“All I know about tomorrow is that this Gonzaga team is going to come and give it everything they’ve got,” Eagles Coach Steve Turner said. “[Paul VI] is the juggernaut; they’ve been number one start to finish. But we’re both 0-0 now, so we’re going to leave everything on the floor.”
Gonzaga advanced by keeping the feisty Stags at bay, leading by single digits for much of the night. DeMatha (20-12) cut Gonzaga’s lead to one with less than 30 seconds remaining, but the Eagles kept their poise. Junior guard Derek Dixon made two free throws, and Gonzaga didn’t allow a final shot on the other end.
“We knew this was going to be a scrappy game,” Dixon said. “We just wanted to take care of the ball to give ourselves a chance to win.”
Gonzaga (27-4) last reached championship Monday in 2019, when it topped St. John’s to claim its third title in five seasons. The Eagles have been a consistent contender in the years since, but this season Gonzaga has cemented itself as one of the two best teams in the league.
Boxing them out of first place all winter was Paul VI. In Sunday’s first semifinal, the top-seeded Panthers steamrolled Northern Virginia rival Bishop O’Connell, 65-44, to return to the WCAC championship game for a third consecutive season.
The Panthers (29-2) shot to the top of the conference in 2022 by winning its first title since 2014. They have stayed on that perch since, losing just one conference game over the past two seasons. It was a big loss, though: a stunning, two-point defeat to St. John’s in last year’s championship matchup. As the Panthers prepare for another shot at the title, it is that game they think about most.
“We win a lot, and it can be easy to get complacent,” senior guard Darren Harris said. “When we do, I think we look back on last year and how things ended. It reminds us of how easily we can be beaten.”
On Sunday night, the Panthers turned a high-stakes meeting with their greatest rival into a talent showcase. The Paul VI playmakers, of which there are many, punished the Knights (23-8) with their signature skills. The sharpshooting Harris hit a few timely three-pointers. Senior point guard Ben Hammond gifted teammates easy looks. Junior Jordan Smith Jr. (a team-high 14 points) provided a few highlight dunks. All the while, Bishop O’Connell was helpless to stop the show.
“In a playoff situation, it’s important to take the rivalry aspect out of things,” Panthers Coach Glenn Farello said. “It’s just business, not personal. Can’t get caught up in that. And I thought our guys did a great job of focusing on the task at hand. Didn’t matter what jersey was on the other side — that was just the team standing in the way of a championship.”