Entering the season, expectations for the 2016-2017 Basketball season were hopeful, but realistic. After all, the team had just seen three starters ( Andre Brown, Xavier Green and Mike Duncan)  graduate and head off to collegiate careers, with a fourth senior, valuable sixth man Ryan Flanagan, departing as well.  The team was left with three seniors with limited starting playing time, explosive scorer Cle’von Greene, and up and coming contributors Ra’Shawn and Da’Shawn Cook.

It’s likely not many prognosticators were penciling them in for a state championship after such a talented squad had just been ushered out of the VISAA D3 semi-finals in 2016 by eventual champion Virginia Academy.

The Road to the State Title would definitely prove to be a winding one, as players continued to develop over the summer and the team welcomed several younger playmakers who would figure into the title picture. Most notable of these would be big man transfer Chester Makoi, a raw but menacing 6’9″ presence under the basket.

The Opening Schedule

Coach Chris Brown put this new squad to the test early and often, scheduling top notch competition from higher divisions to expose the team to high caliber uptempo play that would prove critical in the VISAA State tournament. Early contests against eventual Division 1 Champion Trinity Episcopal School, Benedictine, and others were great barometers for where they were and what they needed to address.

The Allen Iverson Showcase tournament in Hampton is where the team truly saw their first glimpse of their capability to win it all. In this showcase they would beat the powerhouse Hampton High School Crabbers, who until that point had only one loss on the entire season. The VISAA committee quickly picked up on this success, ranking the Eagles #1 in their first Boys Basketball poll of the season.

The Grind

The very aggressive schedule was challenging for the Eagle student-athletes, often with 3 games in a four or five day stretch. The players at the tail end of these runs of games would find their legs a little tired and dropped a collection of games in January and February that their record would suggest they should not lose. This list would include at that time a loss to #6 Amelia Academy at home by 3, the eventual #1 seed in the VISAA tournament and their opponent for the championship game. But the losses proved to be another key element to the championship run, as the Eagles were being worked into better and better basketball shape, and understanding each others talents and thought processes.

The Conference

Due to the substantial scheduling of non-conference opponents in the beginning of the season, the team didn’t face many Metro opponents until the end of the season. Having faced such staunch competition in the beginning of the season, the Eagles were able to run the table in the Metro Conference, and had the regular season conference title wrapped up with two games to play.

The Penalty

Due to an oversight in the playing of a few junior varsity players at unallowed points of varsity games, WCA was assessed a violation of League rules, and the team was handed down the stout penalty of being barred from both the JV and Varsity Metro tournaments. The school appealed the decision, as the penalty did not seem to fit the indiscretion, but it was upheld. Part of the punishment was the inability of any of the WCA players from being named All-Metro, Conference MVP, or Coach Brown from being named Metro Coach of the Year. Captain Cle’von Greene would certainly have been the frontrunner to receive the nod as Metro Conference Player of the Year.

The Championship

With several of the players using the hashtag #mosthated on their Twitter feeds, the message was clear. The players now had a full week to rest, practice, and plan for the upcoming VISAA State tournament. The team had slipped to the #3 seed due to some of the losses listed above, and drew #11 Richmond Christian School as their first tournament opponent at home. A statement was made to the rest of the tournament field with a resounding 97-45 victory. The message was clear: the Eagles were coming for the State Title.

The Title

The ‘Final Four’ for all VISAA divisions was held at the beautiful new Virginia State Multi-purpose center. The Eagles semi-final opponent was #2 North Cross out of Roanoke, a team that a lower seeded WCA team had also bumped from the VISAA playoffs in the Quarterfinals in 2015. This years Eagles team utilized a relentless full court press to open the game on a 14-0 run, and slowly built that lead the rest of the game enroute to a 51-31 win in a defensive struggle all game. Cle’von Greene led all scorers with 17, with Chester Makoi and Ra’Shawn Cook at 11 a piece.

The win over North Cross set up a rematch between WCA and Amelia Academy, who the Eagles had faced twice already in the season, both losses by three with one in overtime. Both those games were marked by poor ball security by the Eagles, combined with strong shooting by the Patriots. As the saying goes, however, ‘third time’s a charm’. The Eagles opened in similar fashion with their intense pressure defense and ran out to a similar 19-4 lead. In the process of applying that pressure, however, both lead scorer and team Captain Cle’Von Greene and Chester Makoi picked up three fouls by midway in the second quarter, and Ra’Shawn Cook coming off the floor with a badly sprained ankle. Greene would actually sit the final seven minutes of the second quarter, but all the long practices, the grinding stretches of games, and the reserves getting substantial playing time paid off in those seven minutes. Instead of watching the 15 point lead disintegrate with Greene on the bench, the Eagles actually grew the lead prior to his return. Junior guard Da’Shawn Cook poured in three consecutive 3 point shots from outlandish range, and sophomore forward Dexter Radcliffe picked up his game as well after taking only one shot and scoring 3 points versus North Cross.

Although Makoi and Greene would return in the third quarter, Greene picked up his fourth foul near the end of the third on a eyebrow raising reach-in call with two players racing for a loose ball, and Makoi picked up his early in the fourth on what seemed to be a clear charging call in favor of the stationary flat footed big man, but called for body contact on Makoi instead.  The mantle for holding onto the lead now fell to the remaining starters and reserves such as seniors Danny Kean and Luke Anderson and junior Jahvon Noray. Amelia Academy started getting hot with their shot, and by the end of the third, the lead had dwindled to just eleven points.

The story of the game through the rough patches of the third and the eventual pull away was clearly the play of sophomore Dexter Radcliffe, who played excellent post-up offense and muscled himself to the basket with a collection of slick drop step moves and pivots to the basket. Fouled several times, Radcliffe would hit the majority of his opportunities at the charity stripe, and would finish as the game’s leading scorer with 20 points.

By midway through the fourth and WCA holding a 8 point lead with just 4 minutes to play, the Patriots scrambled to get good looks at three point shots in a desperate attempt to play catch up, but several missed shots turned into clean transition baskets for WCA, and the Eagles finished on a 14-0 run to clinch the title with a 77-55 win.

The team was celebrated in an all school assembly Monday, where Coach Brown acknowledged the part that all the player’s parents, the student cheer section and all the supporters that played a role in getting to the Championship Game.

Congratulations again to our Eagle Hoops Team, the 2016-2017 VISAA Division 3 State Champions!!