It has been a team in flux all summer. Without a coach since Pat Hughes resigned in May, Annandale High’s boys basketball team patiently waited to find out who would lead the program into next season.
That patience was tested when the school’s first choice for the position suddenly backed out two weeks ago. But it turned out the man for the job had been with the Atoms all along.
With new coach Tony Harper watching from the stands, Annandale played like a team with a big weight off its shoulders in an impressive 57-54 victory over Madison High in the Flint Hill Summer League championship game on Wednesday.
Harper, an assistant coach at the school for four years and the junior varsity coach last season, was hired on Monday, but had been overseeing the Atoms’ summer schedule while the coaching search continued.
“We just had to put the coaching situationout of our minds,” said Annandale rising junior guard Erik Etherly, whose team is currently 0-7 in the Sleepy Thompson Summer League played at St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes. “But it was a big relief when we found out. And a win like this is something that should build up our morale even more.”
Annandale, which has qualified for the Northern Region tournament just twice since 1998, graduated the top three scorers from a team that finished 10-13 and lost in the first round of the Patriot District tournament last season.
Madison played Wednesday’s championship game with just six players. The Warhawks were without rising senior point guard Robert Schenck, who was on vacation. Rising junior forward Todd Crissey has played just two games this summer because of a severe lumbar sprain in his lower back and rising senior forward Leland Riordan broke his foot while working at Madison’s summer basketball camp earlier this week. All three are expected starters next season, according to Warhawks coach Chris Kuhblank.
Rim shots
» Madison rising junior forward Nick Foreman played his last game for the Warhawks on Wednesday. Foreman, who was expected to battle for playing time in the frontcourt next season, is moving to Texas.
» Annandale graduate Layth Mansour, a 6-foot-5 center who led the Atoms with 20 points and 10 rebounds per game last season, will play at Virginia State, according to former coach Pat Hughes.
» Flint Hill hosted a league All-Star game on Wednesday after the championship was played between Madison and Annandale.
