Boys: Oakton Suffers Loss to Rival Madison

With a packed gym divided between fans of both teams, 's boys basketball team disappointed its gold-clad Cougar supporters with a 62-44 loss to crosstown rivals Madison Warhawks.

The Cougars shot just 3-for-12 from the floor in the first quarter, but led 8-7 after a three from senior Jonathan Morris. However, the Cougars started to shut down in the second quarter after losing senior Adi Hajrovic to foul trouble.

Hajrovic sat for the majority of the second, after lackluster shooting and two fouls. Coach Dave Brooks noted the loss of Hajrovic, Oakton's strongest post presence, as a turning point.

"Obviously, Adi is our go-to guy," Brooks said. "He gets us easy points, [but] he got into foul trouble early and didn't play most of the second quarter."

With Hajrovic on the bench, Madison went on a 21-8 run for the rest of the first half giving the Warhawks a 12-point lead going into the locker room. Not only did Madison go on a scoring frenzy in the second, but the Cougars made it easy on them, giving the Warhakws 13 free throw attempts. Madison converted nine, scoring more at the charity stripe than Oakton had from the field in the quarter.

With Hajrovic back on the floor, Oakton outscored Madison 19-12 in the third quarter to get back in the game. He went 5-for-6 and scored 10 points in the quarter, and senior Steele Shemeld's shot a perfect 4-for-4 in the third.

But Madison was able to get all that back and then some in the fourth quarter. The Warhawks scored another nine points at the foul line, and poured in 22 in the quarter. The Cougars lost senior forward Zack Fabian when he fouled out with 1:46 left on the game clock, and 32 seconds later lost Hajrovic.

"We were slow with our feet on defense," Brooks said. "We were forced us to use our hands too much which put us in foul trouble early. [There was a] lack of poise."

Oakton was clearly a different team with Hajrovic on the court, along with the talented perimeter shooters in Shemeld and Morris.

"Oakton can shoot in bunches if you let them," said Madison Coach Chris Kuhblank. "They're very talented, but we play slower paced games, and this pace was exactly that. We have our defensive goal of 43. They shouldn't score more than 43 points. It's our defense."

In practice this coming week, Brooks said the Cougars will need "to focus on playing teams that pressure us in the half court."

The Cougars have one final game before they participate in the Mount Vernon Tournament over the winter break. Oakton will travel to Lee High School on Tuesday night to face the Lancers. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.