The Langley Boys Varsity Basketball Team lost to the McLean Highlanders 35-42 in overtime, on Feb. 8 in a game held at Langley.

The game quickly sold out over an hour before the game was set to start. A crowd of students and parents standing outside the gym lobby were turned away by Fairfax Country Police officers after the fire marshall declared that the gym was filled to capacity.

For the senior night game, where both the Varsity Boys Basketball and Dance Team seniors were honored, the five seniors of the basketball team–Justin Galiani, Phil Novacki, Brad Dotson, Nick Guglielmo and Xavier Ryan–started.

By the end of the first period the score was Langley-7, McLean-10.

However, by the end of the second period the rivals were tied at 17-17 and the Saxon trailed by only 6 points at the end of the third.

In the final seconds of the game, with the score 30-31 Highlanders, Langley Coach Travis Hess used his final two timeouts. With only one second left in the game all eyes were on Phil Novacki as he took two foul shots. After missing the first, he tied the game with the second, making the score 31-31 and causing the game to go into overtime.

Despite the frantic cheering of Saxon fans, once the four minutes of overtime were up the score was 35-42, Highlanders, and it was McLean’s turn to storm the court.

To read a running play-by-play of the game, check out The Saxon Scope’s Twitter account by clicking here.

The Boys Varsity Team will head to Districts next week where they remain the number one seed.

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Photos by Harris LaTeef

The Saxon Scope would like to thank Langley Activities Director Mr. Noto and Assistant Principal Ms. Statz for making tonight’s coverage possible.