earlier this season. The Knights lost to the Raiders in their season-opener in a double-digit loss, but the second game saw them enter with new adjustments and better execution to close out the Raiders in a tough 46-42 win on Jan. 20.

With a chance to win the series outright, the Knights stepped up again, winning 61-49. Their 61-point performance was the second-highest scoring output of the season for the Knights, who were led by 31 points from senior David Mann and 23 more from fellow senior Tanner Wood. Wood was excellent in the final stretch as well, scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter alone to help close the Raiders out for good. Mann, the big man who recently announced he’d be play- ing football at Shenandoah University next year, was lights out from beyond the arc, connecting on seven of his 12 attempts from the 3-point line.

While Mann was extending his range from deep, players like Jeb Hatfield and Nathan

Roberts focused on cleaning up the glass, with both recording five rebounds and eliminating second chance opportunities for the Raiders.

Their semifinals matchup against Banner Christian was a different story entirely. The Bearcats have been an unstoppable force this season with a perfect 16-0 regional record, two of which had already come against the Knights.

BSH did well to maintain composure early on, trailing just 14-9 by the end of the first quarter, but Banner Christian soon caught fire and got into their rhythm as a fast-paced dynamo that has killed teams in transition all year.

The lead ballooned to 36-16 by halftime, and the final was 70-20 after they continued to wreak havoc on the Knights for the third time this season.

The Knights now await the announcement of the VISAA Division IV State Tournament bracket that decides whether or not their season ends in the VCC semifinals or continues on with a chance at a state title. The VISAA allows the top-12 teams to advance to the tournament, and with the Knights having been in that top-12 most of the season, they’ll likely see their names called, continuing their season for at least one more game.

Stretch Gardner Sportsmanship Award

Soccer

From B1 they found themselves in last spring.

Another player to watch is sophomore striker James Davis, who was a lightning rod speedster in his freshman year, quickly earning the trust of the coaching staff as a reliable goal-scorer despite his young age. He’s an obvious breakout candidate and someone that the team considers a future star that’s arrival may be sooner rather than later.

New faces to watch are freshman defender Matt Betz, who will look to find early minutes in a crowded defense, junior midfielder Connor Bates and junior Cole Donnelly.

The team is also seeing the return of senior goalkeeper Austin Whitlock, who was with the program for two seasons before stepping away to focus on other interests. Throughout the past year, he’s fallen back in love with the game, gotten in top form in the team’s preseason conditioning, and is returning to help make an impact with his fellow Indians.

Miles says the team has entered the new season strong and motivated to make sure last year’s success wasn’t a fluke. Moving forward has been the theme early this year, with the expectation being that last year was not a high point but a new norm expected of them.

The Indians’ biggest strengths include their senior-heavy depth on both sides of the field as well as their organization within their system of play. The team has the capability to maintain organization in multiple formations, adapt on the fly to an opponent’s system and mix-and-match players into various roles where they are asked to provide different things for the team.

There are things Miles wants to see his team improve on as well over the course of the season. Namely, their consistency finishing on scoring chances. With eight returning starters and spots that need to be filled, questions will also need to be answered from the coaching staff as to who fills those spots in the starting 11 and what lineup combinations work the best on a game-to-game basis. r obb y Fletcher can be reached at rfletcher@powhatantoday. com.

The expectations are high for the Indians this year, but they’ll undoubtedly find themselves with a target on their chests after dominating the district a season ago. What’s clear though is with most of the team that made school history still intact, the lights don’t appear too bright as they fight to go from a region runner-up to a region champion.

From B1

Landstown’s Ariah Mervilus in 3:52.

Sanchez led 4-2 against Mervilus before the match ended, with the first period going scoreless and the second seeing a barrage of points from both wrestlers. Sanchez earned her four points with two escapes, one off a Mervilus takedown, and a takedown of her own with 26 seconds remaining in the period, which led to her pin.

It was a thrilling and historic finish to Sanchez’s wrestling career at Powhatan, where she’s grown into a well-respected presence on the team and gone above and beyond in her efforts to help the team grow with new additions to the roster.