The Northside Vikings were 28-0 and were playing in the Salem Civic Center but that didn’t seem to matter to the Warriors of Western Albemarle. The Warriors defeated Northside 68-64 in overtime to advance to the Class 3 state championship.
The Warriors got 17 points from Tommy Mangrum, 16 from Chris McGahren and 11 from Teo Rampini.
Kasey Draper led Northside (28-1) as he tossed in 18 points. Julien Wooden scored 16, Cameron O’Conner had 12 and Jordan Wooden came off the bench to knock in four three’s for 12 points.
The game saw 12 lead changes and four ties as the two teams battled. Northside has to play most of the first half without point guard Nick Price and Julien Wooden due to foul trouble. Without those two the Vikings were only down 31-30 at intermission.
Northside would lead 43-42 going into the fourth quarter. The game was tied at 59 and the Warriors (23-6) held the ball to take the last shot but the shot clanked off the side of the rim and the contest went into overtime. Above – Vikings- Devon Russell
Western took the lead as the overtime started and Northside came when one 63-62 with under one minute left but the Warriors would hit five of six free throws in the last 10 seconds. McGahren would hit all four of his freebies to put the game into the win column and the Warriors had advanced and upset the previous undefeated Northside Vikings.
at left- Northside’s Kasey Draper battles for rebound
W. Albemarle 13 18 11 17 9-68
Northside 17 13 13 16 5-64
W. Albemarle – Weyher 6, Payne 3, Rampini 11, Mangrum 17, Strickland 7, McGahren 16, Brown 8
Northside – Price 3, Ju. Wooden 16, Jo. Wooden 12, Draper 18, O’Conner 12, Russell 3