Wednesday, February 17, 2010, Brambleton, VA, Briar Woods High School - County missed the shooting of senior Mahir Mrkonjic who sat out the game with an injury as Briar Woods started hot with 5 three-pointers (they ended up with at least 9) in the first quarter and never looked back.

The Raiders never gave up, but just couldn't keep up with the scoring Falcons.  Raider seniors Mike Howard, Calle Brown, Mahir, and Austin Campbell were recognized before the game as senior night was held despite being away.

Leading the scoring for County was Bryan Huber with 14 (including 3 three-pointers), Austin with 10, Calle with 7, and Kris Pratt and Worth Mays with 6 each.

The Raiders finished the season ending up just a hair below .500 at 9-10.  Thank you Coach Alexander and Coach Fox for an enjoyable season.

LOUDOUN COUNTY 52, BRIAR WOODS 72 

Monday, February 1, 2010, Leesburg, VA, Loudoun County High School - County continued its hot play pretty much completely shutting down rival Heritage making it 3 wins in a row and bring the season record up to 500 as they recorded a convincing 67-58 VICTORY!!

The Raiders never let Heritage get a lead as they jumped out to a 6-2 lead and never looked back.  Worth Mays pumped in 6 first quarter points and Mahir Mkronjic and Callie Brown had 3 rebounds each.  The Raiders led 15-11 at the end of the first.

Kris Pratt started off the second with a steal with a coast-to-coast and a behind the back assist by Calle.  A Bryan Huber steal put 2 more points up, and then Mahir got hot on his 3 pointers. He would hit 5 on the night.  The Raiders took a 28-26 lead into the half.

County kept the good play up in the 3rd with AC drawing another charge, a nice tip-in by Calle, more Worth drives down the lane, a few more 3's by Mahir and some good defense by Doc.

The Raiders locked it up in the 4th with blocks by Mahir, Worth, Calle, and Yacim.

Snow permitting, the Raiders return to action Wednesday evening in a make up at home against Loudoun Valley.

LOUDOUN COUNTY 67, HERITAGE 58 
H (0-0, 0-0) — Cavan 11, Nelson 9, Russell 8, Arbogast 7, Dentler 7, Calhoun 5, Summers 5, Swanson 4, Figert 2. Totals 20 12-23 58.
L (9-9, 3-6) — Mrkonjic 26, Mays 14, Brown 9, Campbell 6, Pratt 4, O'Connell 3, Huber 2, Parker 2, Cokely 1. Totals 24 14-29 67.
Halftime: Loudoun County, 28-26.
Three-point goals: H 6 (Cavan, Nelson 2, Russell, Dentler, Summers); L 5 (Mrkonjic 5).

Friday, January 29, 2010, Leesburg, VA, Loudoun County High School - The Raiders improved on their play of last Friday and turned in a solid performance against Park View, a team that handled County earlier this season.

A stingy defense keeping high-scoring Park View sophmore Ryan McCarter to 11 points made the difference this time. 

Worth Mays made a jumper with 20 seconds left to put the Raiders up for good.  Mahir Mrkonjic led the Raiders with 17 points, and Calle Brown added 8 points 9 rebounds and 5 assists.  Dan O'Connell came in off the bench and added 8 points.

County is now 8-9 on the season (3-6 in the Dulles District).  Saturday nights game against Valley has been postponed until Wednesday 2/3.  The Raiders have a 3-game home stand starting Monday February 1 against Heritage, Valley Wednesday, and Potomac Falls Friday night.

LOUDOUN COUNTY 56, PARK VIEW 55
P (10-7, 3-3) - Owens 26, McCarter 11, Shooks 8, Early 5, French 3, Dombkowski 2. Totals 20 11-14 55.
L (8-9, 3-6) - Mrkonjic 17, Campbell 9, Brown 8, Mays 8, O'Connell 8, Pratt 4, Huber 2. Totals 21 7-11 56.
Halftime: Loudoun County, 30-29.
Three-point goals: P 4 (Owens 2, Early, French); L 7 (Mrkonjic 5, Campbell 2).

Friday, January 22, 2010, Leesburg, VA, Loudoun County High School - The Raiders played their best game of the season tonight in the first half of a boys-girls doubleheader at home...and the scoreboard didn't disappoint.  Worth Mays led the team in scoring with 16 and Calle Brown earned another double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks).

