West Potomac boys win Patriot District regular season title

West Potomac’s Brandan Lisenby, left, and Da’Jon Bellfield put the pressure on during the Wolverines’ victory over South County.

West Potomac wrapped up the number one seed in the Patriot District boys basketball tournament with a 72-54 win over South County on Friday night. 

It’s the first time the Wolverines (19-3) have ever won the Patriot District regular season title according to coach David Houston III, and it puts them in good position to make a run at the second straight district tournament championship.

“This is a big deal,” West Potomac coach David Houston III said, noting the historic significance of the win. “We checked one [goal] off today.” 

The next goal would be repeating as district tournament champs. The Wolverines will face Annandale on Tuesday as the tournament kicks off, and Houston said his team is playing the way he had hoped they’d be at this point in the year. 

“We’re doing what we prepared for all offseason,” Houston said. “We won the conference last season,  and we had four starters returning. We felt like if we kept getting better we could win the regular season and have a chance to try and win another conference title.”

The victory over South County came in signature West Potomac fashion. The Wolverines’ defensive pressure and physical presence in the paint wore down the Stallions as the game progressed, and on offense West Potomac spread the ball around. Five Wolverines finished in double figures scoring, paced by sophomore guard Daryl Mackey, who finished with a team-high 19 points.

Mackey came off the bench in the first quarter after West Potomac started all five of its seniors for their last regular season home game. He hit his first two shots, the second being a 3-pointer to give the Wolverines back the lead. In the third quarter he hit a clutch 3-pointer to end a Stallion run that had brought them to within two points.

In his second varsity season, Mackey has become one of the premier guards in Northern Virginia, mixing his ability to drive to the basket with a smooth shooting stroke to average more than 18 points a game. 

“He’s one of the one of the hardest workers on his team,” senior center Idaresit Ekpuk said of Mackey “He’s stays after [practice] getting shots up, he’s gets here early getting shots up.”

Ekpuk, who finished with 14 points, is no stranger to hard work himself. Houston said that he is the Wolverines’ most-improved player by far, going from a role where he came off the bench last season to a full-time starter this year averaging 11 points and 10 rebounds per game. 

Ekpuk teamed with twins Da’Jon and Da’Juan Bellfield to out-muscle the Stallions inside on Friday, drawing a host of fouls while giving the the Wolverines numerous second-chance scoring opportunities. 

“[Ekpuk] is a strong, physical presence,” Houston said. “He just plays hard. And he plays harder every single game.”