Herndon Makes History; Wins Northern Region Title
An incredible week for Herndon basketball culminated in a 65-47 Hornet victory over the Marshall Statesmen on Saturday night. The win marked the first time that the Herndon men’s basketball team has taken home the Northern Region Championship.
After leaving their permanent imprint on history, the Hornets were elated; said junior Richard Gore, “I’m honored to be part of such a team. Throughout the year we have turned into one huge family, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Herndon surged to an 11-3 lead to start the game, but Marshall closed the deficit to 14-11 by the end of the first quarter. The game stayed close in the second, and a buzzer beater by Marshall’s Daniel Dixon, who led Marshall with 15 points, closed the first half at a score of 30-25 Herndon.
But it was all Herndon in the second half. Herndon made shot after shot and milked the clock on numerous time consuming possessions, en route to a big victory.
Said Marshall coach Kevin Weeren, “We just did what we’ve been doing all year; we tried to control the tempo and possess the ball…but we didn’t go shot for shot with them.”
One of the keys to Herndon’s strategy, as junior Matt Seeger put it, was “to stop Dixon”. “Coach has a game plan. We weren’t doing it so well in the first half, but then we began to do it better in the second.”
Seeger, along with Herndon guards Chase Miller and Scottie Reynolds, made the all-regional tournament team. In the finals game, Seeger had 13 points and 3 steals, Miller had 8 points and 6 assists, and Reynolds had 17 points and 7 assists.
These were not the only accolades Reynolds received last week. He was named Regional Player of the Year and a McDonalds All-American. In the regional finals game, he passed JJ Redick for 16th on the Virginia high school career scoring list.
Herndon coach Gary Hall commented on Reynolds composure in dealing with his surge through the record books, “He’s a kid who can handle it. A lot of kids couldn’t, a lot of kids would be scratching it off on the wall. This [regional championship] is much more important to him.”
Reynolds reflected on the magnitude of this title victory for his team and his coach, “I’ve known coach since fifth grade…and for this team to give it to him, it means a lot.”
One huge contributor to Herndon’s success has been the creation of it’s tough schedule. On making the schedule, Hall, who was named Regional Coach of the Year, said, “First and foremost was to prepare my team for a run into the playoffs; to make them as tough as possible. And the secondary thing was to showcase Scottie Reynolds. You can say what you want, but Scottie Reynolds is not an All-American if he only played a Northern Region schedule.”
If Herndon keeps it up, they may a have a lot more basketball to play ahead of them. Though, if it all ends this week, they still have a Northern Region Championship that nobody can take away from them.
“It feels real good to finally do something that’s never been done at Herndon High School,” said senior Larry Gbenyon, “We can always say we were the first people to do it.”
