The Shadow
Just six bucks?
It was bargain night in Mountaineer Gym.
Fans who ponied up an Abraham Lincoln with a George Washington got a basketball treat Friday in the semifinal round of the Mountaineer Invitational Tournament, presented by Highlands Community Bank.
The first act had Stuarts Draft runnin’ and gunnin’ to an entertaining 90-80 victory over Covington.
Not to be outdone, old buddies Michael Hunter and Nolan Caldwell duked it out in the nightcap with Hunter’s Christiansburg Blue Demons edging Caldwell and tournament host Alleghany, 69-66.
A full day of action is scheduled for today at Alleghany.
The slate includes:
• Alleghany vs. Stuarts Draft, JV Consolation Game at 1 p.m.;
• Covington vs. Christiansburg, JV Championship Game at 3 p.m.;
• Alleghany vs. Covington, Varsity Consolation Game at 5 p.m.;
• Stuarts Draft vs. Christiansburg, Varsity Championship Game at 7 p.m.
“It will be a fun day of basketball,” said Caldwell. “Some very good match-ups.”
The match-ups were better than good Friday night. They were great.
And it was Hunter’s son, M.J., that made last call.
Hunter, a junior who has committed to play baseball at Radford University, buried a three with just eight seconds left to make Dad a winner on the same court where he starred in the early 90’s.
Christiansburg roared back from eight points down in the final quarter to get the win.
“That was a great high school basketball game,” said Caldwell. “Both teams played hard. But they took care of the ball and we didn’t. We had 21 turnovers and they had eight. That’s the game right there.”
The Mountaineers led 51-48 after three periods and when Corey Easton hit both ends of a one-and-one with 4:05 left, the lead was 61-54.
The Blue Demons rallied.
Chris Calloway had a pair of huge buckets down the stretch for Christiansburg, while Alleghany countered with clutch free throw shooting by Jayson Easton and Mitch Mitchell.
But a couple of turnovers down the stretch hurt the Mounties.
Tyrique Taylor’s inside score got the Demons within one and Hunter’s crew took the lead with 23 ticks to play when Aiden Proudfoot converted a turnover into a lay-up.
Triston Hensley made 1-of-2 from the free throw line to tie the game with 19 seconds left, setting the stage for his old travel baseball buddy.
Hunter’s wing triple was his fifth of the night.
“It felt good,” M.J. said. “The energy in the gym, he (Dad) said was like the old times. I was like, ‘I’ve got to do this for him’.”
Hunter led the Blue Demons (2-0) with 17 points, while Taylor scored 15 to go with 12 rebounds.
Jayson Easton had a game-high 20 points for the Mountaineers and twin brother Corey Easton added 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
“I felt like we squandered a lead the other night against Buffalo Gap and were able to recover,” Caldwell said. “I told the guys that we have to learn how to close out a game, especially against a good team like Christiansburg. We turned the ball over late and they were able to capitalize with a couple of easy buckets to get them back in the game.”
Stuarts Draft used “the system” to win their semifinal game against Covington.
What system?
The Grinnell system.
It involves shooting just three-pointers and layups with no mid-range shots. It also means five fresh subs on nearly every dead ball.
Draft unleashed 56 tries from behind the 3-point arc in their 10-point win over Covington.
Never mind that they only made 14 of them (25 percent), Cougar coach Mike Gale said he doesn’t care about the shooting percentage.
Gale is in his 14th year at Draft. They’ve been running the system for the past nine seasons.
“A lot of reasons,” said Gale of why they decided to go the Grinnell College rout. “We didn’t have many post players and we had a lot of guys that were kind of equal in ability. There was really not much excitement about Stuarts Draft basketball. We’ve tweaked it along the way and it’s been good to us.
“We’re not concerned about shooting percentage — some nights can be really bad,” he added. “Our goal is for half our shots to be 3’s.”
Friday night, Draft (2-1) shot just 30 two-point shots.
Mark Rogers made six threes and had a team-high 27 points to go with 12 rebounds for the winners.
Covington, who was playing their first game of the season, was led by Jacob Roldan, who scored a game-high 28 points, including 12 in the final quarter.
Ke’Shaun Hughes added 13 points, while Jabari Williams cleaned the glass for 18 rebounds.
Covington led 42-41 at the half and ran the lead to eight early in the second half.
They trailed by one with just over three minutes to play when Javier Yancey forced a turnover and assisted on a Roldan basket.
But Stuarts Draft scored 11 of the games final 13 points, all coming from the free throw line.
“We have a team this year that can run with people,” said Casey Burks, the first-year Cougar head coach and another former Mountaineer standout.
“We tried to match their intensity.
“Honestly, I’m happy putting up 80 points in our first game and we probably missed another 14 points off missed lay-ups. You do the math — we win by four.”
JV Semifinals
Covington and Christiansburg advanced to today’s junior varsity championship game with semifinal wins Friday night at Clifton Middle School.
Covington got the best of Stuarts Draft, 63-49, while the Blue Demons knocked off Alleghany, 53-34.
Jacob Moles led Christiansburg, who led at the halftime break 27-17, with 22 points.
Coree Nicely had 13 points for the Mountaineers, Dylan Nicely added eight, Matthew Warren scored six, Garrett Via had three, Halen Lowman scored two and both Drew Craft and McKinley Goodbar added one apiece.
Covington put three players in double figures in their victory over Stuarts Draft.
Purcel Turner led the way with 15 points, Brady Howard added 12 and Levi Dressler had 11.
Ashton Cook with nine, Dylan Williams with six, Hunter McLain with four, Justice Maloney with three and Henry Rogers with two completed the winners scoring.
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Covington’s Jacob Roldan drives to the basket in a Friday night’s MIT semifinal at Mountaineer Gym. Roldan scored 28 points, but the Cougars fell to Stuarts Draft, 90-80. (Gavin Dressler Photo)
