Vikings Fall in Clash of Top District Teams

By Matthew Stanmyre

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Midway through the first quarter yesterday in Manassas, Loudoun Valley Coach Chad Dawson covered his face with his hands, shielding his eyes after another errant pass skipped out of bounds.

No matter how many timeouts Dawson called, or how hard he yelled from the sideline, nothing could help steer the Vikings back on track during their 81-65 loss to Osbourn Park in a critical Cedar Run District clash.

Loudoun Valley turned the ball over 14 times in the first quarter, and committed 26 turnovers for the game. That carelessness prevented the Vikings from ever making a serious charge in a matchup that decided first place in the district; Loudoun Valley drops into second place, with another key district matchup looming Wednesday against Liberty in Bealeton.

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Osbourn Park's No. 50 Andrew Brookins gets fouled by Loudoun Valley's No. 11 Ryan Mueller in the first half. (Joel Richardson)

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Osbourn Park's No. 21 Calvin Croskey drives by Loudoun Valley's No. 32 Django Degree in the first quarter. (Joel Richardson)

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Osbourn Park "definitely took it to us tonight, and we didn’t respond well," Dawson said. "We dug ourselves a deep hole and didn’t do a good job of getting out of it."

Loudoun Valley guard Josh Mallory scored a team-high 19 points, forward Django DeGree had 13 and Cody Swain added 10. But the Vikings were taken out of the game early on, when Osbourn Park built a 19-8 lead after the first quarter.

The Vikings (12-4, 6-3) will try to bounce back during two tough district road games; Loudoun Valley also travels to Fauquier on Friday.

"At the beginning of the week I told the guys: ‘No regrets, no excuses. We have to be road warriors and go out and get it done.’ We have to put this one behind us and focus again tomorrow night."

Calvin Croskey and the rest of the Osbourn Park starters reclined on the bench early in the fourth quarter, laughing, joking and squirting water in their mouths.

The frustration that had fueled the Yellow Jackets in their win over Loudoun Valley was finally starting to dissipate, and for one key reason: Despite an untimely loss four days earlier, Osbourn Park’s victory against the Vikings pushed the Yellow Jackets alone into first place.

"We came out with fire," said Croskey, who scored a game-high 20 points and added six steals. "We wanted to come out and crush Loudoun Valley. We had to. We had to get back on track."

Osbourn Park (9-7, 7-2) played Tuesday night for the first time since losing to district rival Liberty on Friday. That loss to the Eagles snapped a six-game winning streak for Osbourn Park, and was the second time this season that Liberty had knocked off the Yellow Jackets.

With the victory, Osbourn Park can now claim the Cedar Run District regular season title — and the automatic No. 1 seed in the Northwest Region tournament — by winning its final five district games.

"If we win the rest of our games, no one can take that No. 1 spot from us," said Calvin Croskey, who had a game-high 20 points. "We’re in first place now, and we have control over staying there."

Tagged: basketball, high school sports, Loudoun Valley High School

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