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December 11, 2009

Free beats 3 — Panthers best the G-Men

By BRIAN WOODSON

BLUEFIELD, Va. — Graham connected on nine 3-point shots. Twin Valley hit 20 free throws. The free throws won.

The 1-2 punch of Josh Smith and Lucas Shortridge combined for 44 points — including 16-of-26 from the free throw line — leading Twin Valley to its second win over a Group AA team in a week, defeating Graham 64-55 on a bitterly cold Friday night at Graham Middle School.

Twin Valley (2-0) defeated Tazewell last Friday 76-58, with the same duo combining for 53 points, including 35 by Smith. Smith had 23 on this night, while Shortridge tossed in 21.

“I honestly didn’t think we would have a win at this point. I really didn’t so we’re fortunate to be standing at 2-0 against some pretty good competition,” Twin Valley head coach Brian Moore said. “Both of them came after us too, this will help us out come district time.”

Graham connected on nine shots from long range, including four from David Marrs, but the G-Men were 6-of-9 from the free throw line, while the Panthers — which didn’t attempt a 3 — were 20-33, and also held the rebounding edge 36-13.

Twin Valley also hit from the field, connecting on 11-19 in the opening half, and 22-34 for the game. Brandon Viers dished out eight assists, while Shortridge added five. Smith led the Panthers with 14 rebounds.

“I’m disappointed with the way things turned out, but I’m not disappointed in our effort,” Graham head coach Glynn Carlock, Jr. said. “They have a good ball club, they are well-coached, disciplined, I don’t think we will play many teams over the course of the season that will have better half-court sets than they run.

“I thought our guys did a pretty good job in our half-court man against those sets so I’m going to give my guys a little credit, but it wasn’t good enough. I think if a couple of things had gone in a different direction in our way it could have been a different story, but hats off to them, they earned it.”

Jordan Bryan led Graham with four 3s and 21 points, while Marrs had 16 points. Scott Brewster had the G-Men’s other two 3s and finished with nine points. Graham attempted many more shots than the Panthers, and had two less field goals — 22-20 — but those 14 free throws made a difference.

Graham pulled within 44-41 with 35 seconds left in the third quarter, but a 13-5 run by Twin Valley helped the Panthers expand their margin by as much as 13 at 59-46. Smith had 10 points in the final period, and the visitors were 7-10 from the charity stripe in the final eight minutes.

“We had a lot of situations come up in the second half where I think we were entitled to some space and we were entitled to position and apparently they didn’t think so,” said Carlock, whose G-Men had 26 fouls to 10 for the Panthers. “I thought a lot of the second half stuff could have gone either way as far as that went.

“We did foul a lot, but I think they beat us on the free throw line for the most part. I thought my guys gave a real good effort. I’m disappointed with the way it turned out.”

The first quarter featured four ties and four lead changes, with Graham last tying the score at 14-14 at the 5:57 mark of the second period. Twin Valley then went inside for three consecutive baskets from Smith, Shortridge and Daniel Hobbs, who finished with 11 points.

That was a common theme throughout for the disciplined Panthers.

“That’s pretty much how we run everything offensively,” Moore said. “Those two guys (Smith and Shortridge) are our team leaders and they kind of set the stage for what we try to do.

“We’re not a very good shooting team so we focus on the paint. I thought the boys executed very well tonight against a very athletic team. This is just Graham’s first game, they are going to be pretty good.”

Graham connected on seven first half 3s, including consecutive shots from Marrs and Bryan to pull within 28-26 at the break. Twin Valley answered with an 8-0 run in start the third, and while the G-Men pulled within 3 on a layup by Bryan, that was as close as they would get.

Despite the loss, Carlock was glad to get the season started, even though it was two days later than planned. Wednesday’s game with Bland County was postponed by weather and will be played Thursday at Graham.

“I am excited. These guys are itching to get at it, they’re really trying hard and they’re doing everything I ask of them,” said Carlock, who received six rebounds from Bryan and five by Ryan Woodson. Marrs added five steals, Cole Sarver swiped four, while Sam Dennah had four assists off the bench.

“We’ve got to get better and we’re at a stage right now where we feel like we should be a little further ahead than we are...Overall, we’ve got work to do.”

Twin Valley, which has made a habit of playing in the Group A state tournament in recent seasons, will play in a tournament at Virginia High starting Wednesday against John Battle.

“We have expectations, but we try to be realistic,” Moore said. “Our goal this year is to be the best team we can be, whatever it takes, we’ll ride it that far...”

Graham won the junior varsity contest 42-24. Lamont Edwards led the G-Men with 14 points, while Spencer Sheets tossed in 12. Devon Crouse paced the Panthers with eight.



at Graham Middle School

TWIN VALLEY (2-0)

Brandon Viers 1 3-5 5, Lucas Shortridge 7 7-12 21, Daniel Hobbs 5 1-2 11, Josh Smith 7 9-14 23, Chris Hughes 2 0-0 4, Cody Hubbard 0 0-0 0, Joe Mullins 0 0-0 0, Cody Prater 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 20-33 64.

GRAHAM (0-1)

Cole Sarver 1 1-2 3, Scott Brewster 3 1-3 9, David Marrs 5 2-2 16, Ryan Woodson 0 2-2 2, Jordan Bryan 9 0-0 21, Sam Dennah 2 0-0 4, Tyler Anders 0 0-0 0, Torren Byrd 0 0-0 0, Alex Harclerode 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 6-9 55.

Twin Valley......................................14 14 17 19 — 64

Graham...........................................10 16 15 14 — 55

3-point goals: TV 0; GR 9 (Marrs 4, Bryan 3, Brewster 2). Total fouls: TV 10; GR 26. Fouled out: Marrs. Technicals: Dennah. JV—GR 42-24.

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