Success in tonights game can be attributed to hard, agressive work on defense, driving the lane on offense, getting the ball inside to the big guy, and a superb effort coming off the bench.

County ended first half up 20-17.  Some first-half highlights: Austin 3-pointer, Colin steal pass to Worth to end first quarter, Second and third effort on tip-in, and a double block.  And second-half Calle dunk.

The boys put away the game during the third quarter as the had their highest scoring quarter of the year matching their total from the first half keeping the lead 40-30.  The Raiders kept the pressure on and finished with a satisfying win 55-41.

County is now 7-9 on the season and has a long break for exams and won't return to action until next Friday evening, January 29 at home against Park View.

LOUDOUN COUNTY 55, FREEDOM-SOUTH RIDING 41
F (0-5, 0-1) — O'Rourke 16, Muhlenberg 7, Orr 7, Hawkins 6, Barton 3, Conde 2. Totals 15 5-8 41. 
L (7-9, 2-5) — Mays 16, Brown 15, Pratt 9, Mrkonjic 8, Campbell 5, Parker 2. Totals 19 16-27 55. 
Halftime: Loudoun County, 20-17.
Three-point goals: F 6 (O'Rourke 3, Muhlenberg, Orr, Barton); L 1 (Campbell).

Wednesday, January 20, 2010, Brambleton, VA, Briar Woods High School - The Raiders stepped up and played a well-fought game against the Falcons but came up just short as time ran out.  The Raiders were led by Worth Mays with 14 points, and also by Worth Mays on defense who manned up against one of the better guards in the District holding Myles Tate to just 16 points.

County was very effective in moving the ball around on offense and took maximum advantage of the extra attention being drawn by Calle Brown to get the ball inside to Kris Pratt who scored 12, most of which were hard-earned from inside the paint.

The Boys drop to 6-9 on the season and return to action Friday night at home in a boys/girls doubleheader against Freedom with the boys playing at 6:00pm followed by the girls game at 7:30.  Both games will be broadcast over the internet on the Raiders Sports Network.

Thursday, January 14, 2010, Leesburg, VA, Loudoun County High School - The Raiders return to home following a bunch of road games is spoiled by the hot shooting Spartans as the Raiders were led by Colin Gibson in scoring with 15 points.  County drops to 6-8 on the season.

The boys are back on the road next Wednesday, January 20 for their last non-playoff away game of the season against Briar Woods.

BROAD RUN 74, LOUDOUN COUNTY 55 
B (13-1, 3-1) — McGaughey 26, Johnson 21, Zafar 13, Janjua 6, Hiatt 3, Salgado 3, Miller 2. Totals 25 16-20 74.
L (6-5, 1-3) — Gibson 15, Mays 9, Campbell 7, Huber 6, Mrkonjic 6, Brown 4, Cokely 2, Howard 2, Parker 2, Pratt 2. Totals 22 6-8 55.
Halftime: Broad Run, 47-19.
Three-point goals: B 8 (McGaughey 4, Johnson 3, Hiatt); L 5 (Gibson, Mays, Campbell, Huber 2).

Tuesday, January 12, 2010, Purcellville, VA, Loudoun Valley High School - The Raiders played perhaps one of their better games this season, but it wasn't quite enough to stay on top as the boys lost 41-42 in a well-fought game.  Despite being outsized by quite a bit, the Raiders never let up.

Being much more effective at breaking the press tonight as well as a more friendly rim, not to mention scrappiness on defense, were the keys to the well-played game.

The first half saw the lead change a number of times and for the first time in several games, the boys went in at the half leading 18-15.

Three point shots and better clutch foul shooting kept the game close all throughout the second half.  The game came down to the wire as the lead changed several times in the last 2 minutes.  County had the ball down by one as they were able to take a potential game-winning shot with seconds remaining, however it came up just short.  While certainly a little disappointed in coming up just a point short, the Raiders can surely take comfort in their effort and use the momentum for next game.  The loss puts the Raiders at 6-7 on the season.

County has a home game for a change (address is 415 Dry Mill Road in case you forgot) Thursday night as they return to Dulles District action against Broad Run.

