Article by Jack Herron of Vantage Hoops
In a big WCAC rivalry, this game showed why the conference in the DMV is often considered the best high school basketball conference in the country. A match-up between two perennial powerhouse teams in Gonzaga of Washington DC and Bishop O’Connell of Arlington went down to the wire, and had featured five players who have already committed to division one schools and countless others who have multiple offers.

Gonzaga, led by senior point guard and Miami commit Chris Lykes, came into the game 17-3 and the reigning WCAC Champs are considered favorites to repeat this year. Bishop O’Connell is no slouch of their own however, as they came into the game 15-7 with wins over national ranked programs in Norcross, Westlake and Bishop Gorman, and are led by Providence commit and nationally ranked big man Nate Watson.

The Knights of O’Connell jumped out to a quick lead behind the play of junior point guard Xavier Johnson, who’s steal and layup to beat the buzzer gave them a two point lead going into halftime. However, Gonzaga came out firing in the second half behind the play of Miami commit Chris Lykes and Penn State commit Myles Dread who were both clutch down the stretch. Gonzaga held on to win a close one 73-67 to get a big road win in conference.

The point guard match-up stole the show, as Lykes finished with 25 points, while Johnson posted an impressive stat line of 32 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Other standouts included Dread (23 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists), Watson (17 points and 15 rebounds), Gonzaga junior Prentiss Hubb (12 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds), Bishop O’Connell senior and JMU commit Matt Lewis (13 points), and Gonzaga senior and Penn commit Eddie Scott (8 points and 6 rebounds).

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