There was an electric atmosphere Tuesday night at Roanoke College.
A standing room only crowd had jammed the Cregger Center to watch Cave Spring and Northside battle it out in the VHSL Class 3 semifinal, with a trip to the final in Richmond set for Thursday afternoon at VCU on the line.
It would be easy to say none of the fans asked for their money back.
In a classic battle of two talented teams, Northside got the upper hand in the fourth quarter, pulling away for the 73-53 win. In the end, it was too much Julien Wooden, as the 6-foot-7 senior JMU recruit scored a career-high 36 points, 21 coming in the second half.
“Julien is a D1 player for a reason,” Cave Spring head coach Jacob Gruse noted afterward. “What a great game he had. Hats off to him and his performance.”
While the final differential was 20, the game was a dogfight for over three quarters. The Vikings led by one after the first quarter, 30-27 at the halftime break, and after Cave Spring outscored Northside 17-16 in the third, things headed to the final eight minutes with the Vikings clinging to the narrow 46-44 advantage.
Any designs that Northside was in for a cakewalk was quashed. Cave Spring made sure the Vikings had to walk through glass to advance.
“We had a great game plan,” Gruse pointed out. “Kept it close and being down by only 2 going into the fourth. Had it where we wanted it. Our guys played so hard.”
Although Wooden scored thirteen of Northside’s 16 points in the opening quarter, the Knights hung tough. They got a huge 1-2 punch from senior Crawford Enyart, who finished with 21 points, and 13 more from junior Parker Huffman. Jalen Buster, who hit the 3-pointer at the buzzer last Friday night to stun Spotswood and punch Cave Spring’s ticket to the semis added 7, including the Knights’ only trey of the game. Senior Jeremiah Rosarion netted 6 points for Cave Spring.
Northside’s Kasey Draper complimented Julien Wooden’s 36 by dropping in 12 for the Vikings, while Jordan Wooden tacked on 10 and Bryce Hall 6.
Cave Spring also helped itself by going 10-of-11 from the free throw line (91%). Northside held a huge advantage from long-distance, hitting 8 times from behind-the-arc.
It was an emotional scene as the four Cave Spring seniors, Enyart, Rosarion, Nick Mills and Zac Bowling, made curtain calls late in the fourth quarter as their high school careers came to an end.
“I think it’s important to give them (the seniors) their due,” Gruse said. “They have done so much for our program. They deserve to have that time in front of their coaches, teammates, fans and families. It’s the way of me showing them the utmost respect.”
After the final buzzer, both squads, along with cheerleaders and coaches, assembled at midcourt to acknowledge the accomplishments of a pair of extraordinary “Big-11” teams.
“It’s really hard to get there (the state final), so we don’t take it for granted, not for a second,” Northside head coach Bill Pope noted to the media after the win. “I’ve been doing this for a while. We keep trying to get better…we have a chance.”
Bill Turner
