By Jeffery Gibert
West Potomac Senior, DigitalSports Intern

Fifth-seeded Lee withstood a 22-point, fourth quarter performance by Lake Braddock senior standout Dominic Morra to hold on for a 50-48 victory over the fourth-seeded Bruins to advance to the semifinal round of the Patriot District tournament.

With the win, the Lancers also secured a coveted spot in next week's Northern Region tournament.
   
"It was kind of hard to contain him," Lancer senior Frank Holloway, Jr. (17 points) said of Morra. "He's the leading scorer in the area, so you have to do what you have to do."

Added Lee junior Walter Griffin: "He was clutch."
   
The Lancers got off to a quick, 8-0 start to force the Bruins out of their stall offense. And with Lee leading throughout the game, Lake Braddock spent the rest of the game trying to claw its way to the lead.
   
"I feel we had to get that 8-0 run because we're in their house and they can come back at any time," Lancer senior Dimitri Sakellarides (10 points) said. "So we have to come out and do our thing early, so we can get into it later in the game.”
   
Said Griffin: "We had defenses [that] we changed in-and-out and it was confusing. They didn't know how to score."
   
The Lancers, on the other hand, gave the Bruins a taste of their own medicine as they patiently passed the ball around until they got the shot that they wanted. Also, Sakellarides, whom his teammates call “Straps,” played big on the defensive side, holding Morra to only eight first-half points as the Lancers took a 22-15 lead into the locker room at half time.
   
"We had about three or four defenses [that] we ran, so he couldn't stay comfortable," Sakellarides said.
   
Morra respectfully disagreed.

"It was seven defenses," he said. 

Holloway woke up in the second half. After only getting a few touches in the first half for a total of two points, Holloway pounded the ball inside early in the third quarter, and as a result sent Bruin senior Jared Watson to the bench in the opening minutes with four fouls.
   
It looked like the game's outcome might be secured when when Sakellarides crossed up a Bruin defender and hit the short jumper to complete the play and then Griffin (12 points) sent a Morra shot away with a monster block. But Lake Braddock did not give up.

Trailing 22-31 entering the last period, Morra put his team on his back and attempted a spectacular comeback. He hit four three-pointers in the final period en route to 22 of his game-high 34 points.  

After Holloway slipped on the floor and was called for a travel with just under :20 remaining, Lake Braddock had a chance to send the game to overtime. But Morra's game-tying attempt fell short, and Holloway got the rebound and sank two of his team's 17 clutch free throws in the fourth quarter with:02.8 seconds remaining to give his team a 50-45 lead. 

"Free throws are very important," Holloway said. "That's what we practice a lot in practice. That's all we really do."

Morra got a last-second heave -- and dropped a three-pointer at the buzzer for the game's final margin. It was a fitting note for the great scorer to go out on.

Morra finishes his career as the second-leading scorer in Lake Braddock history, a mere 43 points behind former NBA great Hubert Davis.

But it is Lee that moves on, advancing to face top-seeded T.C. Williams at 5:45 p.m. Thursday at 5:45 at tournament host Lake Braddock.