Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
The Radford High School boys basketball team will have a chance to defend its 2016 title Thursday in Richmond against a familiar foe in George Wythe, a team that they beat two weeks ago in West Region play.
Radford held off a stubborn Lancaster team Saturday in Bristol 70-61 to advance, while George Wythe handed Essex a 56-40 loss.
“Mr. Everything” for Radford (25-5), Quinton Morten-Robertson, pumped in a game high 31 points. No other Bobcat was in double-figures. Alante Doyle had nine points, Cam Edwards and B.J. Baylor, each with eight. Miles Jones and Taylor Newcome had seven points apiece.
Malik Johnson led George Wythe with 14 points as four Maroons were in double-figured with a balanced attack.
Radford took a 39-33 overtime win over George Wythe two weeks ago to win the West 1A region title. The defending state champs had to rally late in the fourth quarter to pull out a win in overtime at Virginia High in Bristol.
After the game, Radford Coach Rick Cormany called it a good win over a quality team. “It was a defensive war as you can see by the final score,” he said.
After the game, Radford Coach Rick Cormany called it a good win over a quality team. “It was a defensive war as you can see by the final score,” he said.
The two teams have become natural rivals over the past 10 years, and made it a little more interesting for Cormany who graduated from George Wythe and played under current-GW coach Pat Burns.
The longtime Bobcat coach admitted GW threw everything they could against his offense in the regional finals that had not had any problem in scoring leading up to this game.
The Maroons also came into the contest with a high scoring offense, and it was the Bobcats who slowed them down with a mix of man-to-man and zone defenses.
Cormany said it was important to get some big stops at critical times.
“Just getting stops at crucial times when we went down four with three or so minutes to go was big. Both teams played great defense but ours may have been just a little better down the stretch. We had a couple shots go down and they didn’t. It could have easily gone either way,” he said.
Miles Jones led Radford with 15 points in the region finals, while Quinton Morton-Robertson chipped in 13.
The two will face off at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Seagal Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Locally, the game will be broadcasted on 95.3 FM.