(Photography courtesy Tina Quesenberry)
Max Meadows…The second night of the First Community Bank-Fort Chiswell tournament saw the Pioneers battle but lose to rival Grayson Co. 60-51 in one of the two winner’s bracket games.
The Blue Devils (4-5) got 19 points from junior Wes Ayers, 11 from forward Seth Phillips and 10 from Garrett Moore to hold off the Pioneers and advanced to the championship game that will be played tonight.
Fort Chiswell’s Isaiah Ramsey had 16 points and six rebounds and Matthew Musick drilled three- three’s as he chipped in with 11 points off the bench.
With the game tied at 15 after the opening quarter the Pioneers went cold from the field the last three minutes before halftime as the Blue Devils went on a eight to zero run to take a one point, 24-23 lead into intermission. Grayson would stretch that out to a 43-34 advantage after three quarters and they held Fort Chiswell (3-3) at arms length in the fourth period.
“Our half court offense was stagnant tonight,” said a disappointed Pioneer head coach Derrick Jackson. “ We had to many turnovers and gave Grayson to many second and third shots. We not the tallest team so we need to block out better than we did tonight.” He then added,” Grayson’s size hurt us and their guard play was very good also.”
In the opening game of the second round saw the Galax Maroon Tide (1-4) upset Carroll Co. 45-42. The Tide made big shots when they needed to hold off the Cavaliers rally late in the fourth quarter. Galax got 13 points apiece from Noah Hutchens and Dougie Peoples. The Cavaliers (3-4) was led by Micah Johnson with 12 points on four three pointers and Adam Horton contributed 11 points.
Abingdon (2-5) won a hard earned 62-61 victories over the (1-6) Floyd Co. Buffaloes. Cedric Claridy knocked down 15 points and got help from Tommy Francisco and Aaron Blankenship both pumped in 12 points each. Dustin Thompson led Floyd with 18 points and 16 from Cayden Sutphin.
The other game of the second round saw the Alleghany (NC) Trojans go into double overtime to defeat the Radford Bobcats 49-47. The Trojans got 21 points from Hunter Todd as he stroked six three’s and Austin Hawkins contributed 14. The Trojan’s (10-0) had a couple chances to win the game in regulation and in the first overtime. They missed a short jumper that rimmed out in the last second of regulation and then they missed a front end of a one and one. Radford (4-4) got 15 points from point guard Quinton Morton- Robertson and 10 off the bench from Taylor Newcome. Regulation ended with the teams tied at 41 and the first overtime saw each team hit a bucket to send the contest into a second overtime tied at 43. Hawkins and Tyler Hanks both hit buckets in the second overtime. Hawkins hit one of two free throws and Todd hit one of two from the charity stripe to ice the game. Radford shot a dismal 25% from the charity stripe, hitting just three of 12 shots.
The seventh place game will take place at 4 pm today with Carroll Co. and Floyd Co. playing. Fifth place will see Galax and Abingdon tipping at 5:30. Radford and Fort Chiswell will play in the 7 pm third place game. The championship contest will see Alleghany (NC) take on Grayson Co. at around 8:30.
Grayson Co. 15 9 19 17-60
Fort Chiswell 15 8 11 17-51
GC- McPherson 7, Moore 10, Hollandsworth 6, Phillips 11, Ayers 19, Hawkins 5, Widner 2
FC – Ramsey 16, Bailey 9, Widelo 6, Sutphin 7, Musick 11, Stoots 2
3- PT. Goals- GC- 2 – (Ayers, Hawkins), FC- 5 – (Musick 3, Ramsey, Sutphin)
Fouls- GC – 13 , FC- 18
Fouled Out – FC- Bailey, Widelo
Technicals – None