T.C. Williams Bullies Way to Regional Championship

Two quick 3-pointers by Herndon’s Jonathan Beltran to start the second half gave the Hornets a five-point lead over T.C. Williams in the Northern Region semifinals Saturday.

Not wanting the high-powered Herndon offense to get rolling. T.C. Williams coach Julian King called a timeout.

“I told them, ‘Just keep playing. We make an aggressive mistake, fine, just get back on defense,’” King said. “I was just trying to get them to do the stuff that we normally do.”

What the Titans normally do is use their athleticism and length to crash the boards and get easy scores. They did just that in outscoring Herndon 19-10 the rest of the quarter and, despite a late rally by the Hornets, the Titans were able to hold them off for a 64-61 win and a berth in the Northern Region championship game as well as the AAA state tournament.

“It was kind of tough, [Herndon] coming down and hitting some big shots,” said T.C. Williams point guard Tyler Driver. “We just stayed together and got the job done.”

T.C. Williams was in control the entire fourth quarter, pushing the lead to 58-51 with just 1:21 left in the game. Herndon standout Austin Hamilton then made a twisting layup to cut the lead to five. A few trips later, trailing 61-55, Hamilton got an offensive rebound and put-back of his own, drawing a foul in the process. He made the free throw for the last of his game-high 32 points to bring the Hornets within three with 31.9 seconds left in the game.

Herndon immediately fouled Driver on the inbounds, and he made 1-of-2 free throws. On the ensuing possession, Beltran gave his man a nice head-fake to get him up in the air and jumped into him on a 3-point attempt to send him to the line with a chance to cut the lead to one. He made only the first free throw, giving T.C. some breathing room.

Again, the Titans made just one free throw when they were fouled, and Beltran made a driving layup to make the game 63-61 with 5.7 seconds left. After another 1-for-2 trip to the free-throw line for the Titans, Hamilton got a decent look at a 3-pointer for the tie, but it came up short and the Titans escaped with the victory.

“I was impressed with the way we came down on offense and executed,” King said. “Subbing offense for defense, we had four guards in there with one big, and then on defense we put our big back in and had two bigs to try and contest at the rim. It was basically just a group effort.”

The Titans got the job done on their strengths of rebounding and shooting free throws. Herndon was able to get out and run, but the Titans matched the Hornets’ athleticism, and eventually their big bodies wore the Hornets down inside. Rarely were the Titans one-and-done on the offensive end.

“They got a couple loose balls and a couple easy put-backs, and we just had trouble scoring,” Herndon coach Chris Whelan said.

Herndon’s scoring drought coincided with Beltran picking up his fourth foul with just more than five minutes left in the third quarter. It was the story of the second half, as T.C. Williams was in the bonus with 2:02 remaining in the third. The Titans were able to key in on Hamilton a bit more with Beltran on the bench, and that’s when they grew the lead.

“We know they’re a small team and they like to run, so we knew they’d be in shape,” said T.C. Williams' Jamal Pullen, who had 12 points. “After we got the ball inside, we knew we could draw fouls.”

Despite dominating the offensive glass in the first half, the Titans failed to convert near the hoop. They were able to slow Herndon down offensively, constantly throwing double teams at Hamilton, the Northern Region Player of the Year. Still, the Herndon point guard had 14 points at halftime, and the teams were tied at 23.

“We were going to try to limit his touches, and once he got it try to keep him on the sideline and away from the 3-point line,” King said of his team’s game plan for slowing down Hamilton. “Force him to drive, make some athletic finishes against our bigs and basically try to get the ball out of his hands.”

Driver led the Titans with 15 points, while Rick Mathews had 14 and Pullen added 12. T.C. Williams plays Annandale in the Northern Region championship on Monday. It will be the fourth time the teams have met this season, with the Titans taking two of the first three, including the Patriot District championship game.

“They’re going to come out and give us everything they’ve got, and we’re going to do the same,” King said. “I probably know all their plays, they probably know all mine, so it’s 50-50. Whoever comes out on top is the better team that night.”