Varsity Boys Advance to State Regionals in Greensboro

By Joel Frady

Huskies eliminate Patriots in second round

The Ashe County High School varsity boys basketball team barely escaped an upset in the first round of the North Carolina 2-A state tournament on Monday, Feb. 23, in a 65-62 victory over East Davidson. They hosted the Providence Grove Patriots from Franklinville two nights later and earned a solid 18-point victory to ad-vance to the third round.

Separation was hard to find in the first quarter, however, as the Patriots prevented the Huskies from keeping the lead. Tied at four early in the quarter, the Huskies scored four quick points before the Patriots responded with a three. Seniors Tommy Spagnola and Daniel Waln then led Ashe County on a 6-0 run to take a 14-7 lead, but Providence Grove ended the quarter on a 10-4, including two three-point shots in the final minute, to cut the Ashe County lead to 18-17.

Providence Grove opened the second quarter strong, taking a 21-20 lead at the 6:30 mark. 24 seconds later, Ashe County senior Tatum Lemly sunk a three to spark an 11-4 run and give Ashe County the lead. Provi-dence Grove kept the game close, using a 6-0 run to tie the game at 31 with 2:22 remaining in the first half, but Ashe County responded with an 11-2 run, including four points from Spagnola in the last minute, to take a 42-33 lead at the half.

Providence Grove opened the second half strong, outscoring the Huskies 8-4 in the first four minutes to cut the Huskies' lead to five. But Waln hit back-to-back threes in the span of 35 seconds to put Ashe County up 52-41. Senior Tavin Holman countered a Providence Grove basket with a three-point play, and junior Grayson Wells hit two free throws to go up 57-43.

The Patriots went on a 6-3 run to pull within 11 before Waln sunk a three at the buzzer to end the third quarter with a 63-49 Ashe lead. Waln scored 13 of his 25 points in the quarter.

The Patriots never recovered, and Ashe County's lead grew to 20 early in the fourth quarter. Providence Grove never got close than 17 for the remainder of the game as the Huskies' sealed the 78-60 victory and moved to the third round of the state tournament.

Huskies' raid too strong for Jackets

The gymnasium at Ashe County High School in West Jefferson was packed and extremely loud on Friday, Feb. 27, when the Huskies hosted the Forest Hills Yellow Jackets. The Huskies, hot off a convincing win over Providence Grove, stamped their tickets to the regional portion of the tournament with a 70-61 win over Forest Hills.

Much like their first-round game against East Davidson, the Huskies had to fight for the entire 32 minutes to send the Jackets back to their nest.

Holman hit the first basket of the game to give the Huskies an early lead, but Forest Hills countered with six points of their own. Waln hit a three at the 2:55 mark to tie the game at six, starting a back-and-forth match for the remainder of the quarter that saw the teams tie at eight, 10 and 12. Waln hit another three at the 30-second mark to give the Huskies a brief lead at 15-14, but the Jackets responded in the final 10 seconds to go up by one.

Over the first three minutes of the second quarter, the teams traded the lead five times with neither team ever leading by more than one point. But Ashe County senior Jordan Nichols scored at the 5:25 mark to give Ashe County a 21-20 lead, and Spagnola scored four quick points to push the lead to five. Ashe County out-scored the Jackets 5-4 over the final three-and-a-half minutes to take a 30-24 lead into the break.

The Huskies came out strong in the second half, opening the half on a 9-2 run led by four points from Holman. They led by as many as 13 twice, at 39-26 and 41-28, before the Jackets went on a 12-6 run to cut the lead to seven. The final 20 seconds proved vital, however, as baskets from Waln and Spagnola put the Huskies up nine, 52-43, as they prepared for the final eight minutes of the game.

Waln stole the ball and dropped an easy lay-up for a 54-43 lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and baskets from Lemly and Holman put Ashe County up 58-48 at the 5:49 mark.

Forest Hills made a run midway through the quarter, outscoring the Huskies 6-2 to cut the lead to 60-54. It was the closest the Jackets would come, however, as Ashe County hit five-of-six free throws over a two-minute span to push their lead to 67-56 in the last minute.

The crowd remained loud as the final buzzer sounded on Ashe County's 70-61 victory. Students throwing balloons and confetti quickly ran onto the court to celebrate as the Huskies advanced to the next round of the tournament in Greensboro.

"We had some outstanding play by a lot of our young men," said head coach Marc Payne after the game. "It was just a team effort" he continued, adding that Spagnola's 11 blocks, Waln's 20 points and Lemly's per-formance from the free-throw line were all vital to the team's success.

Payne said he told the team to "enjoy themselves, relax and take vitamin C" after the game. He planned to give them a normal weekend before returning to practice on Monday.

Originally scheduled for Tuesday, March 3, the Huskies' game against the East Lincoln Mustangs of Denver, N.C., will be played on the UNC-Greensboro campus at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 5. Payne noted that participating in the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic in Winston-Salem in December 2008 may give his team an advantage in Greensboro.

"We played three games in Lawrence Joel Coliseum," he said. "We played in a coliseum this year, and every-one will be excited about playing in a coliseum, but we may have more ability to acclimate ourselves to that scenario than some of the others just because we've been there before."

To find out more about the tournament, contact Ashe County High School at (336) 846-2400 or click to www.nchsaa.org for full, up-to-date tournament brackets.