Following a riveting battle between the CESJDS and The Field School’s boys varsity basketball teams, only one team could emerge victorious and move on to the PVAC finals. That team was the Lions.

Led by junior sensation Bryan Knapp, who had a career-high 36 points and also grabbed 19 rebounds, the Lions were able to pull away late in the game and win by a final score of 64-48.

Next up, the Lions will take on the Sandy Spring Friends Wildebeest at 8 p.m. Saturday at Wootton High School for the championship game. This is a highly-anticipated game, as both teams have been far better than the rest of their competition in PVAC. Members of the Sandy Spring team were in the stands on Thursday scouting their opponent.

Both regular season matchups between the Lions and Sandy Spring have been close, with JDS winning by a total of five points between the two. The first game came down to a game-winning three-pointer from junior Nadav Kalender, and the rematch requiring a little luck on the Lions’ side.

A large reason why the Lions won the second of the two games was because one of Sandy Spring’s best players, Milos Apic a 6-foot-9 Serbian-born sophomore, had to leave the game early.

“Well, we got a Serb-stopper,” Lions coach Dave McCloud said. “I think Nadav is gonna do a great job [guarding] him and I think he can take him.”

Despite Apic’s skill, he is not the only talented player on a Sandy Spring team with multiple scoring threats. This means that defense will be key for the Lions, something McCloud emphasized. He believes strong defense is the reason why the Lions managed to win both regular season games against Sandy Spring, and that it will be the key to winning the championship.

“I’m excited baby, I’m excited,” McCloud said. “I’m really excited because it’s my first time ever in the championship, first time ever in the tournament championship, so this time I wanna give it to them.”

Despite the Lions being undefeated heading into the game, it will be a season to forget for McCloud and the players if they cannot deliver on Saturday and win the coveted PVAC basketball championship.