Five nights after pulling out a late comeback win over Cave Spring, Christiansburg faced the same dilemma in the Hidden Valley Titan gym Wednesday night.
This time, the Titans made sure there wouldn’t be a repeat performance, taking the 59-45 River Ridge District win over the Blue Demons.
Hidden Valley opened with the game’s first 5 points against the trademark physical play of Christiansburg, but when things got chippy midway through the first, leading to elbows flying and a technical foul, the Blue Demons squared things at 7 when Matt Herndon connected on the second of two free throws from the T.
It appeared to be a rallying call for the Titans.
Nathan Ayers scored on an old-fashion 3-point play and moments later hit a pair of free throws. Titan J.J. Devaughn added three more from the charity stripe that opened a 15-7 Hidden Valley lead that carried the Titans to a 18-10 advantage after the first quarter.
Hidden Valley put the defensive clamp on Christiansburg in the second quarter, holding the Blue Demons to 4 points and taking a 30-14 lead to the halftime break.
“I’ve studied a lot of box scores,” Hidden Valley head coach Troy Wells noted afterward. “When you establish a working margin in the first half, teams will typically play even the rest of the way.”
Although the Titans offered an opening when they committed their seventh personal foul with 3:47 left in the third quarter, the closest Christiansburg got was 11, before the Titans went on a 7-3 run to head to the final eight minutes up 43-28.
The Titan lead mushroomed to 52-29 on a DeVaughn score midway through the final frame. With Hidden Valley substituting liberally down the stretch, Christiansburg got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
“Hidden Valley played well and we didn’t respond,” Blue Demon head coach Shawn Good said. “They got physical and suddenly we didn’t play. You have to keep playing hard.”
“I was pleased the way we played hard on the defensive end,” Wells added. “We’ve had trouble in the third quarter this year, but tonight we played well in the third. Even though we had the nice lead at halftime, we don’t want to relax.”
Davion Rice and Camden Sine tied for a team-high 11 points for Hidden Valley, while Graham Whitaker added 10 points for the Titans
Matt Herndon paced the Blue Demon attack with a game-high 16 points. Gabe Quesenberry added 9 points for Christiansburg on a trio of 3-pointers.
– Bill Turner
