Cavaliers Hang On To Beat the Saxons

During a third-quarter timeout in W.T. Woodson's 54-48 victory over visiting Langley last night, Cavaliers Coach Doug Craig crouched inside the team's huddle and frantically passed on the orders he thought would help the Cavaliers hang on to a fragile six-point lead.

Standing behind Craig was senior forward Dane Huling, whose face told a different, more relaxed story as he stared at teammate Stephen Stepka and shook his head in near disbelief with an awestruck smile on his face.

Stepka, a 6-foot-6 inside-outside threat, carried W.T. Woodson with 26 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 assists and 3 steals and ran into the locker room at game's end with teammate Steven Noe draped on him in a congratulatory hug.

Craig stood nearby and called Stepka "our horse, and we've been riding him."

"Being able to give [Stepka] the ball and know that he's going to score 50 percent of the time, that's what we need," said senior guard Dylan Robeson, who scored nine of his 14 in the fourth quarter to help W.T. Woodson close out a game that was tied at 20 at halftime.

The victory gave W.T. Woodson (14-7, 10-3 Liberty District) its third straight regular season conference title, the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament and an automatic bid in the Virginia AAA Northern Region tournament. Langley (15-6, 8-5) had its win streak end at seven.

Stepka has been the Cavaliers' most reliable option during a tumultuous season in which they entered as a Northern Region afterthought after losing junior guard Max Lenox -- a 6-1 talent who averaged 14.4 points per game last season but has missed all of the regular season with a knee injury.

"When we lost Max it kind of put the team in a little bit of shock, but we knew we had to get over it," said Stepka, who displayed his full arsenal last night, hitting pull-up jumpers, inside post moves, tip-ins, fadeaways and high-rising finishes. "I felt, you know, this is my last year on the team, and I knew I could come out here and carry this team when guys needed it."

Stepka scored 24 of his 26 points in the first three quarters and in the second half helped cool off Langley senior Derek Baker, a sharpshooter who scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the first half to help the Saxons build a 10-point lead before Woodson rallied.

W.T. Woodson 54, Langley 48 Red's in the House: Former W.T. Woodson basketball coach Paul "Red" Jenkins, the legendary Northern Region coach whom Woodson's gymnasium is named after, was in attendance last night. Free Throw Woes: Woodson shot 10 for 22 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter as Langley tried to rally by fouling.