SILVER SPRING — Both the Walt Whitman Vikings and the Clarksburg Coyotes fearlessly responded to each other’s punches.
When the Coyotes landed a jab, the Vikings followed it with a jarring hook. In the end, it was Whitman who managed to fire the last blow and knockout Clarksburg 62-61 and take home the 4A West region championship.
Walt Whitman senior guard Shaq Diboti-Lobe was dialed in early, as he had eight of his teams first 12 points to put the Vikings on top, 12-2, in the opening six minutes.
“I definitely found my groove early,” Dibote-Lobe said, who finished with 29 points. “My team took note of that.”
While Diboti-Lobe asserted himself throughout the first two quarters (13 points at halftime), on the other side, the Coyotes shared the wealth offensively to chip away at the Whitman lead and bring the contest to 29-25 at halftime.
And though holding the lead going into the second half, Whitman experienced a few hiccups — Diboti-Lobe and 6-foot-7 senior center Max Oppenheim both picked up their fourth fouls just minutes into the third.
That would put Walt Whitman in a gridlock as head coach Chris Lun was forced to go to the bench and rely on players who hadn’t seen much playing time.
“We threw in Jack Berson, who works his butt off, but is undersized to play underneath, and Joey Squirey is a sophomore who played JV most of the year,” said Lun, whose Vikings are headed back to the state semifinals for the second time in three years. “We had to put them in for Shaq (Diboti-Lobe) in some big moments. … they did their job.”
At the time, it didn’t seem that way. When Diboti-Lobe came out of the game in the closing minutes of the third quarter, the Vikings were up by seven. By the time Oppenheim came out of the game, almost two minutes later, the Vikings lead had evaporated.
After Clarksburg headed a nine point cushion in the waning minutes, Lun, at that point, was forced to take a gamble and put both Oppenheim and Diboti-Lobe back into the game with four fouls.
That gamble would pay off.
Diboti-Lobe would take over inside, converting back-to-back three-point plays and lifted the Vikings out of a four point deficit to give them a two point lead with 1:30 to go.
“I just put my head down and drove to the hoop,” Dibote-Lobe said. “Also made sure I finished. … ref called foul, boom, and-one. Just like that.”
Clarksburg and Whitman would then trade free throws as the Vikings nursed a three point lead with 14.8 seconds remaining, setting up one final chance for the Coyotes.
Andrew Kostecka used a screen to knock down a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to send the game to overtime at 59-59.
But, Diboti-Lobe needed one shot — a double clutch 3-ball to seal the victory, the only Vikings made the entire overtime.
“They did exactly what they’re supposed to do,” said Lun. “Shaq (Dibote-Lobe hit some big shots, we hit some other big shots down the stretch.”
Now the Vikings will try to take their biggest shot of the year — a shot at the 4A state championship as they square off with the defending champions, Meade, next Friday at 9:00 pm in College Park.
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