While the other three regions had already reached its Final Four the remaining bracket started today still sitting at eight teams.
The results from the fourth Quarterfinals(3A) are starting to drip in now and to no surprise Top Seeded Hopewell advanced with a 54-14 victory over Norfolk’s Booker T Washington.
#3 -Norcom 72, #11- York 39
The final two match-ups were –
Lakeland (#4) vs Lake Taylor(#5) Lakeland 56-51
Lafayette (#2) vs Tabb (#7)…still searching
Lafayette 47-40 (OT)
The Sweet 16 has become the Sweet 14 now as William Monroe and Culpepper County have been eliminated.
Meridian and Brentsville District have the first two spots clinched in the State Tournament.
THURSDAY NIGHT 🌙 – Will see the number drop down to 10 as four Regional semifinals will be played including Carroll County hosting Magna Vista and Cave Springs @ Lord Botetourt.
Also, both Spotswood and Liberty Christian Academy will look to advance to the Final 10. Region A is playing on a delayed schedule so when they catch up we will have our Elite Eight
All season long Coach Barnes and his Cavaliers played as hard as they could for 32 minutes and that was the case once again last night in Dry Fork but this time the Mountain in front of them was just a bit to high.
Davis Reitzel led the Cavaliers with 25 points as the Junior played one of his most complete games on the season and it was one of his baskets that pulled the Cavs to within 10 points at 46-36 early in the fourth quarter.
Sadly for Carroll County the next 10 points went the way of the Trojans with the cap to that run coming on a thunderous dunk by JaMarcus Brown. That basket sent to overly enthusiastic crowd into a frenzy but as has been the case all season long the Cavs kept on trying hard to chase the Trojans down.
Tunstall (24-2, 12-2 Piedmont) was able to play a physical game without sending Carroll County to the free throw line. The Cavaliers converted 75% from the charity stripe but only managed 8 attempts.
The pressure on the ball from the top of the perimeter kept the Cavaliers from getting comfortable in their half court offense but the team did find success when it could play in the open floor by beating Tunstall down the court.
The final score was originally posted as 73-47 but was later corrected to 73-48 and the score doesn’t do justice to how much the Cavaliers challenged the Region #2 seed. The final margin of 25 points came at the end (27-14, 4th quarter) when the inside combination of Brown (20 points, 9 rebounds) and Jailyn Edmonds (16,6) finally proved to be to much to hold at bay.
Down 11 points at the half Reitzel and Bryce Smoot immediately connected on 3-pointers to allow Carroll County to pull within 31-24 but Tunstall answered that spurt with a 10-0 run that raised the lead to 41-24.
The Cavaliers answered with their best stretch of basketball on the night with a 12-5 run spearheaded by eight from Reitzel and four from Senior Elijah Cox. The second of the 10-0 runs by the home team sealed the deal but someone not at the game shouldn’t glance at the final score and think that Carroll County was run out of the Gym last night.
The pattern has been the same all season long for Carroll County, play as hard as you can for 32 minutes and see where it takes you. Last night it took them until late in the fourth quarter against a very talented basketball team.
Coach Barnes never stopped coaching and his play to the buzzer squad never stopped playing fit him.
Two injury notes – Mario Meza Campbell managed some quality minutes on an injured knee and in the final minute of play Jabin Talley injured his ankle and left the building with an ice bag wrapped on it and with assistance. Hopefully this is not a serious injury and the #1 seeded Tennis player can get out on the courts later this week.
Final Score was 73-48 but don’t let that trip you up as to the effort these young men put forth against a quality opponent.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 