Basketball is a game of runs.
Tuesday night in the Patrick Henry gym Varina High School made the first run. The Blue Devils then clinched the 6A Conference 3 semifinal with a dominating run to the final horn.
Scoring the game’s first 10 points and the last 15, Varina stunned the #1-seed Patriots 57-41 to end Patrick Henry’s season. Varina had entered the game with a 10-13 record, expected to be decided underdogs to a PH team that had enjoyed a first-round bye.
“It was huge getting off to the big lead,” exuberant Varina head coach Andrew Lacey noted at mid court. “We told the guys we can’t start slow against a PH team on their home court. Tonight it was all about the players. When these kids were young last year, they got beat. Coming into this season they had a goal. Tonight they played for 32 minutes. They were All-Americans at crunch time. We’re a battle tested team from a tough central region. Down the stretch we responded and got it done.”
The word along the Blue Devil sideline from the opening jump was ‘attack’ and the starting five heeded Lacey’s words by scoring the game’s first 10 points.
Patrick Henry finally got off the goose egg at the 3:49 mark on a pair of free throws by sophomore Joe Boxley. PH rallied to close the deficit to 18-9 after the opening frame.
The Patriots kept chipping away and a runner by PH senior Sam Boxley at the buzzer sent the teams to the halftime break with Varina up 27-23.
The Blue Devils led 31-23 early in the third quarter when the Patriots put on their best run of the game. Three-pointers by Jimmy Butler and Sam Boxley were followed by a Thomas Stockstill layup and a runner by Demontae Belcher that put PH up 33-31.
The lead lasted 15 seconds before Anthony Lofton tied things at 33, and Varina finished with a 5-2 edge that sent the teams to the final 8 minutes with the Blue Devils leading 38-35.
Patriot Marcus Terry opened the fourth quarter with a bomb from behind-the arc to knot things at 38. Varina scored the next two baskets and Patriot Zed Barnett’s deep-three closed the Blue Devil lead to 42-41.
But, PH wouldn’t score the rest of the way.
Leading 49-41 with 1:28 left, Varina sealed the deal with 6 straight free throws off one-plus-one situations sandwiched around a breakaway slam by Jhalen Thomas that sent the Patriots packing.
“We got worked,” PH head coach Jack Esworthy said in the somber Patriot locker room. “We got worked on the boards, we turned the ball over, we couldn’t stop dribble penetration and we missed free throws. This was our worst game all year.”
“We came out so tentative,” Esworhy added. “It’s been a while since I’ve been beat down like that before.”
Thomas led the Varina scoring with a game-high 13 points. Samond Pinchback and Andre Watkins followed with 11 apiece, while junior guard Michael Williams poured in 10 points for the Blue Devils.
Barnett led the Patriot attack with 11 points.
Bill Turner