LOUDOUN VALLEY 42, LOUDOUN COUNTY 41
L (6-5, 1-3) — Mrkonjic 15, Brown 10, Campbell 9, Gibson 3, Huber 2, Mays 2. Totals 13 10-16 41.
Lo (6-5, 0-2) — Degree 13, Kohnen 5, Wells 5, Yoxthimer 5, Mangano 4, Zook 4, Goolsby 3, Gilson 2, Hathaway 1. Totals 18 3-5 42.
Halftime: Loudoun County, 18-15.
Three-point goals: L 5 (Mrkonjic 4, Campbell); Lo 3 (Degree, Wells, Yoxthimer).

Monday, January 11, 2010, Sterling, VA, Potomac Falls High School - The hamlet (or whatever it is) of Sterling has been a tough place to play basketball so far this season.  Potomac Falls lived up to its #2 AA ranking in the state as the Raiders lost 47-65.

County jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of foul shots by Worth Mays, and the first quarter had the team battling playing well and PF held a narrow 14-19 lead at the end of the first.

The Panthers turned up the heat on their shooting and pretty much didn't turn it off, ditto on their tenacious press.

LC drops to 6-6 on the season and travels to Loudoun Valley Tuesday evening, January 12.

LOUDOUN COUNTY 47 - POTOMAC FALLS 65
L (6-5, 1-3) — Brown 14, Mays 8, Huber 6, Pratt 5, Mrkonjic 4, O'Connell 3, Campbell 2, Gibson 2, Howard 2, Cokely 1. Totals 17 10-19 47.
P (8-1, 3-0) — Mihailovich 22, Chesson 13, Curran 7, Graves 6, Owens 6, Hoover 3, Simoneau 3, Sweger 3, Wagenhoffer 2. Totals 26 8-14 65.
Halftime: Potomac Falls, 41-19.
Three-point goals: L 3 (Brown 2, Huber); P 5 (Mihailovich, Chesson, Curran, Simoneau, Sweger).

Friday, January 8, 2010, Sterling, VA, Dominion High School - Dominion began the game with a hot hand and kept up the pace the entire game, ending up with at least 8 3-point shots.  County was led by Bryan Huber with 13 points and Colin Gibson with 10.

The Raiders were close to their season average in scoring, however, it was just not enough to overcome the Titans.

The team travels to Potomac Falls for a Monday night matchup.

DOMINION 71 -  LOUDOUN COUNTY 49

Monday, January 4, 2010, Nokesville, VA, Brentsville High School - The Raiders completed a home and away sweep against the Tigers of Brentsville 47-32.  The Raiders were led by Calle Brown who recorded another double-double (10 points and 15 rebounds) and Austin Campbell (11 rebounds and 5 assists).

This game can be summed up in one word...DEFENSE.  From the effective half-court trap to the full-court press, the team used these tools keeping the Tigers off-balance in the second half, in fact, "off-balance" is an understatement as the Raiders held Brentsville to 0 points in the 3rd quarter.  There were at least 4 blocked shots by Calle and another by Mahir Mrkonjic, however a stat you won't see in the book is the "Uh, I'm not gonna shoot because if I do, I'm gonna be eatin it."  I counted 3 of these by Calle and another by Peter Parker, and that doesn't count the ones where they did shoot but altered their shot (didn't go in).

The home team jumped out to a 6-0 lead before County fought back to even it up and end the quarter 11-11.  The 2nd quarter was back and forth with the Raider defense tightening up as the quarter wound down ending 19-19.

The Tigers might as well have stayed in the locker room after half-time as the Raiders tacked on 13 to the Tigers 0 behind the press as LC took a 32-19 lead into the 4th.  Continued tough "D", a nice Huber to Worth play, AC breaking his scoring drought, and a Taylor Cokeley single-single squelched any comeback hopes for Brentsville as the game ended 47-32.

Some video highlights (all together): Calle And-1 and 3, a few Calle blocks, tough trap, Huber 3's, 2 Mahir drives and scores, a pair of Colin coast-to-coast, Huber to Worth, and Taylor basket and board.

The Raiders return to action Friday in a Dulles District at Dominion, game time 7:30.

LOUDOUN COUNTY 47, BRENTSVILLE 32 
L (6-4, 1-2) — Brown 10, Gibson 10, Huber 10, Mrkonjic 6, Campbell 5, Mays 4, Cokely 2. Totals 21 2-4 47.
B (0-0, 0-0) — Weaver 12, Hammond 11, Willard 5, Heller 2, Klaasse 2. Totals 10 9-16 32.
Halftime: 19-19.
Three-point goals: L 3 (Brown, Huber 2); B 3 (Weaver 3).