Coming off a thrilling week of playoff basketball and an upset victory over Alexandria City Wednesday, West Potomac Boys Basketball has earned its way back to familiar territory, the Patriot District Championship Game. The Wolverines entered the district tournament in the fourth seed, defeating Woodson in a last possession thriller 41-38 before advancing and then defeating the top seeded Titans 53-48 Wednesday night. One year ago, the Wolverines entered the district tournament at the fifth seed, winning three straight away games en route to a Cinderella-esque district championship title run.

After losing last season’s entire starting five to both graduation and the transfer portal, it was easy to write off the Wolverines as a potential repeat champion. The team expectantly opened in a struggle, opening conference play with .500 record through eight games. It took two more losses suffered at the start of conference play before the team clicked–and clicked they did. The Wolverines won 10 of its last 12 regular season games, a 180 turnaround in the back half of the season.

“We knew replacing Bass-Briscoe (transferred to Hayfield) wasn’t going to be easy, and that it would take more than one player to make up for a talent like him. We focused on it during the preseason and here we are. What a great story we’ve been.” Head Coach David Houston said in a post-victory interview Wednesday with Nova Hoops.

Rebuilt? Reloaded? However you wish to call it, this team finds itself red hot and one game from repeating as district tournament champions. The Wolverines meet the third seeded South County Stallions tonight in the district finals before opening regionals next week, the hype squad theme is a black out.