G-Men edge Blue Tornado; Lady Blues beat Abingdon

RICHLANDS, Va. — The Southwest District title was on the line Monday night in Richlands with the Blue Tornado playing host to the district leading Graham G-Men.

The game came down to the final 28 seconds after Richlands had gone down by five points in the fourth and Devon Johnson pulled the Blues within a 3-point shot of tying the game with a field goal.

The Tornado bench called timeout to force a turnover in the final half minute, however, the G-Men were able to hang on, then convert free throws down the stretch when the Blues had to foul to stop the clock. Graham’s prowess allowed them the win, 71-66.

“Our goal is to score 20 points per quarter,” Graham head coach Glynn Carlock Jr. said. “We said at halftime if we could do that in the second half we would be OK. Then, we came out in the fourth quarter and had our best quarter with 25 points.”

“But, Richlands came out and was shooting the ball really well from the perimeter in the second half and we have some mistakes we’re going to have to correct.”

The Tornado jumped out to an 11-4 lead after the first quarter answering Graham’s first two baskets of the game.

Then, the G-Men came back into their own and began to knock down points in transition and pulled to within a field goal by the end of the opening frame, 14-12.

Graham took the lead early in the second when Alex Harclerode and Darius Carper connected on back-to-back attempts before Richlands battled back with a 3-point play by Austin Johnson who was fouled on the shot and made his free throw.

The G-Men settled into a groove and tan the table with an 8-2 roll that put them ahead by three with less than three minutes remaining in the first half.

Blake Tatum pulled the Blues even with a perimeter shot in the waning minutes, however, Graham broke away with baskets from Harclerode, Ryan Woodson and Scott Brewster to take a 31-26 lead by the half-time break.

“Turnovers killed us in the first half,” Richlands head coach Jimmy McGee said. “We missed some easy layups and box outs and it really hurt us.”

The Tornado came out of the locker room and made a run from the onset and took the lead, 34-33, after completing an 8-2 burst. The G-Men called timeout to halt the action.

David Marrs stepped up to the plate after the pause and hit a trey to sway the lead back Graham’s way. Richlands was able to tie the game twice before the end of the third, however, could not get past Graham’s fluent offense.

The Blues continued their pursuit in the fourth and made five 3-pointers on consecutive shots in the first three minutes of the quarter. Eric Mulkey hit four of the treys and Tatum had one, however the G-Men also had a bag of 3-pointers had a bag of tricks up their sleeve.

David Marrs and Jordan Bryan hit perimeter shots between the Tornado shots making it impossible for the Blues to gain the lead. Brewster had nine points in the final quarter with seven from the charity stripe to make a huge difference in the final outcome.

“We give Graham second and third chances on rebounds and we missed some box-outs in the end,” Jimmy McGee said.

“You can’t do that against a good team and Graham has a good team. They’re well coached, they’re well disciplined and you can’t make unforced errors against a team like that.”

The G-Men had four players in double figures led by Marrs with 20 points including four 3-pointers followed by Brewster who had 17 points. Woodson and Bryan finished the game with 10 points apiece.

“David (Marrs) is playing well for us,” Carlock said. “I thought we got some good contributions all around and I’m especially proud of our back up point guard, Alex Harclerode. He played a very good game tonight.”

Austin Johnson was the Tornados’ top point man with 16 and Mulkey finished with 15. Tatum finished with 10 followed by Gunner McGee (9) and Devon Johnson (9).

Richlands is scheduled to play Virginia High tonight at home and Graham travels to Carroll County weather permitting.

The Lady Blues played host to the Abingdon Lady Falcons in the nightcap and held off the visitors, 60-52.

Cassie Ringstaff led the Lady Blues with 16 points followed by Megan Robinson with 13. Lauren Wilson paced Abingdon with 21 points and Logan Viers finished with 13.

The Lady Blues are scheduled to host Virginia High tonight.

At Richlands Middle School

GRAHAM (12-3, 7-1 SWD)

Sam Dennah 0 4-4 4, Kyle Furrow 0 0-0 0, Scott Brewster 4 9-15 17, Ryan Stanley 1 0-0 2, Christian Allen 0 0-0 0, Tyler Andrews 0 0-4 0, David Marrs 4 0-1 20, Torren Byrd 0 0-0 0, Aaron Davidson 0 0-0 0, Alex Harclerode 1 0-0 5, Robert Stevens 0 0-0 0, Keith Dunn 0 0-0 0, Ryan Woodson 5 0-0 10, Jordan Bryan 3 1-2 10, Darius Carper 1 1-2 3.

RICHLANDS (13-3, 8-3)

A.J. Johnson 0 0-0 0, Austin Johnson 4 5-7 16, Eric Mulkey 1 1-1 15, Mason Taylor 0 0-0 0, Sean Overton 2 2-6 6, Blake Tatum 3 1-2 10, James Patton 0 1-2 1, Devon Johnson 3 3-5 9, Gunner McGee 2 2-2 9, Zach Horn 0 0-0 0.

3-point goals: GHS 6 (David Marrs 4, Alex Harclerode, Jordan Bryan); Richlands 9 (Eric Mulkey 4, Blake Tatum 3, Austin Johnson, Gunner McGee ).

*****

Girls game

ABINGDON (N/A)

Sabrina Viers 0 1-2 1, Logan Viers 4 5-8 13, Bri Pruitt 2 2-2 6, Lynsi Viers 0 0-0 0, Katie Mullins 0 0-0 0, Hannah Bays 1 1-2 3, Deb Proulex 2 4-5 8, Lauren Wilson 2 2-2 21 Britt Totonchiain 0 0-0 0.

RICHLANDS (11-6, 8-2)

Megan Casey 0 0-0 0, Cassie Ringstaff 0 3-4 3, Megan Robinson 2 2-3 9, Evan Ferrell 0 2-2 5, Rani Ratliff 5 4-6 14, Cassidy Richardson 3 1-4 7, Jordyn Cole 0 0-2 0, Kelli Hess 5 0-1 10, Rachel Alley 1 2-2 4, Micka Brady 0 0-0 0.

3-point goals – AHS 5 (Lauren Wilson 5); RHS 3 (Cassie Ringstaff, Megan Robinson, Evan Ferrell)

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