The Hill – The 1990 National Championship game in Men’s Basketball had a final score of UNLV 103, Duke 73. The thirty point beat down still ranks as one of the most lopsided ever.
Flash back to January 20th of this year and Carroll County High School traveled over to Martinsville and the Bulldogs plowed our Cavaliers 73 – 43. Thirty point loss with the number 73 in the score.
Back to tonight, where my only hope was PLEASE let us stay on the floor with these guys this time. The exact same thing I was praying 🙏 to the Basketball Powers to be when Duke had to face an undefeated UNLV team in the Semi-finals the following year. Somehow Duke not only managed to not get run off the court but Grant Hill and Christian Laetner won the game that night.
When Marion Harris mentioned that the new Martinsville coach had Grant Hill playing for him up in Reston 40 years ago, it started me thinking about MAGIC.
When Blake Reed came out of the gates by scoring the games first eight points it caused another flash back. Back when Cody Reece personally outscored eventual State Champion Spotswood 9-2.
Yes, 90 seconds into the game the score was Blake Reed 8, State #1 team 0 !!!
Senior Isaiah Easter tapped Reed on the shoulder and said, little fella, catch your breath and then he scored 8 straight points. Carroll County led 16 – 6 after the opening quarter and even Coach Barnes was thinking about MAGIC.
” I really thought we were going to steal it, pregame talk you could see the look in their eyes! I’m proud, disappointed, emotional roller coaster . 🎢”
The Cavaliers were once again playing without injured Hayden Jackson and Landon Kinder (6 points ) did a tremendous job as the sixth man.
Easter finished up with a game high 18 points but the question was, could this really happen ? Martinsville has only dropped three games this season and all three took place in a Christmas 🎄 tournament in Tidewater right after the point guard suffered a hand injury. All three teams that did get the best of them were from larger classifications.
The Cavaliers suffered two gut punches early in the second quarter. One was Barnes getting drilled by a wayward pass that got on top of them in a heartbeat and the other was a 9-0 run 🏃♂️ to make it 16-15. Reed stopped the streak with an old school And One. Two more moments in the second quarter stood out for CCHS, one involving Trace Reavis (7 points ) and the other one with Colton Gravley.
Right after Kinder finished a fast break on the other end, Reavis sacrificed his body in taking a charge. No flinching for the Senior as he immediately jumped to his feet and celebrated his accomplishment.
The ” Jump Ball ” call involving Gravley was simply scary, at least to me from my point of view. Barnes had Nathan Jones check him out after the game and we have an all clear but there’s no way our Junior won’t be sore tomorrow when the Cavaliers play Floyd County. The elbow that caught his head was absolutely unintentional but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.
Easter closed out a non-stop first half with a lay-up just before the buzzer as Carroll County took a 27 – 22 lead into the break.
Martinsville opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run and appeared to be in position for the dreaded blow out. Freshman Will Motley ( 4 points) slowed the roll with a lay-up to not it at 29-29. Later in the quarter, Gravley took another shot and I felt this one through the computer 🖥 screen but our Cavs kept a coming.
Reavis scored on a third attempt and Kinder finished another fast break as Carroll County was only down two heading into the final quarter ( 35-37).
Easter tied it up one last time with two free throws but Martinsville switched from a run and gun barrage of 3-point attempts to a more physical game. Give them credit for the adjustment as it led them to a 22 – 13 fourth quarter advantage.
Carroll County did have one final push late as in a span of 22 seconds Reavis scored an And One and Easter drilled an NBA 3-pointer to close it to 55-48. But that was as close as the team would get the rest of the way.
The five games in six days circus 🎪 wraps up tomorrow when the Cavaliers square off with the Buffalo 🐃es.
Martinsville won the Junior Varsity game 62 – 21, showing that the Bulldogs will not be a one year flash in the pan.
There is a lot that can be said about the game but my take is this – darn proud 👏 of our Cavaliers and I am glad that Colton is alright !
Martinsville … 6. 16 15 22 – 59
Carroll County 16 11 8 13 – 48
A.S.P.N on The Hill 