The Seneca Valley High School boys basketball team raced out to a quick first quarter lead and then held off a couple of rallies by visiting Poolesville in the second and fourth quarters en route to a 64-53 win Friday night in a pivotal 3A-2A divisional contest.

With the victory, the Screaming Eagles (9-7, 8-2 3A/2A Division) remained tied for first place in the division while the Falcons (8-7, 6-4) continued their fall behind. Poolesville lost to the other team tied for the division lead, Watkins Mill, on Tuesday.

Jerry McFadden paced the Screaming Eagles with 19 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Robbie Lim added 14 points.

Although pleased with pulling out the victory, Seneca Valley coach Tom Sheahin was not pleased with how his squad ended the game; the Screaming Eagles made just one of their final six free throws and had some untimely turnovers.

“We want to win the division, but our main goal is to earn a bye for the playoffs. We've let a few slip away,” he said. “We can't be playing like this at this time of the year.”

Ean Hill-Addison scored 14 points for the Falcons, who had 22 points in the second quarter to trim the deficit to 33-28 by halftime and got as close as five points early in the fourth quarter before Seneca pulled away through its aggressive halfcourt traps and making their free throws in the final 3 minutes and 5 seconds of the game.

jpeters@gazette.net

Seneca Valley 64, Poolesville 53

Poolesville (8-7, 6-4) 6 22 10 15 53

Seneca Valley (9-7, 8-2) 14 19 14 17 64

Poolesville Ean Hill-Addison 14, Anthony Papagjika 10, Zach Sneed 8, DeAndre Parrott 6, Eric Jansson 5, Andy Baker 4, Kirby Carmack 4, Dylan Bourque 2.

Seneca Valley Jerry McFadden 19, Robbie Lim 14, Kelvin Bennett 12, Chukwudi Nwachukwu 8, Charles Fitch 7, Chad Smith 4.