During pre-game introductions at the Patrick Henry gym Tuesday night, Patriot courtside announcer Woody Deans heralded GW Danville as the state’s #1 ranked AAA team. The Patrick Henry basketball team then took to the court and made sure no further proclamations would be needed.
The Patriots totally dominated the Eagles, breaking open a one point advantage after the first quarter, and eventually expanding their lead to 28 points in the third quarter before cruising to the blowout victory.
The key point in the game came at the start of the second quarter when PH, holding a 15-14 lead, scored eleven unanswered points aided by six from Melvin Henderson on two foul shots, two technical free throws and a jump shot to expand the lead to 26-14.
GW clearly got rattled and could find no solution to Patriot Head Coach Jack Esworthy’s superb game plan that left PH with an overall 7-2 record and 1-0 in league play.
Terrell Wilson and Melvin Henderson shared top scoring honors for PH with 17 points each. Ty Smith added 14. The Patriots took advantage of the foul-happy Eagles by canning 28 free throws.
PH held Virgina Tech signee C.J. Barksdale to eleven points with more than half of his total coming on 2 back-to-back 3-pointers late in the game after the outcome had long been decided.
By Bill Turner [email protected]