Boys Basketball: Cougars' Season Ends with Tourney Loss

The Oakton Cougars entered the first round of the Concorde District boys basketball tournament confident they could upset the Centreville Wildcats for the second time in a week.

Despite a comeback run in the fourth period, the Cougars fell just short of a postseason victory, eliminating them from the tournament to end their season with the 38-35 loss.

The low-scoring game started with a first period that saw the two teams evenly split a total of eight points. Neither team scored into the double-digits in any of the first three periods, and entered halftime with Centreville ahead 12-10.

The offense for both teams broke out in the fourth, with the Wildcats seizing a firm lead in the first half of the period by as much as 11 points. The Cougars began to chip away at the lead after Michael Fradette scored on an offensive rebound with a little more than three minutes left on the clock to put them behind 30-21.

With a combination of mostly 3-point and foul shooting, the Cougars tightened the point gap to three points at 34-31 with less than a minute, but back-and-forth scoring between the teams left the Cougars three points behind to end the game down 38-35.

"We were down big and we needed to lengthen the game as much as possible, and we wanted to do that by getting steals in the backcourt and eventually fouling," said David Brooks, Oakton's head coach. "Fortunately Centreville did miss a few free throws and we were to get a good look at tying the basketball game."

Thomas Tribble led his team with 12 points, seven of which he tallied in the last 90 seconds of the game.

"I commended my kids on their effort tonight because they never gave up, they played a full 32 minutes and we got ourselves back into the basketball game," Brooks said.

The Cougars may have fallen short of postseason success, but their determination both in Tuesday's game and throughout the season show the young squad has potential for next year. The team turned around their winless district record in the second round of district play, winning two of the last five games.

"In three of those games that we lost, and four if you include tonight, we were remained competitive. We've made steps in the right direction as the season progressed," Brooks said. "It stinks that I'm not going to get to coach these seniors anymore. I really love all these kids on this basketball team. Day in, day out I just really enjoy their company for the two hours I get to spend with them every day."

Points: Thomas Tribble (12), Michael Fradette (9), Dale Good (6), Patrick Sofo (3), Conner Howell (3), Connor Browning (2)