Buchanan– The Richland Blue Tornado got 18 points from Luke Phillips and Scottie Ball contributed 14 to lead them to a 49-43 victory over the Chatham Cavaliers. The win moves Richlands (21-3) into Saturday nights 2A West championship. Chatham (14-10) got 16 points from Tyler Fitzgerald and 10 from Preston Turner. Chatham took a 17-16 lead into intermission and then were up 32-29 going into the final quarter,
Richlands kept driving in the lane and got Chatham into foul trouble as they hit 10 free throws in the fourth quarter to take the lead and maintained it.Richlands two -three zone slowed Chatham down and they made it hard on them to hit jump shots.
In the first game of the night Dan River overcame one the most impressive performances in VHSL history. Gate City junior Mac McClung fired in 64 points but it wasn’t enough as Dan River won 96-84 in a fast paced affair. The 64 points set a Gate City school record and from information received one of the top 12 highest scoring games in VHSL history. Dan River ( 21-3) had a balanced attack with five players scoring in double figures to off set McClung’s performance. Jaquon Durant has 21 points, Bennet McCann 20, Zemar Anderson and Daniel Dickerson both knocked down 18 poits each and Bryson McLaughlin chipped in with 14 for the win.
Gate City’s only other player to hit double figures was Zac Ervin with 12 points. No one else hit more than one bucket. McClung was on fire all night as he had 28 points at intermission. He scored a remarkable 24 points in the third quarter alone. The Blue Devils ( 22-4) only scored 26 for the third quarter as a team. McClung had 52 points going intpo the final quarter as Dan River held him to 12 points in the final quarter. He finished with 20 field goals for the game. He hit six three- pointers and knocked down all 18 of his free throws. His performance in the end though wasn’t enough as Dan River produced 35 points in the final period to pull away. Their quickness and offensive rebounding just kept hurting Gate City all night. Durant scored 17 of his 21 points in the decisive fourth quarter to help prevail and carry the Wildcats into Saturday nights 2A West Championship. It was one of the greatest performances seen but one guy couldn’t beat a team.
Gate City will play Chatham in the consolation game at 2:30 Friday at James River High School.
Gate City- 19 21 26 18-84
Dan River- 17 20 24 35-96
GC- McClung 64, Ervin 12, Vermillion 3, Kimbler 3, Collier 2
DR- McCann 20. Durant 21, Dickerson 18, Anderson 18, McLaughlin 14, J. Fitzgerald 4, Venable 1
Richlands -( 49) – Phillips 18, Ball 14, T. Horn 9, Smith 2, C.Horn 2, Ratliff 3, Herndon 1
Chatham – (43) – Davis 7, Turner 10, T. Fitzgerald 16, Hodnett 5, Robertson 5