A simple team approach, coupled with reliance on a standout player, helped the South Lakes Seahawks win a fourth straight regional basketball championship.
Led by senior forward Jordan Scott, South Lakes won the 6D North Region tournament Friday night (Feb. 28) by defeating the Westfield Bulldogs, 67-51, in the title game of the boys high school competition at Wakefield High School in Arlington.
The region crown was the 10th in program history for South Lakes.
Scott, who will play in college at Michigan State, led the Seahawks (21-4) with 34 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. He got South Lakes off to a blistering start by making four long three-pointers and scoring 14 points in the first period.
South Lakes built an 11-0 lead and was ahead 21-6 at the end of the opening quarter.
“We were able to start fast, everyone played their roles as a team, and we did a great job on defense and rebounding,” said Scott, one of the all-time leading scorers in team history with some 2,000 points. “I’d never played a high school game at Wakefield, and I like shooting here.”
Scott was 10 of 14 from the floor, and he made 10 of 13 foul shots.
Westfield (21-6) rallied to within 31-26 by halftime, but South Lakes surged again in the third period to lead 49-35 by period’s end and stayed comfortably ahead the rest of the way.
“The way we started the third quarter was key for us. We got a big lead again,” Scott told FFXnow.
The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak for Westfield that included two victories over South Lakes.
“When we excel to be stars at our roles, we can be pretty good,” South Lakes coach Mike Desmond said. “We had the right approach, played a really good, clean, simple game, got stops on defense, and we didn’t do stupid things. We had to do that and our guys played big.”
In addition to Scott, Merritt Rillstone had a successful game for South Lakes. He had 14 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.
“We needed him to play that way and have a big game,” Desmond said.
Makhai Ramos scored 10 with two assists for South Lakes, Toshiki Elston scored eight with three rebounds and two assists, and Alec Saunders had a point, four rebounds and three assists.
Westfield had defeated South Lakes a few days earlier in the championship game of the Concorde District tournament. Desmond said Scott became highly motivated after that loss.
Prior to the season, the coach said there was a lot of uncertainty about the Seahawks, because they lost 11 players from last season, including four starters.
“This team has become very competitive,” Desmond told FFXnow.
For Westfield in the region final, Isaiah Brown scored 15, Mathias Lee had 11, Bryson Price eight, Colin Stemberger seven and Malachi Lee five.
South Lakes was 3-0 in the region tourney, defeating Marshall, 60-44, in the first round then Madison, 67-40, in the semifinals. Westfield was 2-1 in the region, with wins over Wakefield, 63-30, and Yorktown, 64-55.
The four straight region-tournament titles are the most in a row by any Northern Region team. The 10 championships overall for South Lakes ties T.C. Williams High School (now Alexandria City) for the most.
Before the region tournament was established, George Washington High in Alexandria won four straight region crowns in the 1950s for securing the best regular season records.
With its regional title in hand, the South Lakes varsity boys basketball team will host Hayfield Secondary School at 7 p.m. tonight (Tuesday) in the Quarterfinals of the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state tournament.
