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Grinding Back to Petersburg: Blue Ridge pushes past Highland to earn spot in final four

Photo by Bart Isley

When you’re as talented as Blue Ridge’s boys basketball team is, taking care of business when you’re clicking on all cylinders isn’t usually that difficult.

 

But every good team has to find ways to win when things aren’t going great. When the gears are grinding a little. When you’re also trying to prepare for a science exam on Thursday and a foreign language exam next because you’re in the thick of exam week.

 

Blue Ridge found a way Wednesday to pick up a workman-like win in the VISAA Division II quarterfinals, leaning on defense and a boisterous home crowd to win 77-56. The victory punched the Barons’ ticket to the state final four for the fourth-straight season.

 

“There are going to be times where we’re going to play bad but we’re a really good team and still when we play bad we can still play better (than the opposition),” said Blue Ridge’s Sardaar Calhoun.

 

The Barons, who will face rival Virginia Episcopal in the state semifinals, aren’t unaccustomed to workman-like state quarterfinal performances. Last year they put together a similar performance against Atlantic Shores before beating VES and Miller en route to the state title. This year, the path ahead of them will likely require a similar bounce back effort against identical teams.

 

Calhoun finished with 16 points, 13 of them coming in the first half, while Darius McGhee logged 21 points. That offensive output from two of the Barons usual statistical leaders was critical and the score differential made the win look comfortable, but Blue Ridge couldn’t ever seem to break open the game ever and turn it into a rout. In fact, the rhythm seemed so out of sync that McGhee and the other starters weren’t resting at the end — they were in the game trying to recapture some of the flow they had just Saturday in a hard-fought loss to Miller.

 

“I could tell watching Highland last night in their play-in game that Highland wasn’t going to back down and that combined with exam week for us I knew was a recipe for a tough game,” said Blue Ridge coach Cade Lemcke. “I don’t think the scoreboard showed just how tough of a game it was. We were winning by 22 but it felt like we were in a dogfight the entire game.”

 

Which led the Barons to turn to their bench. Xavier Kane, Savion Helm and Ernesto Torres all stepped into the lineup and had big performances. Helm and Torres each finished with eight points while Kane made his presence felt with his energy on the defensive end.

 

“I thought we had some great energy from players off the bench that really helped us,” Lemcke said. “Those three (Kane, Helm and Torres) all played significant minutes specifically in the fourth quarter and I was proud of them. I was proud of the team playing well enough to win and advance.”

 

Despite the lack of rhythm and a rough shooting night, Blue Ridge overcame Highland and Mekhi Hendricks who poured in 28 points as well as big man Cameron Timmons who had 13. Blue Ridge led 25-11 in the first quarter and while Highland never seriously challenged to retake the lead, they certainly refused to go away.

 

McGhee scored his 1,000th point as a Baron early in the game, and has logged more than 3,000 in his entire high school career.

 

The Barons will face Virginia Episcopal Friday at 5:15 p.m. at Virginia State in the D2 semifinals.

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