The Meridian Mustangs were back home on Friday to complete their four-game stand, and this one was the big one. The Skyline Hawks were in town, bringing on a matchup of the top two powerhouses in the Northwestern District, with Meridian entering the game still unbeaten at 10-0 while Skyline was 10-1. If the Mustangs’ 45-40 victory in the Junior Varsity prelude – with tensions already high both on the court and in the stands – was any indication, this crowd was in for a treat.
Things got off to a frantic start, with both teams scoring at will on their opening few possessions. A John Alverson layup gave the Mustangs the game’s first points, and they led 6-5 after a series of traded baskets. Skyline then scored the next six points before Meridian came back to go ahead 14-13, but that would be the last time the home team would lead for quite a while. The Mustangs trailed 18-20 after a quarter, and then after the pace considerably slowed down in the next frame, they fell behind by double digits late in the half before Marquis Myles got them back within 26-35 on an impressive shot at the intermission buzzer. A harbinger of things to come, perhaps.
Meridian was able to hang around through the third quarter, but it seemed like every time the Mustangs gained some momentum, they would stall out as they struggled to string scoring possessions together. They trailed 38-45 heading into the fourth and briefly cut it to two on a John Lyman three early in the frame, but found themselves back down by six in the closing minutes. That’s when Billy Asel hit a massive corner three in transition, and from that point on, it was a full-on nailbiter. Myles converted a three-point play with just over a minute to go to bring the Mustangs within one, and then a turnover on Skyline’s inbounds pass led to a Jarrett Jardine layup to take the lead. The Hawks got to the free throw line on their following possession and made one of two, evening the score at 54 apiece, and Meridian was determined to make the ensuing trip down the floor the final one of regulation.
What happened next won’t be forgotten anytime soon by anyone in attendance at the packed Falls Church gymnasium. After killing off most of the remainder of the clock, Jardinebegan drove to the basket but slipped, and the ball rolled around for what seemed like an eternity before it found its way into the hands of Will Davis, Meridian’s star sharpshooter who hadn’t been able to find his stroke behind the arc all night long. But Davis never hesitated as he hoisted his shot with only about a second remaining, and the moment it left his hands, he and the rest of the building knew it would fall right through the bottom of the net. Time expired, and Davis was mobbed by his teammates in a raucous scene at center court, capping off athrilling 57-54 victory for the ages.
“Everything happens for a reason, I guess,” Davis remarked postgame of his struggles leading up to that point. “But that’s why you always got to just keep shooting.”
Head coach Jim Smith, meanwhile, was most proud of his team’s hustle in recovering the loose ball.
“We knew it was all going to come down to whoever won that play,” he noted. “When you get a broken play, sometimes those are the easiest opportunities you’ll get. If (Skyline) recovers it, they’re running back the other way and scoring.”
This win carries an even more special magnitude for Smith. Though he humbly downplayed its significance to keep the focus on his players, it was the 550th victory of his decorated career, spanning between stops at McLean High School and Chantilly High School before arriving at Meridian. Smith came out of retirement in 2021 to coach the Mustangs after spending nearly three decades at Chantilly.
Davis’ buzzer-beating three ended up giving him the team lead in scoring, with 12 on the night, while Lyman was the only other Mustang in double figures with 11. Meridian will have another busy week ahead next week, with road games against Warren County on Tuesday and Fauquier on Friday, and a home tilt against Kettle Run sandwiched in between on Wednesday.
