COVINGTON, Va. (TVR) – It could not have been any closer.
The Alleghany Mountaineers suffered a 58-57 double overtime loss to the Radford Bobcats on Tuesday, Feb. 21, in the VHSL Region bracket, and unfortunately Alleghany’s season is officially over.
The upset win would have been one for the ages considering Radford (19-4) has only lost a handful of games at home in 12 seasons. They are a favorite again to make the state title game, and it makes the Mountaineers’ loss even tougher to swallow.
Alleghany went up 6-0 early and led 12-8 after one quarter.
A Davien Moore triple put the Mountaineers up 17-8, and a couple possessions later, Hunter Depriest made it 21-13 after a bucket. Moore’s old fashioned 3-point play right before halftime kept Alleghany ahead 26-21 at the break.
Alleghany continued to build and hold their lead in the third quarter, as Depriest hit two free throws and Halen Lowman knocked in a turnaround jumper. At that point the Mountaineers led 30-21 with 5:20 left. A steal and two-handed jam from Elijah Kelly got the Bobcat fans excited, but Chris Harden’s basket immediately after put them back in their seats. Alleghany led 39-28 before Kelly’s short jumper at the third-quarter buzzer and it was 39-30 after three.
Alleghany scored only 3 points in the fourth due to the turnovers created by Radford’s quick pressuring defense. The Bobcats started the period on a 10-0 run that Xzavier Hayslett finally ended with a tough shot underneath. Radford’s Gavin Cormany tied the game up at 42-all, and that is how the regular session ended.
In the first overtime, with Alleghany up 3 points, 49-46, after 5 straight points from Harden, Cormany let a 3 fly from the top of the key and drained it with 15 seconds left. After that clutch shot, the score was 49-49, and that is how the first overtime ended.
It was almost the same scenario minutes later in the second OT. After a couple buckets from Hayslett gave Alleghany the lead, they maintained at 57-54, until the Bobcats’ Sincere Taylor drained a 3 to tie it with under a minute to play. Hayslett went to the free throw line and missed a one-and-one, and Kelly hit a foul shot on the other end to put Radford up 58-57.
Alleghany (11-14) missed a jumper off the rim to end it.
At the time of this writing, the official stats were not available, but Kelly led Radford with 24 points.
The Mountaineers are now finished for 2023 and will hit the court next season as a consolidated partner with Covington.
