It was a total blitzkrieg Monday night at the Patrick Henry gym. Precision shooting and swarming defense led the way as the Patriots made short order of the visitors from Gar-Field to capture the NW Region title, and advance to the state AAA quarterfinal this Saturday with a convincing 67-49 blowout.
PH (20-4) will play Langley High at the Salem Civic Center in their quest to advance to next week’s final-four in Richmond.
Gar-Field advances to play Chantilly in quarterfinal action, with a potential rematch against the Patriots, should both teams make it to the AAA final on March 13th.
Monday night’s matchup was over early. Thanks in part to the long-range shooting of Terrell Wilson, the Patriots jumped out to a 22 point advantage midway through the second quarter. Wilson netted his first 6 shots from behind the arc and scored 20 points as Patrick Henry led by a whopping 35-12 at halftime over the totally outmanned Indians.
Any hope Gar-Field had, after an ankle injury to Wilson confined him to the bench early in the third quarter, was short-lived. The Indians had little success in denting the margin until late in the game, long after the decision had clearly been made. PH ended up with eleven 3-pointers for the game and gave Gar-Field trouble throughout with their defensive pressure.
After Wilson’s 20, the Patriots were led by Ronnie Thomas’ 16 points, with Melvin Henderson adding 11. Ty Smith also chipped in 9 for Patrick Henry.
Story and photos by Bill Turner